The Great War

by Rakhshanda Jalil

  And not the wing of the moth or the sad song of the nightingale

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  About the Contributors

  RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861–1941)

  A poet and musician from Bengal, better known by his sobriquet Gurudev, Tagore is credited with reshaping not only Bengali literature and the arts but imbuing Indian culture with a new, modern sensibility. The first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his collection of poems Gitanjali, he expanded the ashram-like Shantiniketan set up by his father and transformed it into a model ‘school of ideals’. A peripatetic traveller who had visited 30 countries across five continents, Tagore infused new ideas of nationalism and identity into the modern Indian discourse.

  ABDULLAH HUSSEIN (1931–2015)

  The Pakistani novelist received early recognition for his epic novel Udaas Naslein, published in 1963, for which he received the Adamjee Literary Award The novel was hailed as a literary masterpiece and entered the canon of modern Urdu literature. In 1999, Hussein translated the seminal novel into English himself as The Weary Generations. His other works include Baagh (Garden), Nadaar Log (Poor People), Raat (Night), Qaid (Imprisonment), t
wo collections of short stories titled Nashaib (Slope) and Fareib (Deceit) as well as an English novel, Emigre Journeys, which was adapted into a film by BBC 2 as Brothers in Trouble.

  CHANDRADHAR SHARMA GULERI (1883–1922)

  The writer and scholar of Hindi, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Pali from Jaipur took the name of his ancestral village Guler in Himachal Pradesh as his nom de plume. From his varied literary output of poems, short stories and essays, he is best remembered as the author of Usne Kaha Tha, first published in 1915. It is said to be the first short story in Hindi, one that has come to be recognised as a definitive story about Indians during the Great War. Guleri is also remembered for his efforts to preserve the Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur.

  AZMATULLAH KHAN

  Khan served in the Imperial Service Lancers from 1914 to 1920. For his exemplary conduct in commanding his regiment, he was praised by the British Army and the Nizam of Hyderabad and given the Order of British India and Order of the Nile. Khan was also a poet who wrote in the modernist style and was a staunch campaigner against the ghazal style of Urdu poetry.

  KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM (1899–1976)

  The poet, writer, musician and revolutionary from Bengal is the national poet of Bangladesh. Popularly known as Nazrul, he produced a large body of poetry and music with themes that included religious devotion and spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. Nazrul Islam’s activism for political and social justice earned him the title of Bidrohi Kobi, or the Rebel Poet. His compositions form the avant-garde genre of Nazrul Sangeet (Music of Nazrul). Nazrul Islam and his works are equally commemorated and celebrated in Bangladesh and India, particularly in India’s Bengali-speaking states such as West Bengal, parts of Assam and Tripura. His writings explore themes such as love, freedom, humanity and revolution.

  MOHAMED ALI (1878–1931)

  Better known by his full name, Maulana Mohamed Ali Jauhar, Mohamed Ali was an Indian political leader, activist, journalist, scholar and poet. He studied at the Darul Uloom and M.A.O. College in Aligarh, and in 1898 went to Lincoln College, Oxford to study modern history. He and his brother Shaukat Ali, together known as the Ali Brothers, launched the Khilafat Movement with the support of Gandhi. In 1921, he forged a broad coalition with Muslim nationalists like Shaukat Ali, Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari as well as Mahatma Gandhi, who enlisted the support of the Indian National Congress and thousands of Hindus, who joined the Muslims in a demonstration of unity against the British government. Mohamed Ali also supported Gandhi’s call for a national civil resistance movement and inspired hundreds of protests and strikes all over India. He was arrested by the British authorities and imprisoned for two years for what was termed as a seditious speech at the meeting of the Khilafat Conference.

  MULK RAJ ANAND (1905–2004)

  One of the earliest Indian writers to write in English and a founder-member of the All India Progressive Writers’ Association, Anand is known for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indian Writing in English, together with R. K. Narayan, Ahmad Ali and Raja Rao, he was one of the first to gain an international readership. Anand is admired for his novels and short stories, which are considered classic works of modern Indian English literature and notable for their insight into the lives of the oppressed and their analysis of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune. Anand is also among the first writers to incorporate Punjabi and Hindustani idioms into English. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1967.

  RAMAN SINGH CHHINA (1994–)

  Chhina is a graduate Economics student at the University of Edinburgh with a strong interest in Military History especially in the colonial conflicts and the two World Wars.

  AMARJIT CHANDAN (1946–)

  A noted Punjabi poet and writer, Chandan has eight collections of poetry, five books of essays in Punjabi and two bilingual collections — Sonata for Four Hands and The Parrot, the Horse & the Man — to his credit. His poetry has been published in Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, Brazilian-Portuguese, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Marathi, Romanian, Slovenian, Telugu, Turkish and Urdu. Chandan has edited and translated more than 30 anthologies of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction by notable authors such as Bertolt Brecht, Pablo Neruda, Yianni Ritsos, Nazim Hikmet, Ernesto Cardenal, John Berger and more to Punjabi. His Punjabi writings have been published in Lahore in Farsi and poems variously anthologised notably in All That Mighty Heart: London Poems, edited by Lisa Rus Spaar.

