Kazi Nazrul Islam-Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in the village of Churulia near Asansol in the Burdwan District

Kazi Nazrul Islam

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Kazi Nazrul Islam কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম

Kazi Nazrul Islam

Kazi Nazrul Islam in 1926, Chittagong

Born 24 May 1899^[1]
Churulia, Bengal Presidency, British Raj (now in West Bengal, India) Died 29 August 1976 (aged 77)
Dhaka, Bangladesh Occupation Poet, short-story writer, song composer, novelist, playwright and essayist. Language Bengali
Urdu
Persian Nationality Bangladeshi^[2] Ethnicity Bengali Notable work(s) Bidrohi, "Agniveena" "অগ্নিবীনা" ("Lyre of Fire") , Dhumketu (The Comet), Bandhan Hara (Free from Bonds), Nazrul Geeti Notable award(s) Ekushey Padak
Padma Bhushan Spouse(s) Pramila Devi

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Signature Kazi Nazrul Islam (Bengali: কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম Kazī Nazrul Islām (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976),^[1] sobriquet Bidrohi Kobi (Rebel Poet), known popularly as Nazrul, was a Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of "বিদ্রোহী কবি" Bidrohī Kobi (Rebel Poet). Accomplishing a large body of acclaimed works through his life, Nazrul is officially recognised as the national poet of Bangladesh and highly commemorated in India.
Born into a Bengali Muslim Quazi (Kazi) family, Nazrul received religious education and worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned of poetry, drama, and literature while working with theatrical groups. After serving in the British Indian Army, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Calcutta. He assailed the British Raj in India and preached revolution through his poetic works, such as "Bidrohi" ("The Rebel") and "Bhangar Gaan" ("The Song of Destruction"), as well as his publication "Dhumketu" ("The Comet"). His impassioned activism in the Indian independence movement often led to his imprisonment by British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul wrote the "Rajbandir Jabanbandi" "রাজবন্দীর জবানবন্দী" ("Deposition of a Political Prisoner"). Exploring the life and conditions of the downtrodden masses of India, Nazrul worked for their emancipation.
Nazrul's writings explore themes such as love, freedom, and revolution; he opposed all bigotry, including religious and gender. Throughout his career, Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals. Nazrul wrote and composed music for his nearly 4,000 songs (including gramophone records),^[3] collectively known as Nazrul geeti (Nazrul songs), which are widely popular today. In 1942 at the age of 43 he began suffering from an unknown disease, losing his voice and memory. It is often said, the reason was slow poisoning by British Government but later a medical team in Vienna diagnosed the disease as Morbus Pick,^[4] a rare incurable neurodegenerative disease. It caused Nazrul's health to decline steadily and forced him to live in isolation for many years. Invited by the Government of Bangladesh, Nazrul and his family moved to Dhaka in 1972, where he died four years later.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Rebel Poet
• 3 Revolutionary
• 4 Mass music
• 5 Exploring religion
• 6 Later life and illness
• 7 Criticism and legacy
• 8 Renowned Nazrul Sangeet singers
• 9 See also
• 10 References
• 11 Bibliography
• 12 External links

Early life

Nazrul in the Army

Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in the village of Churulia near Asansol in the Burdwan District of Bengal Presidency (now in West Bengal).^[5] He was born in a powerful Muslim Taluqdar family and was the second of three sons and a daughter, Nazrul's father Kazi Faqeer Ahmed was the imam and caretaker of the local mosque and mausoleum. Nazrul's mother was Zahida Khatun. Nazrul had two brothers, Kazi Saahibjaan and Kazi Ali Hussain, and a sister, Umme Kulsum. Nicknamed Dukhu Miañ (দুখু মিঞা literally "Mr Sad Man" the One with Grief), Nazrul began attending the maktab and madrassa run by the mosque & dargah where he studied the Qur'an and other scriptures, Islamic philosophy and theology. His family was devastated with the death of his father in 1908. At the young age of ten, Nazrul began working in his father's place as a caretaker to support his family, as well as assisting teachers in school. He later became the muezzin at the mosque.^[1][6]
Attracted to folk theatre, Nazrul joined a leto (travelling theatrical group) run by his uncle Fazl e Karim, working and travelling with them, learning acting, as well as writing songs and poems for the plays and musicals.^[5] Through his work and experiences, Nazrul began learning Bengali and Sanskrit literature, as well as Hindu scriptures such as the Puranas. The young poet composed many folk plays for his group, which included Chāshār Shōng ("the drama of a peasant"), Shokunībōdh ("the Killing of Shakuni," a character from the epic Mahabharata), Rājā Jodhisthirer Shōng ("the drama of King Yudhisthira" again from the Mahabharata), Dātā Kōrno ("the philanthropic Karna" from the Mahabharata), Ākbōr Bādshāh ("Akbar the emperor"), Kobi Kālidās ("poet Kalidas"), Bidyan Hutum ("the learned owl"), and Rājputrer Shōng ("the drama of a prince"),^[1]

