​​ABDUL AHAD AZAD: AN UNSUNG PATRIOTIC AND REVOTIONARY POET Professor Muhammad Aslam

​ABDUL AHAD AZAD: AN UNSUNG PATRIOTIC AND REVOTIONARY POET

Professor Mohammad Aslam 

 

​Born as Abdul Ahad Dar in 1903, Abdul Ahad Azad was one of the well-known poets of his era. He is often referred to as the John Keats of Kashmir, as both Azad and Keats wrote modernist poetry and both died very young.  

​In the beginning, Azad’s education remained confined to the holy Quran and a couple of Persian books, but when his elder brother opened a private school, Azad also learned Urdu and Persian. He became a self-learner in his teens.

 In 1918, when Azad was 16, he was appointed as an Arabic teacher in a government primary school in a nearby village called Zuhama where he spent 13 years on a monthly salary of thirteen rupees. ​In 1931, he was transferred to a middle school in Tral as a punitive measure for his alleged involvement in anti-government activities. Although his house was searched, nothing incriminating was found there. It is said that during this period, the death of his only son dwindled Azad’s faith, and he started leaning toward socialism. In 1934, he was posted once again at the Zuhama school, where he spent ten years, up to 1944. After that, for one year, he was transferred to Branwar school, Budgam. In 1945, he was transferred to Surasiyar, and until he died in 1948, he spent his time there.  

​Azad’s sojourn enabled him to study a lot. Especially, he learned the Urdu language and its literature. During this period, Azad also learned mathematics, geography, history, and other subjects. He no longer remained confined to teaching Islamiyat or Arabic but took classes of other subjects also. In 1925, Azad took the munshi-aalim examination which he passed with distinction. He wanted to move to another step known as munshi-fazil also, but he fell ill with pneumonia and couldn’t appear in the examination. Pneumonia and other ailments kept Azad infirm almost throughout his life. ​Azad’s health deteriorated in 1948 at Surasiyar where he suffered from fever and gastritis. He was treated by local Unani practitioners and at the Ratan Rani Hospital in Srinagar where he was diagnosed with appendicitis, for which he should have been operated earlier but wasn’t. When things deteriorated further, he was shifted to the biggest Government hospital, where doctors operated upon him, but the poison from appendicitis had infected his body so much that he couldn’t survive. On 4 April 1948, Azad passed away at the age of 45.

  

​Initially, Azad wrote ghazals, but later on, he tried his hand at other forms of poetry as well. He changed his nom de plume from Janbaaz to Azad in 1935. In 1935, he met Mahjoor, and both became friends. Their friendship continued till Azad’s death, though Mahjoor had distanced himself from Azad because of his communist ideology. Azad would send his ghazals to Mahjoor for review and corrections. He also got engaged in writing Mahjoor’s biography, which eventually became a part of his unparalleled prose work, A History of Kashmiri Language and Poetry (1959). ​Azad felt the need to study Kashmiri poetry in detail. He became a real researcher. Facing enormous odds, he was able to collect enough material for his pioneering work on the history of Kashmiri literature. This work has been acclaimed as equivalent to Browne’s Literary History of Persia (Edward Granville Browne (1862-1926)) and Shibli’s Sher-ul-Ajam. Unfortunately, the book couldn’t see the light of day during his lifetime. It was posthumously published as Kashmiri Language and Poetry in three volumes by the J&K Academy of Art and Culture.  

​Azad was very shy and simple, which kept him away from pomp and show, thereby adversely affecting the chances of publishing his poetry in his lifetime. Although he had written many revolutionary poems, he couldn’t make them known to people or was scared to publish them. However, his meeting with Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz (the then editor of a popular newspaper, Hamdard) in 1942 made Azad known to the people. Azad started contributing to the paper, resulting in a lifelong friendship between him and Bazaz. The duo would often meet and discuss various issues together. Azad and Bazaz were both actively involved in the political matters of Kashmir.  

​Kashmiri poetry had considerably changed at the beginning of the twentieth century from mysticism to a description of Nature and as a tool for awakening the people of Kashmir against cruel autocracy. In this regard, Mahjoor and Azad unequivocally became the harbingers of the renaissance in Kashmiri poetry. Azad was greatly influenced by Mahjoor, but unlike Mahjoor, he couldn’t earn any fame during his lifetime.  

​Azad was greatly influenced by Marxism and became a staunch advocate of socialism. He joined a group of poets who openly advocated communism. On the pattern of the Progressive Writers Front headed by Munshi Prem Chand in India, they established a Front in Kashmir which was banned by the second Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad, in 1953. However, Azad continued to write poetry, especially on social issues and the plight of common Kashmiris—labourers, workers and the poor.  

​Azad was a revolutionary by nature and wanted action against exploiters like landlords, factory owners and the rich. He criticized the political leaders also for the mess in society and instigated the youth to come forward and save their country from the corrupt leaders and officers.

In the beginning, Azad wrote lyrics, but later in his life, he became a rebel and a standard bearer of social revolution and freedom. He was greatly influenced by the Russian Revolution. He repeatedly asks the youth and the poor to shake off their timidity and stand up against oppression and suppression. ​He says:

Why has the fire of self-respect extinguished in you

O, fellow countrymen, wake up from slumber.  

​Later on, in the same poem, he urges his countrymen to fight bravely. He says:

Submerged you lay in the mud of fear

Like an earthworm you are in slumber

Come out like a dragon wavering

O, fellow countrymen, wake up from slumber.  

​In, one of his poems, he tells them:

Following those ahead, you lamb

Look ahead and see for yourself

You might land in a ditch for a meadow

Play with the sword of truth.  

​In his poems ‘The Russian Revolution’ and ‘Marxism’, he says that this Revolution gave power to the powerless and the downtrodden. He found socialism a better alternative and a good system to change the lives of people. ​Azad praises Marx thus:

His faith a mirror to Nature

Refined gold, Spring of springs.  

