116-540: Kazi Nazrul Islam ( Bengali : কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম , pronounced [kad͡ʒi ˈnod͡ʒɾul islam] ; 24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengali poet, short story writer, journalist, lyricist and musician. He is the national poet of Bangladesh . Nazrul produced a large body of poetry, music, messages, novels, and stories with themes, that included equality, justice, anti-imperialism, humanity, rebellion against oppression and religious devotion. Nazrul Islam's activism for political and social justice as well as writing
232-483: A Google Doodle . On 20 November 2020, a documentary film about Kazi Nazrul Islam was released in Dhaka titled Biography of Nazrul . There is a metro station named "Kavi Nazrul" on Blue Line of Kolkata Metro . Nazrul Mancha is a auditorium of kolkata. Bengali language Bengali , also known by its endonym Bangla ( বাংলা , Bāṅlā , [ˈbaŋla] ), is a classical Indo-Aryan language from
348-581: A muezzin at a local mosque. He learned about poetry, drama, and literature while working with the rural theatrical group Leṭor Dôl , Leṭo being a folk song genre of West Bengal usually performed by the people from Muslim community of the region. He joined the British Indian Army in 1917 and was posted in Karachi. Nazrul Islam established himself as a journalist in Calcutta after the war ended. He criticised
464-490: A Political Prisoner'). His writings greatly inspired Bengalis of East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War . Nazrul Islam's writings explored themes such as freedom, humanity, love, and revolution. He opposed all forms of bigotry and fundamentalism, including religious, caste -based and gender-based. Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his songs and poems. He introduced
580-492: A bid to lessen this burden on young learners, efforts have been made by educational institutions in the two main Bengali-speaking regions (West Bengal and Bangladesh) to address the opaque nature of many consonant clusters, and as a result, modern Bengali textbooks are beginning to contain more and more "transparent" graphical forms of consonant clusters, in which the constituent consonants of a cluster are readily apparent from
696-590: A different word from a speaker of Standard Bengali in Bangladesh, even though both words are of native Bengali descent. For example, the word salt is লবণ lôbôṇ in the east which corresponds to নুন nun in the west. Bengali exhibits diglossia , though some scholars have proposed triglossia or even n-glossia or heteroglossia between the written and spoken forms of the language. Two styles of writing have emerged, involving somewhat different vocabularies and syntax : Linguist Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar categorises
812-480: A diphthong. The total number of diphthongs is not established, with bounds at 17 and 31. An incomplete chart is given by Sarkar (1985) of the following: In standard Bengali, stress is predominantly initial. Bengali words are virtually all trochaic ; the primary stress falls on the initial syllable of the word, while secondary stress often falls on all odd-numbered syllables thereafter, giving strings such as in সহযোগিতা shô -hô- jo -gi- ta "cooperation", where
928-566: A drop of milk No right have I to rejoice. Poverty weeps within my doors forever As my spouse and my child. Who will play the flute? – Translated by Kabir Chowdhury In what his contemporaries regarded as one of his greatest flairs of creativity, Nazrul Islam vastly contributed in profusely enriching ghazals in Bengali, transforming a form of poetry written mainly in Persian and Urdu . Nazrul Islam's recording of Islamic songs
1044-622: A large scale and were communally limited. Owing to Bengal's geographic location, Bengali areas bordering non-Bengali regions have been influenced by each other. Small numbers of people in Midnapore , which borders Odisha , have used the Odia script to write in Bengali. In the border areas between West Bengal and Bihar , some Bengali communities historically wrote Bengali in Devanagari , Kaithi and Tirhuta . In Sylhet and Bankura , modified versions of
1160-567: A leading neurosurgeon in Vienna, diagnosed that Nazrul Islam had Pick's disease . His condition was judged to be incurable, Nazrul Islam returned to Calcutta on 15 December 1953. On 30 June 1962 Pramila died, and Nazrul Islam remained in intensive medical care. He stopped working due to his deteriorating health. Despite receiving treatment and attention, Nazrul Islam's physical and mental health did not improve; and Nazrul Islam soon died from his long-standing ailments on 29 August 1976. In accordance with
1276-660: A majority in Bangladesh speaks dialects notably different from SCB. Some dialects, particularly those of the Chittagong region, bear only a superficial resemblance to SCB. The dialect in the Chittagong region is least widely understood by the general body of Bengalis. The majority of Bengalis are able to communicate in more than one variety – often, speakers are fluent in Cholitobhasha (SCB) and one or more regional dialects. Even in SCB,
SECTION 10
#17328633520391392-555: A man and woman Whatever great or benevolent achievements That are in this world Half of that was by woman, The other half by man. – Translation by Sajed Kamal Nazrul Islam believed in the equality of women, a view his contemporaries considered revolutionary, as expressed in his poem Naari (women). Nazrul Islam's poems strongly emphasised the confluence of the roles of both sexes and their equal importance to life. His poem "Barangana" (Prostitute) stunned society with its depiction of prostitutes who he addresses in
