Aurobindo Ghose

Today 24th May, is the 119th birth anniversary of Kazi Nazrul Islam, a Bengali poet, writer, musician, and revolutionary, who due to his prolific, universal and diverse creativity rather belonged to the entire world . He was popularly known as Vidrohi Kavi (Rebel Poet) and was bestowed the title of the National Poet of Bangladesh.

Bengal society and culture never knew the difference between man and man based on religion. In Bengal, before Independence, Kazi Nazrul was the peoples' poet , irrespective of caste, creed or class. Nazrul epitomised what may be termed as the truly secular.

I am able to think of five great poets of Bengal. Kaviguru Rabindranath Tagore. Vidrohi Kavi Kazi Nazrul Islam. Workers' Poet Sukanta Bhattacharya. Modern Poet (Bengal's T. S. Eliot) Jibadananda Das. Finally, Bengal's own Lear and nonsense rhymer, Satyajit Ray's father Sukumar Ray.

Today, as never before, it is important to celebrate a persona like Kazi Nazrul Islam. As an introduction to this Great Poet for my Facebook friends, am reproducing the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry on Kazi Nazrul Islam.

" Kazi Nazrul Islam (Bengali: কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম, pronounced: ) (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengali poet, writer, musician, and revolutionary. He 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's activism for political and social justice earned him the title of "Rebel Poet" (Bengali: বিদ্রোহী কবি; Bidrohi Kobi). His compositions form the avant-garde genre of Nazrul Sangeet (Music of Nazrul). The same genre is known as Nazrul Geeti (Music of Nazrul) in India. In addition to being revered in Bangladesh, he is equally commemorated and revered in India, especially in the Bengali Speaking states of West Bengal and Tripura." (Wikipedia )

Hastakshep