​Azad hails Marxism for its people-friendliness and for taking them away from poverty and helplessness. He even praises it for talking of faith in faithlessness: “kufra saet karaan roshan deenuk charaag” (Enkindles the candle of faith with faithlessness). Azad likens the Capitalists with Nimrod (the king of Babylon) who considered himself more powerful than God. Azad advised people to unite so that they could overcome their sufferings. ​Like his comrades in the Progressive Movement in Kashmir, Azad’s slogan, too, was:

Rise to shape your life

You become your own guide.  

​Azad was a true socialist, humane at heart, and a real patriot who wanted people to rise above all sectarian considerations and divides. He wanted to foster communal harmony and love for their country. ​He sang:

Different is my tale, music and instruments are different

Different is my tavern, goblets and glass are different

Intoxication is mine, mine is the wine bearer and heart

The music is my own, heart is mine, so is the santoor  

​In his poem, ‘The Question’, he sings:

The water that reared Ghani, Sarfi and Kalhan

Should that water be poisonous for us?  

​In at least six poems, Azad speaks about the beauty of his country and why everybody should work towards building it as a beautiful place to live in. These six poems are: ‘soan vatan’, ‘tarana-e-vatan’, ‘myon vatan’, ‘sawaal’, ‘vatan daaro’ and ‘haa vatan daaro ho’.  

​In, ‘soan vatan’ (Our Country), Azad talks about the boundless beauty of his country and considers it as a heaven. ​He sings:

This bright environment, clear fragrant air

Life to hearts, cure to life

Ailments are cured, hearts get comfort

This our country, a beautiful country

Different flowers smile in their beds  

......................

​Many a pond is restless

Dancing in love for King Inder

As if fairies from beneath the ground fill the goblets  

.............................

​The damsels are getting goblets filled

Watching from a distance the intoxicated narcissuses

How can the bulbul hide their songs  

.................................

​I can’t say clearly, saying openly is vice

This heaven is in sight;

 that heaven invisible

This heaven we see, that we have overheard  

​Azad talks about the beauty of his country, clean air and environment, flora and fauna, and how these life-comforting objects of Nature make the country nunda boan (the most beautiful).  

​The poem entitled ‘My Country’ (myon vatan) is almost the replica of ‘Our Country’. However, here he is more direct in his love for his country. ​He sings:

How beautiful is my country, on seeing it I get the strength

My life and heart be sacrificed in its ways

We love it, Bulbuls and Doves hover around it

With goblets in our hands, this flower garden is blessed

Towards, the end of the poem, Azad sings:

Who you have to be afraid of;

labour begets good fruit

Enough is love for your country, the heart said, blessed be.

Azad, you don’t have money, you are loyal to the country

That’s why ready the countrymen are, blessed are your words.  

​In ‘Country’s Song’ (tarana-e-vatan), Azad sends the message of brotherhood, unity, and equality, he sings:

Together we will say country, my country

Sing the country’s song.  

​In the last two stanzas of the poem, Azad makes people understand why he is singing the song for his country. He says:

All have one God

All will have one voice

Never shall we ask for ourselves only

Separately or individually.  

​Addressing directly his people, Azad exhorts them:

O Brave, move on

Always quest for

O, young brave people

Have hope and yearning!  

​In ‘Sawal’ (A Question), Azad laments the pathetic condition of his country. He laments:

Aliens feel for us;

the world is aghast

How could this jackal victimize the lions?  

​In ‘vatan daaro’ and ‘haa vatan daaro ho’, Azad tells his countrymen to make their country great and beautiful. He tells them not to bow before anybody but to rise and shape their life.  

​In ‘vatan daaro’, Azad says:

Neither you heard nor you saw

What did you get after the great labour?

I would say but I can’t

Listen carefully; find meaning 

 

​In ‘ha vatan daaro ho’, Azad advises his countrymen not to be scared but fight out bravely.

He begins the poem like this:

Why has the fire of self-respect extinguished in you?

O, fellow countryman wake up

You’re crushed in the mud of fear

Like the earthworm you are lying down

O, Python, come out wavering

O, fellow countrymen wake up

  

​In ‘Shama’ (The Candle) Azad, talks of unity, communal harmony, brotherhood and equality. He says:

My religion is unity; my faith equality

This is my clear lesson for all

To me K’abaa and the temple are the same

Be attentive and listen to my tale  

​Azad felt deeply for the people of Kashmir who were living under oppression and suppression by not only the rulers but also landlords, factory owners and the rich. In “shikwah-e-kashmir” (Kashmir’s Complaint), he considers the political, social and economic evils responsible for the plight of the people. His solutions to these evils are courage, love for one’s country, constant struggle and a scientific approach to life.  

​Therefore, he sings in ‘myon vatan’ thus:

Sow the seeds of love;

fill it with love and passion

Among the love, the blessed love is patriotism.  

​He was optimistic about the future of his country and the young generation. Even if his generation did not heed him, he knew the future generations would.

He says:

The world would remember Azad

My love, I would remind you of this sometime  

​Azad was a great revolutionary and patriotic poet par excellence of the era who unfortunately couldn’t get his due recognition during his lifetime. He loved Kashmiris, Kashmir and its beauty which got trampled under the feet of exploiting landlords and the rich. He lamented and cried out, but there were no comforters for him. It is sad that a poet of his stature should have remained unknown in his lifetime, though his elder contemporary and friend Mahjoor became a household name during his lifetime and after his death. Like Mahjoor, Azad wrote in simple language avoiding unnecessary words and metaphors to instill in the young generation a spirit of courage and a sense of devotion to their country. about much in any of the writings on Azad and his poetry.