1508-471: A number of notable Shyamasangeet , Bhajan and Kirtan , combining Hindu devotional music. In 1928, Nazrul Islam began working as a lyricist, composer, and music director for His Master's Voice Gramophone Company. The songs written and music composed by him were broadcast on radio stations across India, including on the Indian Broadcasting Company . I don't see any difference Between
1624-581: A poem titled as "Bidrohī", meaning "the rebel" in Bengali, earned him the title of "Bidrohī Kôbi" ( Rebel Poet ). His compositions form the avant-garde music genre of Nazrul Gīti ( Music of Nazrul ). Born into a Bengali Muslim Kazi family hailing from Churulia in Burdwan district in Bengal Presidency (now in West Bengal , India), Nazrul Islam received religious education and as a young man worked as
1740-468: A political poem, in September 1922. Nazrul Islam was arrested on 23 January 1923 and charged with sedition . He presented a long argument in the court, an excerpt of what he said: I have been accused of sedition... To plead for me, the king of all kings, the judge of all judges, the eternal truth the living God... I am a poet; I have been sent by God to express the unexpressed, to portray the unportrayed. It
1856-539: A proud pluralist. Nazrul Islam wrote an editorial in Joog Bani in 1920 about religious pluralism, Come brother Hindu! Come Musalman! Come Buddhist! Come Christian! Let us transcend all barriers, let us forsake forever all smallness, all lies, all selfishness and let us call brothers as brothers. We shall quarrel no more. In another article entitled Hindu Mussalman , published in Ganabani on 2 September 1922, he wrote that
1972-562: A rounded total of 280 million) worldwide. The Bengali language is native to the region of Bengal , which comprises the present-day nation of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal . Besides the native region it is also spoken by the Bengalis living in Tripura , southern Assam and the Bengali population in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Bengali is also spoken in
2088-399: A section of Muslims criticised for writing Shyama Sangeet and declared him Kafir (infidel). On the other hand, he became displeased with some Hindus for writing devotional songs about Hindu goddesses because he was a Muslim. Nazrul Islam's poetry and songs explored the philosophy of Islam and Hinduism. Nazrul Islam's poetry imbibed the passion and creativity of Shakti , which is identified as
2204-715: A shocked Nazrul Islam composed two poems in Tagore's memory. One of the two poems, "Rabihara" (loss of Rabi, or without Rabi), was broadcast on the All India Radio . Within months, Nazrul Islam himself fell ill and gradually began losing his power of speech. His behaviour became erratic, he started spending recklessly and fell into financial difficulties. In spite of her own illness, his wife constantly cared for her husband. However, Nazrul Islam's health had seriously deteriorated and he grew increasingly depressed. He received treatment under homeopathy as well as Ayurveda , but little progress
2320-408: A special diacritic, called the hôsôntô (্) , may be added below the basic consonant grapheme (as in ম্ [m] ). This diacritic, however, is not common and is chiefly employed as a guide to pronunciation. The abugida nature of Bengali consonant graphemes is not consistent, however. Often, syllable-final consonant graphemes, though not marked by a hôsôntô , may carry no inherent vowel sound (as in
2436-575: A state language of the then Dominion of Pakistan . On 21 February 1952, five students and political activists were killed during protests near the campus of the University of Dhaka ; they were the first ever martyrs to die for their right to speak their mother tongue. In 1956, Bengali was made a state language of Pakistan. 21 February has since been observed as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh and has also been commemorated as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO every year since 2000. In 2010,
SECTION 20
#17328633520392552-585: A volume of short stories, the Byathar Dan "ব্যথার দান" ('Gift of Sorrow'), and Yugbani ("যুগবাণী"), an anthology of essays. Nazrul Islam started a bi-weekly magazine, Dhumketu ("ধূমকেতু", 'Comet') on 12 August 1922 that was critical of the British Empire. Earning the moniker of the "rebel poet", Nazrul Islam aroused the suspicion of British Raj authorities. The Police raided the office of Dhumketu after it published "Anondomoyeer Agomone" ("আনন্দময়ীর আগমনে"),
2668-463: A vowel in isolation from any preceding or following consonant, the independent form of the vowel is used. For example, in মই [moj] "ladder" and in ইলিশ [iliʃ] "Hilsa fish", the independent form of the vowel ই is used (cf. the dependent form ি) . A vowel at the beginning of a word is always realised using its independent form. In addition to the inherent-vowel-suppressing hôsôntô , three more diacritics are commonly used in Bengali. These are
2784-634: A wish he had expressed in one of his poems, he was buried beside a mosque on the campus of the University of Dhaka . Controversy has been reported around the funeral of Nazrul Islam. Nazrul Islam's sons requested the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi to arrange for the return of their father's body to India by an aircraft so that he be buried beside their mother's grave as per her last wishes. A space had been reserved for his burial next to her grave in
