Mahjoor

2021-11-09T14:45:03Z

182.65.127.123:

{{short description|Kashmiri poet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Mahjoor
| image = Mahjoor 2013 stamp of India 2.jpg
| caption = Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor on a 2013 stamp of India
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1887|08|11}}
| birth_place = Mitrigam, [[Kashmir and Jammu (princely state)|Kashmir and Jammu]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1952|04|09|1885|09|03}}
| death_place = Mitrigam, India Administered [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]
| resting_place = Athwajan, [[Jammu-Srinagar National Highway]], [[Kashmir]]
| occupation = Regional administrator, [[Poetry|Poet]]
| citizenship = [[India]]
| education =
| alma_mater =
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| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = ''Poshe-mati – Janano'',<ref name="merinews-Tagore & Iqbal">{{cite web|url = http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=133804| title = Wordsworth of Kashmir |publisher = Merinews|access-date = 25 March 2007}}</ref> ''Bage Nishat Ke Gulo''<ref name="merinews-Tagore & Iqbal"/>
| partner =
| children = Ameen Ahmad Mahjoor
| relatives = Peerzada Abdullah Shah (father)<ref name="merinews-Tagore & Iqbal"/>
| awards =
| signature =
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}}

'''Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad''' (August 1887 − 9 April 1952), known by his [[pen name]] as '''Mahjoor''', was a [[poet]] of the [[Kashmir Valley]], along with contemporaries, [[Zinda Kaul]], [[Abdul Ahad Azad]], and [[Dinanath Nadim]].<ref name="M. Govindan">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=q9gZAAAAIAAJ| title = Poetry and renaissance: Kumaran Asan birth centenary volume| year = 1974|publisher = Sameeksha|quote=It is at this stage that the poet Mahjoor swam into the poetical firmament to redeem Kashmiri poetry from this plight. His contribution and that of other major poets of the modern era like Zinda Kaul, Abdul Ahad Azad, Dina Nath Nadim|access-date = 25 March 2007}}</ref><ref name="Krishan Lal Kalla">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xi1uAAAAMAAJ| title = Kashmir panorama| year = 1997|publisher = Raj Publications| isbn = 9788186208076|quote=Famous writers of this era were: Pirzada Ghulam Ahmad 'Mahjoor' (Poet), Abdul Ahad Azad and Master Zinda Koul.|access-date = 25 March 2007}}</ref><ref name="Sisir Kumar Das">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC&pg=PA7| title = A History of Indian Literature 1911–1956| year = 2005|publisher = [[Sahitya Akademi]]| isbn = 9788172017989|quote=The literary figures who dominated Kashmiri in this period are [[Zinda Kaul]] (1884–1965), the universally respected poet of the Bhakti tradition; AA. Azad (1903–68), Dinanath Nadim (1916–88) and of course Mahjoor (1885–1952), who broke the long monotony of mystic poets with a distinctly new personal voice and at the same time created a body of poetry of public protest.|access-date = 25 March 2007}}</ref> He is especially noted for introducing a new style into Kashmiri poetry and for expanding Kashmiri poetry into previously unexplored thematic realms.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.koausa.org/Poets/Mahjoor/index.htm| title = Selections from Mahjoor's Kashmiri Poems| publisher = Kashmiri Overseas Association U.S.A. | year = 2007 | access-date = 12 December 2007}}</ref> In addition to his poems in Kashmiri, Mahjoor is also noted for his poetic compositions in [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Urdu]].

== Early life ==
Mahjoor was born in the village of Mitrigam, Pulwama, 38 km from [[Srinagar]] and 5 km from [[Pulwama]]. He got his pen name Mahjoor when he visited [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]] and started writing poetry under the influence of great Urdu poet, Shibli Namani. He followed in the academic footsteps of his father, who was a scholar of [[Persian language]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.zaan.net/vol1/9.html| title = Kashmiri Language and Literature| publisher = Project ZAAN| year = 2007| access-date = 24 December 2007| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071227114355/http://www.zaan.net/vol1/9.html| archive-date = 27 December 2007| df = dmy-all}}</ref>
He received the primary education from the Maktab of Aashiq Trali (a renowned poet) in Tral. After passing the middle school examination from Nusrat-ul-Islam School, Srinagar, he went to Punjab where he came in contact with Urdu poets like Bismil Amritsari and Moulana Shibi Nomani. He returned to Srinagar in 1908 and started writing in Persian and then in Urdu.
Determined to write in his native language, Mahjoor used the simple diction of traditional folk storytellers in his writing. 

Mahjoor worked as a ''[[patwari]]'' (''regional administrator'') in Kashmir. Along with his official duties, he spent his free time writing poetry, and his first Kashmiri poem 'Vanta hay vesy' was published in 1918.

==Poetic legacy==
Many of the themes of the poetry of Mahjoor involved freedom and progress in [[Kashmir]], and his poems awakened latent nationalism among [[Kashmiri people|Kashmiris]]. His popular verses engaged such topics as love, communal harmony, social reform, and the plight of the Kashmiris. He also wrote on such timeless themes as youth, the flowers of Nishat Garden, peasant girls, gardeners, and the [[golden oriole]]. At that time, such songs were unknown in formal Kashmiri poetry.He is like Bharathiyar in TamilNadu.

Mahjoor is also recognized as a poet who revolutionized the traditional forms of [[nazm]] and [[ghazal]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://iils.org/pdf/KashmiriBibliography.pdf | title=Kashmiri Language, Linguistics, and Culture| author= Koul, Omkar N. | year = 2000 | access-date = 24 December 2007}}</ref>

In 1972, a bilingual film named ''[[Shayar-e-Kashmir Mahjoor]]'' was released with the [[Hindi]] version starring [[Balraj Sahni]]. A square in Srinagar is named after him.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://kashmirobserver.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4806:pantha-chowk-is-now-mehjoor-chowk-&catid=2:local-news&Itemid=3|title=Pantha Chowk is Now Mehjoor Chowk|work=Kashmir Observer|access-date=20 June 2010}}</ref> He is buried near the poet [[Habba Khatoon]] at a site near Athwajan on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000603/windows/main3.htm|title=A grave mistake|last=Bhargava|first=Kavita|date=3 June 2000|work=Tribune India|access-date=20 June 2010}}</ref>

A song featured in ''[[Coke Studio Explorer]]'', "Ha Gulo" is written by Mahjoor and was sung by Kashmiri regional band Qasamir.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://scroll.in/video/886224/ha-gulo-coke-studio-explorers-new-single-features-folk-artists-from-kashmir|title='Ha Gulo': Coke Studio Explorer's new single features folk artists from Kashmir|author=Scroll Staff|work=Scroll.in|access-date=16 July 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor. ''Poems of Mahjoor''. New Delhi: [[Sahitya Akademi|Sahitya Academi]], 1988.
* Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor. ''The Best of Mahjoor: Selections from Mahjoor's Kashmiri Poems'' (translated by Triloki Nath Raina). Srinagar, India: [[Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages|J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages]], 1989.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahjoor, Ghulam Ahmad}}
[[Category:Kashmiri poets]]
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1952 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Kashmiri people]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:Poets from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]

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Mahjoor