|
SHABIR HASSAN JOSH MALIHABADI
(1898-1982) |
|
__________________________________________________________________ |
Josh Malihabadi was a poet, patriot, and a public figure whose poetry enthused the hearts of millions of people in the pre-Independence days. A friend of the poor and the dispossessed, and a tireless crusader for freedom, Josh exploited to the full the resources of his poetic genius for spreading the message of social and political revolution. In ane of his famous couplets he has thus defined his mission as apoet:
I'm youth embodied, revolution is my aim,
"Change, change, and change," is my sole refrain.
Josh has written ghazals, rubaies, and nazms-all in abundance-but he is essentially a poet of the nazm, and a specialist of the rubi. He had a facile pen and could compose fairly long poems just at one sitting. Some of his famous poems such as, "Kissan", "Baghawat", "Bhooka Hindustan", "Husn aur Mazdoori", "Zawaal-o-oJahanbani", "Zaeefa", etc., are fine specimens of spirited and inspiring verse, written with compassion and conviction, and a matching artistic competence. His ghazals are charged with the same passion and power which characterise his nazms. A master craftsman and a wizard of words, Josh overwhelms his readers with the sheer force of linguistic opulence and emotional power. He may not be a profound thinker, but he is a firebrand poet capable of mesmerising his audience with his verbal fusillades and poetic eloquence. Both in his ready command of word and rhyme, and in his passionate fight against cant and oppression, Josh reminds us of Lord Byron, the great romantic radical and rebel. In addition, Josh possesses a remarkable gift for describing natural scenes with precision and loving artistry.
Josh was born in Lucknow in December 1898. He inherited his poetic taste from his forbears, for his father, grandfather, and his great grandfather, all were poets of acknowledged merit. He received his schoolling at Lucknow, Agra, and Aligarh, and studied up to Senior Cambridge. Due to the death of his father, Bashir Ahmed Khan, in 1916, Josh was debarred from the benefit of college education. He was greatly influenced by Dr Rabindranath Tagore, whom he met during his sojourn at Calcutta in 1921. He then went to Hyderabad and worked for a few years in Osmania University, supervising translation work. However, he spent the best part of his life in Delhi, where he stayed from 1934 till after Independence, with a short stint at Poona and Bombay, where he wrote songs and lyrics for the cinema. He was appointed editor of the Urdu magazine, Aajkal, and was honoured with Padma Bhushan by the government of India. Some of his famous publications include: Shola-o-Shabnam, Harf-o-Hikayat, Janoon-o-Hikmat, Aayaat-o-Naghmaat, and Sumbal-o-Salaasal.
In 1956, Josh migrated to Pakistan, where, in the fag-end of his life he felt sadly alone and alienated. Pakistanis called him a "kafir," while Indians considered him a traitor to the country of his birth. Josh died on 22nd February, 1982.
The three poems selected for this book testify to the poet's artistic competence and radical fervour. Written in the context of the Indian struggle for independence, " Bahgawat" (Rebellion) describes, with realistic details, the genesis, growth, and the eventual upsurge of rebellion, which, beginning in war and bloodshed, ushers in, ultimately, an era of peace and justice. "Kissan", written in a gentler vein to mach with the quiet tenor of its subject, draws our attention to the bane of social injustice that compels the farmer, a procurer of food for all, to live in poverty and hunger. And, in a somewhat similar vein, but with a sensitive appreciation of feminine beauty, "Husn and Mazdoori" shows the plight of young, delicate girls, hard-pressed by poverty to toil and drudge in trying conditions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
******************
|
