Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor
(1885-1952)
by Braj B. Kachru
 Mahjoor has a place of honor among the poets of Kashmir. He is especially
noted for
two things. First, he introduced a new style into Kashmiri poetry.
Second, he introduced a new thought into Kashmiri poetry.
Mahjoor wrote poems of freedom and progress in
Kashmiri. These songs awakened the sleeping Kashmiris. He came with a new
voice and a new (literary) form.
Mahjoor was a poet of love and communal harmony.
In his earlier days, he used to write only love poetry, but (later) he
also wrote forceful poems about freedom.
Mahjoor's real name was Ghulam Ahmad. But as a
poet, he adopted the pen
name 'Mahjoor'. He was born in eighteen hundred
and eighty-five in Metragam. He has written poetry in Persian and Urdu
as well.
Mahjoor worked as a patwa:ri: (pathva:r') in Kashmir.
Along with his official duties, he used to write poetry in Kashmiri. Mahjoor
had his first Kashmiri poem published in 1918. After this, he composed
poetry only in Kashmiri. His songs became very popular. He wrote on such
topics as love, communal harmony, and social reform, and also wrote on
the plight of the Kashmiris. He wrote about youth, the flowers of Nishat
Garden, a peasant girl, a gardener, the golden oriole, and a Free Kashmir.
At that time, such songs were unknown in Kashmiri poetry. It was Mahjoor
who gave these to us.
Mahjoor was sixty-seven years old when he passed
away in 1952. The death of Mahjoor was a great loss to both the Kashmiri
language and (Kashmiri) poetry. But, Mahjoor's songs are still on the lips
of every Kashmiri. Through these songs, his name will live forever.
<<<
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Come, O Gardener
by Gulam Ahmad Mehjoor
Come, O Gardener!
Come to create the glory of a new spring.
A spring in which
the gul will bloom,
the bulbul will sing.
The garden is desolate;
the dew is mourning.
And the gul in torn
robes
looks perplexed.
Come, O Gardener!
To rekindle the gul
To rejuvenate the bulbul.
Come, O Gardener!
Weed out the nettle from the flower-beds
And look at row after row of hyacinth,
Come and make a smiling garden.
Who can free a captive bird mourning in
his cage?
You must bring your own freedom, O, Gardner!
Wake up, O Gardener, to realize that
power and riches.
Comfort and kingship,
all these are at your feet
only after you realize yourself;
O Gardener!
Come, O Gardener!
to awaken your garden,
to say goodbye to the strains of gul,
to say goodbye to the strains of bulbul;
And--
bring about an earthquake,
bring about a storm,
bring about a rumbling thunder,
bring about a tornado.
<<<
Click here for Real Audio clips >>>
Reproduced
from:
 An
Introduction to Spoken Kashmiri
by Braj B. Kachru (URL: http://kachru.com)
Department
of Linguistics, University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois
61801 U.S.A.
June, 1973
 The
Best of Mahjoor
Mahjoor
has a place of honor among the poets
of Kashmir. He is especially noted for
two things. First, he introduced a new
style into Kashmiri poetry. Second, he
introduced a new thought into Kashmiri
poetry. Mahjoor wrote poems of freedom
and progress in Kashmiri. These songs
awakened the sleeping Kashmiris. He
came with a new voice and a new
(literary) form.
>>>
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