Courteous greetings on the occasion of 120th birth anniversary of Bengali poet, writer, musician Late Kazi Nazrul Islam. Popularly known as Nazrul, he produced a large body of poetry and music with themes that included religious devotion and rebellion against oppression. Nazrul Islam received religious education and as a young man worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned about poetry, drama, and literature while working with the rural theatrical group Letor Dal. He joined the British Indian Army in 1917. After serving in the British Indian Army in the Middle East (Mesopotamian campaign) during World I, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Calcutta. He criticised the British Raj and called for revolution through his poetic works, such as “Bidrohi”.
Nazrul’s writings explored themes such as freedom, humanity, love, and revolution. He opposed all forms of bigotry and fundamentalism, including religious, caste-based and gender-based. Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his songs and poems. He profusely enriched ghazals in the Bengali language.
Nazrul did have the formal education of Rabindranath and as a result his poems did not follow the literary practices established by Rabindranath. Due to this he faced criticism from followers of Rabindranath. Despite their differences, Nazrul looked to Rabindranath Tagore as a mentor.
Nazrul started a bi-weekly magazine, Dhumketu (“ধূমকেতু”, ‘Comet’) on 12 August 1922 that was critical of the British Empire. Earning the moniker of the “rebel poet”, Nazrul aroused the suspicion of British Raj authorities. The Police raided the office of Dhumketuafter it published “Anondomoyeer Agomone” (“আনন্দময়ীর আগমনে”), a political poem, in September 1922. Nazrul was arrested on 23 January 1923 and charged with sedition. He presented a long argument in the court, a excerpt of what he said:
I have been accused of sedition… To plead for me, the king of all kings, the judge of all judges, the eternal truth the living God… I am a poet; I have been sent by God to express the unexpressed, to portray the un-portrayed. It is God who is heard through the voice of the poet… I am an instrument of God. The instrument is not unbreakable, but who is there to break God?
