Kazi Nazrul Islam, better known as the rebel Bengali poet, is considered as the second poet of the Rabindra period, at least in its later phase. He is eminent both as a writer and musician- a rare combination not to be found in any celebrity of his age other than, of course, Rabindranath himself. He was by nature and conviction a people's poet and believed all through his literary career that "art is for the people".
Nazrul had his primary education at a Madrasa. He learnt Persian and Arabic from Maulavi Kazi Fazle Ahmed. He passed his lower primary examination at the age of ten. But he could not complete his primary education although he got an opportunity to continue his study at a high school at Mathrun where Kumudranjan Mullick, a noted poet, was its head master. In 1917 he left his studies and enlisted himself in the regiment called "Double Company". He was immediately despatched to Naushera (North-West Frontier) and then to Karachi along with his regiment. At the end of the First World War, the Bengali Regiment was demolished in 1920. Earlier he had visited Calcutta and Churulia, his village home. After the Regiment was disbanded, he came back to Calcutta and was lodged with Muzaffar Ahmed on the first floor of a house at 32, College Street where the offices of the Moslem Bharat and Musalman Sahitya Samiti were situated. Nazrul's first novel titled Bandhan-Hara (Free from Bonds) had started appearing from the first issue of the Moslem Bharat. His poems also had started appearing into different literary journals.
The year 1919 was an eventful one in the history of India's freedom movement. The full report of the Rowlatt Committee was published on January 19, 1919 and the bills were introduced in the Supreme Legislative Council by William Vincent on February 6 of the same year. The bills were designed to restrict the liberties of the people of India. An intense agitation against this legislation rocked the entire country. The anti-Rowlatt Act agitation brought Gandhiji to the fore of the National Freedom Movement with a new technique. The Jallianwalabagh massacre shocked the entire nation. Rabindranath Tagore renounced the Knighthood as a protest. In 1922 there was a violent outrage at Chauri Chaura, a village in Uttar Pradesh. Salt Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience Movement were to start in 1930.
Nazrul Islam had thrown himself into the struggle which left a permanent mark on his work. He wrote one of the immortal songs reflecting the militant mood of that period in Bangalar Katha, a Bengali weekly run by Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das. A relevant part from that poem is quoted: "Break this iron-gate of the prison,/ Pull down into pieces,/ The blood-bathed pulpit of stone/ Raised for worship of the goddess of the fetters." (Tr. Gopal Haldar)
This poem is considered by many as the first great song reflecting the ideals of our national freedom movement. His book of poems titled Agnibina (The Flute of Fire), published in 1922, created a sensation and immediately he was accepted as a rebel poet. The most famous poem of the book Bidrohi (The Rebel) inspired the entire Bengali society. In that poem he says: I am cyclone/ I am Typhoon/ I will destroy everything which will come to my way/ I will do whatever I will/ I will not obey any law or rules/ I am the deluge/ I am the fire consuming the universe/ I am the man born of Isreal/ I am Bhrigu kicking Vishnu (Tr. Balkrishna Sharma).
His work, full of vitality, brought a new note of robust optimism into Bengali literature. He was keenly sensitive to the sufferings and injustices of the contemporary society. His songs and poems are full of hope for the exploited and downtrodden. He advocated the ideal of equality in a very vigorous manner. In his poem titled Samya (Equality), he declared: "I sing of equality, In which dissolve all barriers and disunity,/ In which mingle all faiths-Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity."
Communal harmony was upheld by him as a must for the success of India's struggle for freedom. He was very conscious of the divide and rule policy of the British Government and it was clear to him that the British Government was responsible for the distrust between the two communities - the Hindus and the Muslims. In April, 1926, he composed a song which he himself sang at the Congress session at Krishnanagar, a district town of undivided Bengal. He expressed his views very clearly on the communal problems in the country.
The helpless nation may sink and die/ as it knows not how to swim/ Sailor, "tis time when you must act and fulfil your pledge and dream/ "Hindu or Muslim?" who ask this question?/Sailor, tell him, it is men who are sinking/the children of our common mother."
Two other chorus songs are considered by many as more defiant in tone including the one sung by Nazrul himself at the inaugural session of the Students' Conference. It was a marching song and begins with - "We are the Force, we are the Power/ We are the students."
Besides being patriotic, his poetry had the profundity of the universal brotherhood of man. In the poem titled Udar Sakal Manabe, he wrote: "Liberal India, men of all kinds have shelter on your lap/ The Parsee, the Jain, the Buddhist, the Hindu/ the Christian, the Sikh and the Muslim/ You are an ocean, and in your vastness have mingled/ All religions and all people."
Nazrul Islam was a true poet of revolution equally keen on national liberation of India and removal of exploitation from the prevailing society of ours. The idea of communism naturally touched his heart, but he was not the man to subscribe to any political creed. He was specially successful in touching the public mind. Kazi Abdul Wadud has rightly remarked :"The poetry of Nazrul has been one of the contributing factors of that awakening of the masses that we now see around us. From that point of view, his historical importance is very great indeed."
The genius of Nazrul Islam since his first appearance in the field of Bengali literature has never been in doubt. The different aspects of his contribution - as a poet of the people, as a writer of songs, as a fearless fighter for our national freedom - have been gratefully acknowledged by his countrymen. In 1945, the University of Calcutta had honoured him with the Jagattarini Medal - the highest honour of that period for original contribution to the literature of Bengal. After Independence, the Government of India awarded him Padma Bhushan and the Government of Bangladesh honoured him as its Poet Laureate till his death in August, 1976. Nazrul Islam is a great modern Bengali poet who succeeded in capturing the masses through his literary charisma.
No comments:
Post a Comment