Kazi Nazrul Islam was born on May 24, 1899 in a very poor family at the village of Churulia in district of Burdwan ,West Bengal. His father was Imam and caretaker of local mosque. His mother`s name was Zaheda Khatun He had two brothers and one sister. His father died when he was nine years old. At the age of 10, after passing the lower primary examination he started teaching in a religious school to help financially his poverty-stricken family. He also performed the job of Imam of a mosque .He learnt Hindu mythology and Sanskrit literature along with Quran .In 1910,while he was in class V, he was accompanied with the Leto group that used to perform music, dance and drama for the recreation of the rustic people .

The young poet wrote a number of folk plays for his group, which included Chasar San, Shakunibadh, Raja Yudhisthirer San, Data Karna, Akbar Badshah, Kavi Kalidas, Vidyabhutum, Rajputrer San, Buda Saliker Ghade Ron and Meghnad Badh.In 1912-13, he joined the Kabi troupe of Basudeva and then served as the cook to a railway guard and was an apprentice with a baker`s shop. In 1914,he went to Mymensingh and got admission in Shiarsol Raj School in class VII. During his school life Nazrul studied Bengali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian literature and classical music. From there he escaped Lahore to join the army to the Bengali Regiment before taking the Matriculation examination.

After few years he returned to Calcutta in 1920 and started writing poetry, short stories essays, novels and songs. He joined the staff of the "Bangiya Mussalman Sahitya Samiti". He also worked as a newspaper editor, a film actor, a freedom fighter and a political worker. His first collection of poems "Bodhan", "Shat-il-Arab", "Kheya-parer Tarani" and "Badal Prater Sharab" got lots of critical accolades.. In October 1921, Nazrul went to Santiniketan to meet Rabindranath Tagore. Despite many differences, Nazrul looked to Tagore as a mentor and the two were pretty close to each other. He also wrote a memorable poem on Tagores death. In 1921 he got married to Nargis. His first anthology of poems, the "Agniveena" in 1922, which got outstanding success.In this year his famous poem collection `Bidrohi` was published. He also published his first volume of short stories, the "Byather Dan" and "Yugbani", an anthology of essays in this year.

He got the title `Bidrohi Kabi` for his revolutionary writings. Nazrul started a bi-weekly magazine, "Dhumketu" on August 12, 1922 where he used to write revolutionary poems,articles etc. His passionate activism in the Indian independence movement through those writings often led to his imprisonment several times by British goverment.While in prison, Nazrul wrote the "Rajbandir Jabanbandi" and condemned Islamic fundamentalism, orthodox traditions and bigotry in society. Upholding the life and abysmal conditions of the downtrodden masses of India, Nazrul advocated for their emancipation.

He wrote over 2600 songs. To bring variations in his songs not only he used 200 ragas of classical music but also adapted different forms like- Dhrupad, Khayal, Tappa, Thumri ,Dadra ,Kajri, Chaiti, Rasia,ghazal, kirtan , baul, jhumur, Santhali folksongs, jhanpan or the folk songs of snake charmers, bhatiali ,bhaoaia and even western music. He retrieved some lost ragas and created few ragas and talas. He wrote many inspirational songs during freedom movement. His songs on communal harmony, socialistic inspiration and economic freedom are worth a special mention. Despite being a Muslim by birth, he composed several devotional songs like Bhajans, Shyamasangeets, Agamanis, Kirtans and also a large number of religious songs on invocation to Shiva, Lakshmi and Swaraswati and on the theme of love of Radha and Krishna.

He increased the horizon of the Bengali literature. He is considered as one of the greatest poets of Bengal as well as the whole Indian subcontinent. Nazrul was awarded the Jagattarini Gold Medal in 1945 - the highest honour for work in Bengali literature by the University of Calcutta.he also got the Padma Bhushan in 1960. He was awarded Ekushey Padak by the Government of Bangladesh and given the Honorary D.Litt. by the University of Dhaka.Nazrul is officially recognised as the national poet of Bangladesh. After a sudden attack of paralysis on July 10, 1942, he became silent forever and spent as such a further spell of 34 years of his life before he ultimately died on August 29, 1976 at the age of 77.