2900-726: A young Bengali Hindu woman, Pramila Devi, with whom he fell in love, and they married on 25 April 1924. Brahmo Samaj criticised Pramila, a member of the Brahmo Samaj, for marrying a Muslim. Muslim religious leaders criticised Nazrul Islam for his marriage to a Hindu woman. He also was criticised for his writings. Despite controversy, Nazrul Islam's popularity and reputation as the "rebel poet" increased significantly. With his wife and young son Bulbul, Nazrul Islam settled at Grace Cottage, Krishnanagar in Krishnanagar in 1926. His work began to transform as he wrote poetry and songs that articulated
3016-494: Is Bangladesh's national march, written by The National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in Bengali in 1928. It was adopted as the national marching song by the Bangladeshi government in 1972. Additionally, the first two verses of Vande Mataram , a patriotic song written in Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee , was adopted as the "national song" of India in both the colonial period and later in 1950 in independent India. Furthermore, it
3132-649: Is God who is heard through the voice of the poet... I am an instrument of God. The instrument is not unbreakable, but who is there to break God? On 14 April 1923, he was moved from Alipore Jail to Hooghly Jail in Hooghly . He began a 40-day fast to protest mistreatment by the British jail superintendent, breaking his fast more than a month later and eventually being released from prison in December 1923. Nazrul Islam composed numerous poems and songs during his period of imprisonment. In
3248-468: Is a cursive script with eleven graphemes or signs denoting nine vowels and two diphthongs , and thirty-nine graphemes representing consonants and other modifiers. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms. The letters run from left to right and spaces are used to separate orthographic words . Bengali script has a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the graphemes that links them together called মাত্রা matra . Since
3364-562: Is also spoken by the Bengali diasporas ( Bangladeshi diaspora and Indian Bengalis) across Europe, North America, the Middle East and other regions. Bengali was accorded the status of a classical language by the government of India on 3 October 2024. It is the second most spoken and fourth fastest growing language in India , following Hindi in the first place, Kashmiri in the second place, and Meitei ( Manipuri ), along with Gujarati , in
3480-400: Is an abugida , a script with letters for consonants, with diacritics for vowels, and in which an inherent vowel (অ ô ) is assumed for consonants if no vowel is marked. The Bengali alphabet is used throughout Bangladesh and eastern India (Assam, West Bengal, Tripura). The Bengali alphabet is believed to have evolved from a modified Brahmic script around 1000 CE (or 10th–11th century). It
3596-668: Is believed by many that the national anthem of Sri Lanka ( Sri Lanka Matha ) was inspired by a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore , while some even believe the anthem was originally written in Bengali and then translated into Sinhala . After the contribution made by the Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force in the Sierra Leone Civil War under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone ,
Kazi Nazrul Islam - Misplaced Pages Continue
3712-449: Is characterised by abundant use of rhetorical devices, which he employed to convey conviction and sensuousness. He often wrote without care for organisation or polish. His works have often been criticised for egotism , but his admirers counter that they carry more a sense of self-confidence than of ego. They cite his ability to defy God, or rather orthodox conceptions of God, yet maintain an inner, humble devotion to Him. Nazrul Islam's poetry
3828-596: Is considered a separate language, although it shares similarities to Northern Bengali dialects. During the standardisation of Bengali in the 19th century and early 20th century, the cultural centre of Bengal was in Kolkata , a city founded by the British. What is accepted as the standard form today in both West Bengal and Bangladesh is based on the West-Central dialect of Nadia and Kushtia District . There are cases where speakers of Standard Bengali in West Bengal will use
3944-404: Is known as Apabhraṃśa , by the end of the first millennium. The Bengali language evolved as a distinct language over the course of time. Though some archaeologists claim that some 10th-century texts were in Bengali, it is not certain whether they represent a differentiated language or whether they represent a stage when Eastern Indo-Aryan languages were differentiating. The local Apabhraṃśa of
4060-520: Is regarded as rugged but unique in comparison to Tagore's sophisticated style. Nazrul Islam's use of Persian vocabulary was controversial, but it increased the range of his work. On 24 May 1972, the newly independent nation of Bangladesh brought Nazrul Islam to live in Dhaka with the consent of the Government of India . The government of Bangladesh conferred upon him the status of " national poet " in 1972. In February 1976, during his stay in Bangladesh, he
