![]() Most of the Kashmiri ballads have a legendary hero whose adventures and exploits form their main theme. These ballads throb with the very life of Kashmir. These are the word pictures of unsophisticated emotions, and in them are enshrined the relics of Kashmiri home-spun traditions. The period of their composition cannot be determined with any certainty but they seem to date back to several centuries past. Much of the old Kashmiri poetry is not extant and still less is known of early poets who composed and sang in their own mother tongue other than Sanskrit language. The life of Kashmiri poetry may be divided into four periods. The first period may be taken to embrace (1) Giti Kantha (2) Lall and (3) Shiekh Noor-ud Din. The second period begins with Habba Khotan (Khatoon) and ends with Arinimal (Mrs. Bhawani Dass Kachru) and Prakash Bhat. The third period begins with Mahmud Garni and comes down to Azizullah Haqqani. The modern period of Kashmiri poetry may be taken separately to form the fourth period. Pirzada Ghulam Ahmad 'Mahjoor' is the standard bearer of this period. This period may also be sub-divided into two parts: pre-independence (1925-1947 A.D) and Post-Independence (1947 A. D. onwards). Early Kashmiri Poetry ![]() Second Period of Kashmiri Poetry For a long time after the death of the mystic poets, poetry was on a downhill in Kashmiri literature. It re-emerged with Habba Khatoon. The kind of poetry she write was chiefly romantic. Up to her time poets were expected to sing the love of God but she sang of human love. She talks of personal and substantive love as opposed to the earlier form of "transcendental passion". Her own personal experiences, of a failed marriage and love story, were significant influences in the emotional content of her poetry. A century later another lady, named Arnimal, wrote similarly moving poetry. Her own stories of desertion filled her poems with rich imagery and pathos. The poems were Habba Khatoon and Arnimal, were the only ones in Kashmiri poetry which spoke about issues from a feminine viewpoint. Third Period of Kashmiri Poetry ![]() Modern Kashmiri Poetry Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor's poetry brought about a Renaissance in Kashmiri literature. He had come into close contact with the downtrodden peasants and villages who were being exploited by the feudal system, and he passionately takes up their cause in his poetry. He was also a strong supporter of Hindu Muslim unity, as he believed that all Kashmiri people were characterized by high principles of brotherhood, tolerance and communal amity. He even wrote beautiful nature poetry as can be seen in his work Gulshan Vattan Chu honey (Our Land is a Lovely Garden) where he sings of the beauty of nature. The simple language of his poems and the lyrical sweetness made his poems extremely popular. Mahjoor was followed by Abdul Ahad Azad who too like him took to revolutionary ideas, though he demanded a socialist type of society as opposed to Mahjoor's nationalism. Men like Zinda Koul, better known as "Master ji", wrote about issues like love, freedom and happiness. He believes in the supremacy of the spirit over reason. After the formation of the people's government following Independence, there was the rise of a new batch of poets who idealized socialistic realism as an all-pervasive literary value. They became the people's voice in expressing their concern against aristocratic exploitation, corruption and imperialist designs on the valley of Kashmir. They experimented with new forms and new themes. The leader of this progressive group, as it came to be known, was Dina Nath Nadim. He was the most significant poet of the new generation. He influenced many poets. Abdul Rehman Rahi is significant among them. Rahi also is a poet of revolution and wrote some propagandist poems. He introduced two new things into Kashmiri poetry- the monologue and the symbolist technique. Mirza Arif is another great modern poet of Kashmir. Though he does not belong to the group of socialist poets, he, too, has reflected on the different facts of social and political life in Kashmir and he writes about exploitation, hypocrisy and falsehood. Other modern poets of Kashmir include Mohammad Amin Kamil, Noor Mohammad Roshan, Ghulam Nabi Firaq and Moti Lal Saqi etc. |