Kashmiri

KASHMIRI LITERATURE

Lal Ded (14th century): Lal Ded or Lalleshwari as some prefer to call her, was admittedly the greatest saint-poetess of Kashmir whose influence on the culture and ethos of Kashmiri people is immense. She is worshipped as the composer of the famous Vakhs (Skt. Vak), an old Kashmiri verse form - an aphoristic quartrain - with which she expressed her experience of the Self and the Universe. Her Vakhs are rife with Shaiva as well as Buddhist philosophy.

Sheikh Noor-ud-din (1378-1438): Also known as Sheikh-ul-Alam and Nund Rishi, Noor ud din established the rishi cult or the 'Order of Rishis', which had at its core a faith that laid emphasis on the purity of conduct, self-abnegation and love for all. His verses or Shruky (pithy sayings) as they are called in Kashmir are even referred to as the Kashmiri Quran. These sayings were compiled by his disciples into Rishinama.

Avatar Bhatt (15th century): Avatar Bhatt was a court-poet to King Zain-ul-Abidin and a noted scholar of Sanskrit and Persian. He is known for his work Banasur Katha (The Story of the Demon Banasur), a long narrative poem of haunting beauty which is valued, apart for its poetic merit, for the light it sheds on the state of the Kashmiri language in the 15th century when it had just emerged from the Prakrit-Apabhramsha stage to assume its modern form.

Mahmud Gami (1765-1855): Gami introduced in Kashmiri the Persian forms of the masnavi and ghazal. He is noted for his work Yusuf Zulaikha, a poem which is a major contribution to Kashmiri literature. It is the first and the most popular masnavi in Kashmiri. It comprises 700 verses and has also been rendered into the German by the famous 19th century European scholar Fredrich Burkhard.

Paramanda (1791-1885): Parmananda (real name: Nand Ram) introduced a new element of joyous abandon in Kashmiri poetry. Paramanda's work consists of three epic poems, Radha Swayamwara (Radha Choosing Her Husband), Sudama Charit and Shiv Lagana, besides a host of long as well as short poems, devotional, didactic and mystical, including Karma Bhumika, Sahaz Vyatsar and Amarnath Yatra.

Maqbool Shah Kralawari (1820-'76): Maqbool Shah Kralawari was educated in Persian literature and is considered as the finest lyricist of the 19th century Kashmir. In his Malanama, he lacerated the 'mullahs' for being hand in glove with the ruthless landlords but masquerading as the defenders of virtue and the redeemers of the poor. On the other hand in his Grisynama he exposed the foibles and frivolities of the landless peasantry reduced to sub-human condition. However, his creative genius reached its apogee in Gulrez (Scattered Flowers). It is one of the best mathnavis (descriptive poem) of the 19th century.

Shams Faqir (1843-1904): Faqir, a major Kashmiri Sufi poet of the late 19th century, is admired for the depth and range of the mystical element in his poetry. His poetry derived its vigour from the synthesis of Islamic mysticism and Kashmiri Shaivism.

Krishnajoo Razdan (1850-1926): Known for his great epic poem Shiva Parinay (Shiva's Marriage) Razdan also wrote more than 300 lyrics, devotional songs and poems with religious and philosophical themes. His poetry is cherished for its unsurpassed lyricism.

Rasool Mir (d.1870): Rasool Mir was one of the most beloved of the poets of Kashmir. He wrote about a hundred ghazals, vatsuns (short lyrics) and nats (eulogies). He is believed to have written a mathnavi entitled Zeba-Nigar which is lost. His love lyrics represent a watershed in Kashmiri poetry marking a bold departure from the well recognised but restricted traditions of the past. He has even translated famous Persian poets like Hafiz, Khusro and Naziri.

Ghulam Ahmed Mahjoor (1885-1952): Mahjoor is considered to be the harbinger of the modern age in Kashmiri literature. A poet of the masses, he is known for his Poshe-mati-Janano (My Friend, mad for Flowers) and Kuliyat-i-Mahjoor (Complete Works of Mahjoor). His poem Gristy Kur (The Country Lass) made Tagore call him the Wordsworth of Kashmir. His patriotic poems like 'Wallotta Baghbano' (Arise,O Gardener) and 'Gulshan Watan Chhu Sonuy' (Our Country, a garden, is ours) have become immortal songs with the people of Kashmir.

Samad Mir (1894-1959): Samad Mir, known for his outstanding work Akanandun (The Only Son), continued the Sufi-mystic tradition in Kashmiri poetry in the 20th century. Samad Mir has used the folk tale of Akanandun to give expression to his own mystical ideas and present a synthesis between Tassavuf (sufism) and Trika (Shaivism).He has translated spiritual experience into poerty.

Dina Nath Nadim (1916-1988): Nadim is considered to be one of the greatest and influential poets of the 20th century Kashmir. He is known for his only collection of poems Shihily Kul (The Shady Tree). The collection includes his ghazals, vakhs, haikus, sutras, songs, sonnets and other small poetic forms representing different phases of his life as a poet. The anthology won him the Sahitya Academy Award for 1986. His poems Mye Chham Aash Pagahich (I Hope For Tomorrow), Bu Gyav Ni Aaz (My Song Shall Remain Unsung Today) and Nabad Tyathavyan (Candy and Wormseed) are some of the finest poems of modern Kashmiri Literature.