Wamiq Jaunpuri


                                                  

Born in Kajgaon, a sleepy hamlet in the district of Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, Syed Ahmad Mujtaba Zaidi al Wasti aka Wamiq Jaunpuri went on to make a name for himself in the world of Urdu poetry. But the tragedy is such that not many people now know about him. Students of Urdu literature are also lost when his name is mentioned.

In my childhood days whenever I visited Kajgaon - my native place - I’d hear elders talk about him in reverential tones. I have faint recollection of going to his house on couple of occasions, and even catching a glimpse or two of him, but that’s all. I came to know about him as a poet when I read his masterpieces Bhooka Bangal (about the Bengal famine in 1943 when millions died) and Karl Marx (perhaps, the greatest tribute paid to Karl Marx in Urdu poetry). He writes about Marx in such glowing words:

vo kalim –e-be-tajalli, vo masih –e- be-salib

Translated in English,

A Moses without manifestation, a Christ without a cross

Somewhere else he writes about the dawn he is waiting for:

mujhe us sahar ki ho kya khushi jo ho zulmaton mein ghiri hui

meri sham – e gham ko jo loot le mujhe us sahar ki talash hai

There’s one couplet of his that I am a big fan of:

Haarne jeetne se kuch nahi hota ‘wamiq’

Khel har saans pe hai daao lagaate rehna

He came from a well-educated family and his father Khan Bahadur Syed Mohammad Mustafa was the first civil servant from Kajgaon (the year was 1914). A very interesting fact about Kajgaon is that from the 75 odd households that it has, it has produced 47 IAS Officers. After Khan Bahadur, it was Indu Prakash Singh, who cracked the IAS exam (in 1952 or 53). He went on to become a diplomat, economist and author.  

Coming back to Wamiq Jaunpuri; he was one of the most important poets of the Progressive Writer’s Movement and his poetry mainly dealt with the ‘sorrows of the world.’ His contribution to Urdu literature was recognised by honouring him with awards like Soviet Land Nehru, Mirza Ghalib & Imtiyaz e Meer amongst others. Till the end of his life he never gave up on his Marxist ideology. What many do not know is that apart from being a first-rate poet, he was also a fine painter.
- NZ
23.8.2019
BN: 105






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