Munawwar Rana: The Post-Modern Poet Who Celebrated Oriental Values
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
22 January
2024
His Poetry
Transcended Borders
Main
Points:
1. Munawwar
Rana was one of the most celebrated poet of Urdu after Independence.
2. He was the
last of the most popular Indian Urdu poets after Bashir Badr, Nida Fazli and
Rahat Indori.
3. After
Wahshat Kalkatvi and Pervez, Shahdi, Munawwar Rana was the most prominent Urdu
poet from Bengal.
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Munawwar
Rana/ANI
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The picture
of film writer and poet Javed Akhtar lending his shoulder to Munawwar Rana' s
coffin was very suggestive. It was a meaningful coincidence that both the poets
celebrated the Mother. It was the 1975 film Deewar written by Salim
-Javed duo that had the famous dialogue: Mere Paas Maa Hai (Mother is my
precious possession). Munawwar Rana had carried on the legacy of celebrating
the mother in poetry and the summum bonum of his poetry was: Mere Paas
Maa Hai. He was the first Urdu poet who sang paeans not to an imaginary
doe-eyed girl but to the mother. He presented various shades of the life and
personality of a mother: her sacrifices for her sons and daughters, her power
of endurance, her love and affection etc.
Munawwar
Rana had started his poetic career during the 70s under the patronage of the
senior poet Wali Aasi who turned Munawwar Ali Aatish into Munawwar Rana. Rana
came and settled in Kolkata where his father ran a transport business. In
Kolkata, Rana 's poetic imagination started soaring and soon his poetic calibre
and charisma caught the attention of lovers of poetry. By the 1990s, Munawwar
Rana became a well known poet of Bengal who was equally popular among the Urdu
and Hindi audience. His anthologies were published both in Hindi and Urdu
because his poetry transcended the boundaries of language and countries. His Ghazals
and Nazms (poems) captured the emotions of general masses. His Ghazals
expressed the joys and sorrows, trials and tribulations of the man of the 20th
and 21st century. He did not subscribe to any Ism or ideology like the
Progressivism of the 40s or the modernism of the 70s. He was a wandering
minstrel of the post-modern era who composed Ghazals on every aspect of
the modern life. Poverty, joblessness, opportunism, the fall of moral values,
social evils, ill-effects of industrialisation and urbanisation and the
psychological dilemma of modern man became the topics of Rana's Ghazals.
The most
important contribution of Rana's poetry to the contemporary Urdu poetry,
particularly Ghazal is that his poetry brought the two major communities
of India ---Hindus and Muslims closer and strengthened the cultural bond
between them at a time when the poetry presented in Mushairas and Kavi
Sammelans have increasingly been marred by communal undertones. Munawwar Rana's
poetry celebrates the composite culture of India and the common values of
Indian society. Though he also presents political satire in his Ghazals,
he does not make incendiary and communal remarks like other poets of Urdu and
Hindi.
Munawwar
Rana was the last of the four most popular poets of India after Independence.
Bashir Badr, Nida Fazli, Rahat Indori and Munawwar Rana's poetry transcended
boundaries. The demise of Rana leaves a big vacuum in the arena of Urdu poetry.
Munawwar
Rana's greatness lies also in the fact that he was one of the few poets of
Bengal who had made their mark outside Bengal. Wahshat Kalkatvi was the
greatest Urdu poet of Bengal in the pre-Independence era. He was known also as
Ghalib-e-Thani and was a respected poet in the history of Urdu poetry. Pervez
Shahidi was another poet of Bengal who made a mark by his unique style and
depth of thought. He presented progressive ideas in modern style and diction.
Munawwar Rana was the third poet of Bengal who won international fame by dint
of his poetic art, creativity and flight of imagination. He covered the issues
and topics hitherto untouched by Urdu poets.
Hijrat (migration) has been a favourite topic
of Urdu poets of the Indian sub-continent since the Independence. The partition
of India and the migration following it was the most tragic event in the
history of India. Both Hindus and Muslims suffered hugely during the migration
but the Muslims migrating to Pakistan suffered greater psychological scars as
they were called Muhajir (migrants) and were not assimilated into the
mainstream of Pakistani society. They are still considered outsiders. Urdu
poetry of India and Pakistan is replete with the expression of pain of leaving
one's home and living the life of a migrant in a hostile country. Munawwar
Rana's Ghazals also express the pain and psychological dilemma of
migrants. His epic poem Muhajir Nama is an outstanding piece of poetic art that
recounts the painful experience of those leaving India to migrate to Pakistan.
Muhajir Nama is matchless in its style and diction.
Munawwar
Rana's poetry was a cultural bridge between the Hindus and Muslims. Unlike Urdu
poetry of the pre-Independence era, his poetry does not have an Iranian
atmosphere. His poetry is rooted in Indian culture. The language of his poetry
is also not Persianised as is the poetry of other poets of Urdu. He speaks the
language of the masses. This was the secret of his popularity as a poet of the
masses. His death has left a vacuum in the Urdu poetic world. A voice that sang
the song of love, harmony and human values has become silent. The mother of
Urdu poetry is mourning the death of her beloved son.
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S. Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://newageislam.com/current-affairs/munawwar-rana-modern-poet-oriental-values/d/131560