Kitni Zalim Hai Teri Angdai: A Book on Jigar Muradabadi, an Enigmatic Urdu Poet of Love and Passion
(A book review)
Kitni Zalim Hai Teri Angdai: A Book on Jigar Muradabadi, an Enigmatic Urdu Poet of Love and Passion
By Zahid M. Shah
Reviewed by: Dr. Mohammad Aleem
Only a few Urdu poets could surpass his name and fame beyond his time. Jigar Muradabadi was one of them. He was born in Muradabad, a historical city in West Uttar Pradesh that is now known worldwide for its intricate copper work.
Jigar, whose original name was Ali Sikandar, was born on April 6, 1890, in a religious family. His father was Maulvi, as were his grandfather and great-grandfather. It stretched to the first caliph of Islam, the very revered Abu Bakar.
But, contrary to his set ancestral occupation of Islamic preaching and teaching, he chose the path of love and poetry. It is very famously said that only a person with a delicate heart and feelings could write great poetry in Urdu, which is known for its treasure trove of poetry laced with delicate love and passion.
Jigar’s life journey as a person and poet was not a journey of roses and their sweet smell. It was full of thorns. In the very early stages of life, on the one hand, he developed his love and passion for Urdu poetry but also strayed from the set path of an ethical life. He became addicted to two bad things: wine and women, which impacted him hard throughout his life. He was married twice to a courtesan, and in both marriages, he failed miserably because of his unregulated family life, which demands dedication and discipline of the utmost kind. He was a drunkard, vagabond, sluggish, lazy, and semi-literate person who couldn't go beyond his ninth standard. Despite all the odds, he became a famous Urdu poet who is still remembered reverently even after his death of almost seven decades. He died in 1960. Before his death, he had turned himself into a God-fearing person and performed Haj.
Jigar’s fame surpassed all boundaries. He earned many laurels and awards, like the Sahitya Academy Award in 1958 for his poetry collection, Atish-e-Gul, Shair-e-Hind, and Padma Vibhushan. He was also awarded a D.Litt. by the Aligarh Muslim University, the second poet after Allama Iqbal to get it. The first prime minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, used to hold him in high regard. His love for his birthplace, India, was so strong and intense that when Pakistan offered him citizenship with huge perks and benefits, he solemnly declined it. His fame also reached the tinsel city of Mumbai through Mashaira, where he earned respect from actors like the legendary Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar. Incidentally, despite his fame and high demand from the Hindi film industry as a lyricist, he did not fall for its charm and kept serving literature until the last breath of his life.
Unfortunately, we do not have a comprehensive biographical book on him, as his contemporary, Josh Malihabadi, wrote his autobiography, Yadon Ki Barat. It should be written professionally.
The famous Bollywood writer and actor, Zahid M. Shah, tried to write an interesting book for Hindi readers after much research and insight. I congratulate him for penning this book, which not only helps bring the life information of this great poet to the public again but also some of his poems, which should be translated into English and other world languages. Unfortunately, Urdu people lament more than doing anything good or revolutionary.
Some of his famous couplets are the following:
Ham ko miTā sake ye zamāne meñ dam nahīñ
Ham se zamāna ḳhud hai zamāne se ham nahīñ
(It is not the power of time that can erase us
Time itself is from us; we are not from time.)
dil meñ kisī ke raah kiye jā rahā huuñ maiñ
kitnā hasīñ gunāh kiye jā rahā huuñ maiñ
(I am making my way into someone’s heart.
What a beautiful sin I am committing by doing that.)
ye ishq nahīñ āsāñ itnā hī samajh liije
ik aag kā dariyā hai aur Duub ke jaanā hai
(This love is not so easy to understand
There is a river of fire, and you have to pass it, drowning in it.)
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