Best of Majaz (Selected Urdu Poetry of Majaz Lakhnawi with Hindi and English Transliterations)

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About the Book In his short life of 44 years Majaz (1911-1955) produced poetry of the highest calibre and is today counted amongst the stalwarts of Urdu shayari in the Indian subcontinent. Most of his poetry was romantic - revolutionary in nature. His poetry not only enamored the young women of his times, but continues to enthrall readers even today.

Majaz Lakhnawi as he was known was born Asrar-ul-Haq into a highly educated family that boasted of a poetic lineage. Majaz studied in Agra and Aligarh Muslim University. It was in Agra and Aligarh that Majaz was exposed to the poetry of the likes of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Jazbi, Sardar Ali Jafri and Sahir Ludhianvi. He spent most of his time, not in the classes but in attending mushiaras. As a result he was unable to complete his studies and obtain a formal degree, but what it led to was the sprouting of the poetic genius of Majaz. However, Majaz's personal life was very unhappy as he suffered repeated rejections in love, as a result of which the flow of poetry was often interrupted by bouts of depression and despondency leading him to indulge in heavy drinking. This book offers a selection of the best ghazals and nazms of Majaz, translated into English by Kuldip Salil. To help the reader enjoy the richness and beauty of the Urdu language, the original Urdu ghazals and nazms are transliterated and presented both in the Roman and Devnagri scripts.

About the Author Kuldip Salil specialises in translating Urdu poetry into English and vice-versa. Commenting on his translation of Diwan-e-Ghalib into English, eminent critic and writer Khushwant Singh wrote, "I can say without hesitation, these renderings of 'Diwan-E-Ghalib' by Kuldip Salil read better than any I have read by scholars of Urdu, be they Indian, Pakistani or Firangi." He has published seven collections of his poetry including Bees Saal ka Safar, Awaaz ka Rishta , Dhoop ke Saaye Mein and Aaj ke Ghazalkar. His anthology of translated Urdu poetry, Treasury of Urdu Poetry, is extremely popular. He has also translated into English the Urdu poetry of Meer, Ghalib, Faiz, Faraz and Sahir.

Kuldip Salil was born on December 30, 1938 in Sialkot (Pakistan). He completed his post-graduate degree in English and Economics from Delhi University. He retired as a Reader in English from Hans Raj College, Delhi University. He has won a number of awards including the Sahitya Akaderni award for translating Urdu poetry into English and the Delhi Hindi Academy award for his poetry.

Introduction Two Two things have been common to a large number of Urdu poets, alcholism and unrequited love.

Starting with Meer and Ghalib and going on to Sahir and Majaz, these poets had a failed love affair which became a major source of their poetic outpourings. It is not so among Hindi poets though there is a lot of love poetry in Hindi too.

In English, I can think of only two major poets who had an unrequited love affair. One was John Keats whose failed love for Fanny Brawne is well known. But even in Keats's case the failed relationship does not become a major source of his great poetry. The other is W. B. Yeats, whose love for Mand Gonne made Yeats almost mad. He waited till the age of fifty-one for Mand to say `yes' to his marriage proposal. In Yeats's case failed love became a source of his major poetry.

Excessive drinking has been rampant among Urdu poets and has been the undoing of many of them. Jigar Muradabadi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Josh Malihabadi, Mirza Galib, Naresh Kumar Shaad, Adam and even Faiz Ahmed Faiz are the names that immediately come to mind in this context. Unfortunately, Majaz Lucknavi was a victim of both, unrequited love and alcoholism.

Asrar-ul-Haq Majaz Lucknavi was born in 1909, (some say 1911) in Radauli, Uttar Pradesh. His father Siraj-ul-Huq notwithstanding the fact that he was from a landed family, was the first person in Radauli who received higher education and took up a government job. Asrar thus, belonged to a family which while respecting old values of life aspired to be modern.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages