Raghupati Sahay (28 August 1896 – 3 March 1982), also known by his pen name Firaq Gorakhpuri, was an Indian

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, critic, and, according to one commentator, one of the most noted contemporary

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

s from India. He established himself among peers including

Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...

, Yagana Changezi, Jigar Moradabadi and

Josh Malihabadi Josh Malihabadi (born Shabbir Hasan Khan; 5 December 1898 – 22 February 1982) popularly known as Shayar-e-Inqalab (poet of revolution) was a Pakistani poet and is regarded as one of the finest Urdu poets of the era of British India. Kno ...

Early life and career

Raghupati Sahay was born in Banwarpar village of Gorakhpur district on 28 August 1896 in a well-to-do and educated family. He finished his basic education and then completed his Master's degree in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and English literature. Firaq had shown early signs of excellence in Urdu poetry and had always shown attraction towards literature. His contemporaries included famous Urdu poets like

Allama Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

Faiz Ahmed Faiz Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi: فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Out ...

Kaifi Azmi Kaifi Azmi (born Athar Husain Rizvi; 14 January 1919 – 10 May 2002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participate ...

and

Sahir Ludhianvi Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980), popularly known by his pen name (takhallus) Sahir Ludhianvi, was an Indian poet and film song lyricist who wrote primarily in Urdu in addition to Hindi. His work influenced Indian cinema, i ...

. Yet he was able to make his mark in Urdu poetry at an early age. He was selected for the Provincial Civil Service (P.C.S.) and the Indian Civil Service (British India) (I.C.S.), but he resigned to follow

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Non-cooperation movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.

, for which he went to jail for 18 months. Later, he joined

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

as a lecturer in English literature. It was there that he wrote most of his Urdu poetry, including his

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

''Gul-e-Naghma'' which earned him the highest literary award of India, the

Jnanpith Award The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian w ...

, and also the 1960 Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu. During his life, he was given the positions of Research Professor at the University Grants Commission and Producer Emeritus by

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

. After a long illness, he died on 3 March 1982, in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

. Gorakhpuri was well-versed in all traditional metrical forms such as ghazal,

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 ...

, rubaai and qat'aa. He wrote more than a dozen volumes of

Urdu poetry 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 ...

, a half dozen of

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

, as well as four volumes of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

prose on literary and cultural subjects. His biography, ''Firaq Gorakhpuri: The Poet of Pain & Ecstasy'', written by his nephew Ajai Mansingh was published by Roli Books in 2015.Books reflect a political fever
''Times of India''. 23 January 2015 The book included anecdotes from his life and translations of some of his work.

Selected works

*''Gul-e-Naghma '' گلِ نغمہ *''Gul-e-Ra'naa'' گلِ رعنا *''Mash'aal'' مشعال *''Rooh-e-Kaayenaat'' روحِ کائنات *''Roop'' رُوپ (Rubaayi رُباعی ) *''Shabnamistaan'' شبنمِستان *''Sargam'' سرگم *''Bazm-e-Zindagi Rang-e-Shayri'' بزمِ زندگی رنگِ شاعری

Awards

*1960 – Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu *1968 –

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

*1968 – Soviet Land Nehru Award *1969 –

(First Jnanpith Award for Urdu literature) *1970 –

Sahitya Akademi Fellowship The Sahitya Akademi Fellowship is a literary honour in India bestowed by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.Quote: "In his acceptance speech when India's National Academy of Letters (Sahitya Akademi) in 1997 conferred its h ...

*1981 – Ghalib Academy Award

Death and legacy

Firaq Gorakhpuri died on 3 March 1982 at age 85.Remembering the greatest Urdu poet since Ghalib, Firaq Gorakhpuri
''India Today''. 3 March 2016 Firaq fought for secularism all his life and played a key role against the then government's effort to label Urdu as a language of the Muslims.

References

External links

Best of Firaq Gorakhpuri's ghazals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorakhpuri, Firaq 1896 births 1982 deaths Indian male poets Urdu-language poets from India Hindu poets People from Gorakhpur University of Allahabad alumni University of Allahabad faculty Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship Recipients of the Jnanpith Award Poets from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian poets Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education 20th-century Indian male writers