Gopal Mittal (1906–1993) (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Urdu poet Urdu poetry ( ur, ) is a tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Today, it is an important part of the cultures of South Asia. According to Naseer Turabi there are five major poets of Urdu which are Mir Taqi Mir (d.1810), Mirza Ghali ...

, writer, critic and journalist.

Biography

Gopal Mittal was born on 6 June 1906 in

Malerkotla Malerkotla is a city and district headquarters of Malerkotla district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was the seat of the eponymous princely state during the British Raj. The state acceded to the union of India in 1947 and was merged with ...

, Punjab Province, British India. His father, Walayati Ram Jain, was a renowned practitioner of

Unani Unani or Yunani medicine (Urdu: ''tibb yūnānī'') is Perso-Arabic traditional medicine as practiced in Muslim culture in South Asia and modern day Central Asia. Unani medicine is pseudoscientific. The Indian Medical Association describes U ...

medicine. After completing his schooling in

as a student of Malerkotla High School, and college education in 1932 as a student of Sanatan Dharma College, Lahore, he joined "Subah e Ummid" a newspaper published from

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...

that soon folded up. He then joined "Shahkar" published by Maulana Tajwar Najeebabadi from

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

, and alongside also wrote for "Jagat Laxmi", a Film-magazine. He lived in

till August 1947 and thereafter moved to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

where he worked for the Daily Urdu newspapers, "Milap" and "Tej". In 1953 he left this employment and started publication of Monthly Tahreek that he also edited. From 1956 to 1979, Makhmoor Saeedi was the Joint Editor of this magazine. Gopal Mittal was 87 years old when he died in

on 15 April 1993.

Literary life

Gopal Mittal was a progressive writer and a creative writer. He has written some of the finest verses on "man and his destiny." "His complete works published in 1994 contain a rich fare of ghazals, nazms and qatas besides diadactic and religious verses." He was a more fluent writer of

nazm ''Nazm'' () is a major part of Urdu and Sindhi poetry that is normally written in rhymed verse and also in modern prose-style poems. is a significant genre of Urdu and Sindhi poetry; the other one is known as ''ghazal'' (). is significantly ...

s. Till date four collections of his nazms, ghazals and qatas have come to light, they are – 1) ''Dorahaa'', 2) ''Saharaa Mein Azaan'', 3) ''Sharaar e naghmaa'' and 4) Sachche Bole. He had also penned his memoirs titled – Lahore kaa jo zikr kiyaa (). His complete works, titled ''Kulliyaat e Gopal Mittal'', were published after his demise. His life and works were commented upon and appraised by leading poets and writers –

Jagan Nath Azad Jagan Nath Azad (5 December 1918 – 24 July 2004), List.No.380 was an Indian Urdu poet, writer and academician. He wrote over 70 books, including poetry collections, poems, biographies, and travelogues. He was an authority on the life, ...

, Makhmur Saeedi,

Wazir Agha Wazir Agha ( ur, ) was a Pakistani Urdu language writer, poet, critic and essayist. He has written many poetry and prose books. He was also editor and publisher of the literary magazine "Auraq" for many decades. He introduced many theories in U ...

, Balraj Komal, Hamidi Kashmiri, Bani, Hayatullah Ansari, Rashid Hasan Khan, Azad Gulati, Krishan Mohan, Zia Fatehabadi and Nazir Siddiqi, whose assessments were compiled and edited by Kumar Pashi and published in 1983 titled ''Gopal Mittal – shakhsiyat aur fan'' (). Earlier a similar earlier exercise conducted and later on compiled by Muhammad Abdulhakim titled ''Gopal Mittal – ek mutalia'' was published by Nazish Book Centre in 1977. In 2005 an appraisal of his poetry conducted by Ziyauddin was published titled ''Gopal Mittal: Shakhs Va Shair''.

Bibliography

Urdu Poetry: * ''Doraahaa'' (1944) * ''Saharaa mein azaan'' (1970) * ''Sharaar e naghmaa'' (1984) * ''Sachche Bole'' (1988) * ''Kulliyaat e Gopal Mittal'' (1994) Memoirs: * ''Lahore ka jo zikr kiya''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mittal, Gopal 1906 births 1993 deaths People from Sangrur district Urdu-language poets from India Hindu poets 20th-century Indian poets Indian male poets Poets from Punjab, India 20th-century Indian male writers