  SAROJINI NAIDU (1879–1949)

  Known for posterity as the Nightingale of India, Naidu was a poet, freedom fighter and political leader. Born in Hyderabad, she was educated in Chennai, London and Cambridge. She was a part of the National Movement, became a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, joined him in the famous Salt Satyagraha and fought for Swaraj. Naidu was named President of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and later appointed as the first Governor of the United Provinces, now Uttar Pradesh. Her first collection of poems, The Golden Threshold, was published from London in 1905. She wrote poems on children, nature, patriotism, love and death.

  SHIBLI NOMANI (1857–1914)

  A poet, teacher, traveller and renowned scholar of theology, philosophy, Sufism and literature, Nomani taught Persian and Arabic at the M.A.O. College in Aligarh for 16 years. Here, he met British orientalist Thomas Arnold and other British scholars from whom he learned at first-hand modern Western ideas and thoughts. He also travelled with Arnold to Syria, Egypt, Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries to experience their societies. Nomani wrote a two-volume biography of the life of Prophet Mohammad, Sirat-un Nabi, and set up the Shibli National College in 1883 and the Darul Mussanifin or House of Writers in Azamgarh.

  BRIJ NARAIN CHAKBAST (1882–1926)

  Born into a Kashmiri Pandit family in Awadh, Chakbast is credited as being the exponent of a new style of Urdu poetry, which exhorted a pure and sublime love for the motherland. An active proponent of Home Rule, he wrote several poems on the overarching theme of patriotism. In poems such as Khak-e-Watan, he rued the fact that hubb-e-watan (love for the country) was no more, though khak-e-watan (dust of the country) remained the same.

  HASRAT MOHANI (1875–1951)

  A firebrand revolutionary, ethical dissenter, maverick, romantic poet in the classic ghazal tradition, journalist, politician, parliamentarian and freedom fighter, Mohani was deeply impressed by the Russian Revolution and carried its imprint on all his writings. A deeply religious man (he went on the hajj 13 times), he saw no contradiction between being pan-Islamist, nationalist and a Communist Muslim. Mohani served as the Chairman of the Reception Committee at the founding of the Communist Party of India on 25 December 1925 and was a member of the party until 1927. Along with Azad Sobhani, he set up the Muslim Independent Party in July 1932, but later joined the Muslim League in 1937. Mohani remained in India after the Partition, as an independent-minded, liberal, devout Muslim. He first recorded in prose, and later used as a rallying cry at a labour rally in Calcutta in 1928 the slogan Inquilab Zindabad! He edited the journal Urdu-e-Moalla.

  JOSH MALIHABADI (1898–1982)

  Born in a feudal family of Awadh, Josh always had rebellious views and wrote fiery but extravagantly lyrical poetry. While his first collection, Rooh-e-Adab (1921), established him as a poet of youth and vigour, later years saw him become the undisputed Shair-e-Inquilab, or the poet of revolt and rebellion. Devoted to the cause of nationalism, Josh drew his readers towards the heady idea of freedom like no else hitherto had, using a blend of suggestion and forthrightness, seduction and sermonising, extravagance and subtlety. Producing a number of collections of poetry, each more lyrical, more rousing, more stirring, Josh’s oeuvre has piles upon piles of colourful images tumbling out of a kaleidoscope, dazzling his readers with their astonishing and seemingly inexhaustible variety.

  AKBAR ALLAHABADI (1846–1921)

  Employed as a naib tehsildar, Akbar quickly rose to first become a lawyer and then munsif, sessio
ns judge, district judge and finally Khan Bahadur in 1894. After retirement, he devoted himself to poetry and a passionate engagement with the political and social issues of his age. Using the metaphor of Buddhu Miyan for the Indian Muslim (a confused, none-too-smart sort of little fellow) in some places and Shaikh (a pompous English stooge, occasionally a parody of Sir Syed) elsewhere, Akbar’s poetry reflects all the contradictions of his age.

  MUHAMMAD IQBAL (1877–1938)

  Poet, thinker and visionary, Iqbal drew on the best resources of a liberal Western education, having graduated from the prestigious Government College, Lahore, then studying philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge, in Heidelberg and Munich in Germany, and also Bar-at-Law. Although he returned to teach for two years before quitting government service altogether, he earned no more than a modest livelihood as a lawyer and chose to devote himself entirely to reading and writing. Given his trenchant criticism of the imperial government, he surprisingly enough accepted a knighthood in 1922. In 1927, he was elected to the Punjab Legislative Council. In 1931, he attended the Round Table Conference in London as a member of the Indian Muslim delegation led by the Aga Khan. His prodigious poetry is contained in diverse collections.

  AHMAQ PHAPHOONDVI AKA MUHAMMAD MUSTAFA KHAN MADDAH (1895–1957)

  Born in Phaphoond in the Etawah District of Uttar Pradesh, Phaphoondvi studied in Tibbiya College in Delhi, but before he could set up his practice after completing his education in medicine, he joined the Non-Cooperation Movement against British rule. He took an active part in India’s freedom movement for which he suffered imprisonment. Phaphoondvi is considered to be one of the most important poets of humour and satire, choosing social, political and cultural issues as objects of his satire. He also wrote ghazals and nazms, many of which are patriotic and raise the voice of protest against British domination. Apart from writing poetry, Phaphoondvi also compiled an Urdu-Hindi dictionary, which was published by the Uttar Pradesh government as Urdu-Hindi Shabd Kosh.