Chaar Bayt

Chaar Bayt, meaning "Four Stanzas," is a traditional folk performance art that has been practiced for around 400 years. It is performed by a group of singers or artists and remains active today in Rampur (Uttar Pradesh), Tonk (Rajasthan), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), and Hyderabad, Telangana. The Sangeet Natak Academy has officially recognized it as a traditional folk art form.

The poetic structure originates from 7th-century Arabia, where it was called Rajeez. The term "Chaar Bayt" comes from Persian, referring to a poem made up of four-line stanzas. The verses are sung to the accompaniment of the Daf, a percussion instrument of Arab origin. This art form traveled from Persia to India via Afghanistan, with the widely accepted view that Afghani soldiers in the Mughal army brought it to the subcontinent.

Initially composed in Persian and Pashtu, Chaar Bayt later also adopted Urdu. Over time, it absorbed local idioms and became embedded in regional culture. Its poetry shares a similar sensuousness with the Urdu Ghazal.

Notable performing groups today include the Babban Sultani group from Rampur, Badshah Khan and his troupe from Tonk, Masood Hashmi and his troupe from Bhopal, and several local troupes from Hyderabad.

The themes of Chaar Bayt are typically presented in long poems with chains of four stanzas. These poems describe wars, bravery, romance, and sometimes spirituality. In earlier periods, Sufi mystic spirituality was a common theme, but later socio-political issues became dominant.