Nazrul in 1927

In 1910, Nazrul left the troupe and enrolled at the Searsole Raj High School in Raniganj (where he came under influence of teacher, revolutionary and Jugantar activist Nibaran Chandra Ghatak, and initiated lifelong friendship with fellow author Sailajananda Mukhopadhyay, who was his classmate), and later transferred to the Mathrun High English School, studying under the headmaster and poet Kumudranjan Mallik. Unable to continue paying his school fees, Nazrul left the school and joined a group of kaviyals. Later he took jobs as a cook and at the most famous bakery of the region Wahid's/Abdul Wahid and tea stall in the town of Asansol. In 1914, Nazrul studied in the Darirampur School (now Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University) in Trishal, Mymensingh District. Amongst other subjects, Nazrul studied Bengali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian literature and Hindustani classical music under teachers who were impressed by his dedication and skill.^[1]
Studying up to Class X, Nazrul did not appear for the matriculation pre-test examination, enlisting instead in the Indian Army in 1917 at the age of eighteen. He joined the British army mainly for two reasons: first, his youthful romantic inclination to respond to the unknown and, secondly, the call of politics.^[7] Attached to the 49th Bengal Regiment, he was posted to the cantonment in Karachi, where he wrote his first prose and poetry. Although he never saw active fighting, he rose in rank from corporal to havildar, and served as quartermaster for his battalion.^[1] During this period, Nazrul read extensively, and was deeply influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, as well as the Persian poets Hafez, Rumi and Omar Khayyam. He learnt Persian poetry from the regiment's Punjabi moulvi, practiced music and pursued his literary interests. His first prose work, "Baunduler Atmakahini" ("Life of a Vagabond") was published in May, 1919. His poem "Mukti" "মুক্তি" ("Freedom") was published by the "Bangla Mussalman Sahitya Patrika" "বাংলা মুসলিম সাহিত্য পত্রিকা" ("Bengali Muslim Literary Journal") in July 1919.^[1]

Rebel Poet

Young Nazrul

Nazrul left the army in 1920 and settled in Calcutta, which was then the "cultural capital" of India (it had ceased to be the political capital in 1911).^[8] He joined the staff of the “Bangiya Mussalman Sahitya Samiti” ("Bengali Muslim Literary Society") and roomed at 32 College Street with colleagues. He published his first novel "Bandhan-hara" "বাঁধনহারা" ("Freedom from bondage") in 1920, which he kept working on over the next seven years.^[1] His first collection of poems included "Bodhan", "Shat-il-Arab", "Kheya-parer Tarani" and "Badal Prater Sharab" and received critical acclaim.^[1]
Working at the literary society, Nazrul grew close to other young Muslim writers including Mohammad Mozammel Haq, Afzalul Haq, Kazi Abdul Wadud and Muhammad Shahidullah. He was a regular at clubs for Calcutta's writers, poets and intellectuals like the Gajendar Adda and the Bharatiya Adda. Despite many differences, Nazrul looked to Rabindranath Tagore as a mentor and he and Muhammad Shahidullah remained in close association.^[1] In 1921, Nazrul was engaged to be married to Nargis, the niece of a well-known Muslim publisher Ali Akbar Khan, in Daulatpur, Comilla. But on 18 June 1921 —the day of the wedding— upon public insistence by Ali Akbar Khan that the term "Nazrul must reside in Daulatpur after marriage" be included in the marriage contract, Nazrul walked away from the ceremony.
Nazrul reached the peak of fame with the publication of "Bidrohi" in 1922, which remains his most famous work, winning admiration of India's literary classes by his description of the rebel whose impact is fierce and ruthless even as its spirit is deep:.^[9]

I am the unutterable grief,
I am the trembling first touch of the virgin,
I am the throbbing tenderness of her first stolen kiss.
I am the fleeting glance of the veiled beloved,
I am her constant surreptitious gaze...
...
I am the burning volcano in the bosom of the earth,
I am the wild fire of the woods,
I am Hell's mad terrific sea of wrath!
I ride on the wings of lightning with joy and profundity,
I scatter misery and fear all around,
I bring earth-quakes on this world! “(8th stanza)”
I am the rebel eternal,
I raise my head beyond this world,
High, ever erect and alone! “(Last stanza)”^[10] (English translation by Kabir Choudhary)