4176-477: Is set out below in the International Phonetic Alphabet (upper grapheme in each box) and romanisation (lower grapheme). Bengali is known for its wide variety of diphthongs , combinations of vowels occurring within the same syllable . Two of these, /oi̯/ and /ou̯/ , are the only ones with representation in script, as ঐ and ঔ respectively. /e̯ i̯ o̯ u̯/ may all form the glide part of
4292-560: Is spread throughout Bangladesh. Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport in Andal, West Bengal, is India's first private greenfield airport. A chair has been named after him in University of Calcutta and the Government of West Bengal has opened a Nazrul Tirtha in Rajarhat , a cultural centre with library, auditorium and movie theatre dedicated to his memory. On 25 May 2020, Google celebrated his 121st birthday with
4408-729: Is the second-most widely spoken language in India . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura and the Barak Valley region of the state of Assam . It is also the second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. It is the most widely spoken language in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal , and is spoken by significant populations in other states including Bihar , Arunachal Pradesh , Delhi , Chhattisgarh , Meghalaya , Mizoram , Nagaland , Odisha and Uttarakhand . Bengali
4524-400: Is uncertain. The complete text of 2,260 is known, and the first lines of 2,872 have been collected, but according to musicologist Karunamaya Goswami , it is popularly believed that the total is much higher. Goswami has written that some contemporaries put the number near 4,000. Nazrul Islam was born a Muslim, but engaged in religious syncretism so often such that he was seen by laymen as only
4640-580: The Bengali Muslim Literary Journal ( Bangiya Mussalman Sahitya Samiti ) in July 1919. I am the unutterable grief, I am the trembling first touch of the virgin, I am the throbbing tenderness of her first stolen kiss. I am the fleeting glance of the veiled beloved, I am her constant surreptitious gaze... I am the burning volcano in the bosom of the earth, I am the wildfire of the woods, I am Hell's mad terrific sea of wrath! I ride on
4756-500: The Aesop's Fables in Bengali was printed using Roman letters based on English phonology by the Scottish linguist John Gilchrist . Consecutive attempts to establish a Roman Bengali have continued across every century since these times, and have been supported by the likes of Suniti Kumar Chatterji , Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda , and Muhammad Enamul Haq . The Digital Revolution has also played
Kazi Nazrul Islam - Misplaced Pages Continue
4872-606: The Arabic , Persian , and Turkic languages . The arrival of merchants and traders from the Middle East and Turkestan into the Buddhist -ruling Pala Empire , from as early as the 7th century, gave birth to Islamic influence in the region. In the 13th century, subsequent Arab Muslim and Turco-Persian expeditions to Bengal heavily influenced the local vernacular by settling among the native population. Bengali absorbed Arabic and Persian influences in its vocabulary and dialect, including
4988-479: The Brahman , the personification of primordial energy. He also composed many songs of invocation to Lord Shiva and the goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati and on the love of Radha and Krishna . Nazrul Islam was an exponent of humanism . Although a Muslim, he named his sons with both Hindu and Muslim names: Krishna Mohammad, Arindam Khaled (Bulbul), Kazi Sabyasachi and Kazi Aniruddha. In 1930, his book Pralayshikha
5104-656: The British Indian Army at the age of eighteen. He had two primary motivations for joining the British Indian Army: first, a youthful desire for adventure and, second, an interest in the politics of the time. Attached to the 49th Bengal Regiment , he was posted to the Karachi Cantonment , where he wrote his first prose and poetry. Although he never saw active fighting, he rose in rank from corporal to havildar (sergeant), and served as quartermaster for his battalion . During this period, Nazrul Islam read extensively
5220-524: The British Raj and called for revolution through his famous poetic works, such as "Bidrohī" ('The Rebel') and "Bhangar Gan" ('The Song of Destruction'), as well as in his publication Dhūmketu ('The Comet'). His nationalist activism in Indian independence movement led to his frequent imprisonment by the colonial British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul Islam wrote the "Rajbôndīr Jôbanbôndī" ('Deposition of
5336-468: The Constitution of Bangladesh states Bengali to be the sole official language of Bangladesh. The Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 , made it mandatory to use Bengali in all records and correspondences, laws, proceedings of court and other legal actions in all courts, government or semi-government offices, and autonomous institutions in Bangladesh. It is also the de facto national language of
5452-646: The Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. With over 237 million native speakers and another 41 million as second language speakers as of 2024, Bengali is the fifth most spoken native language and the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. It is the fifth most spoken Indo-European language . Bengali is the official , national , and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh , with 98% of Bangladeshis using Bengali as their first language. It
5568-564: The Kaithi script had some historical prominence, mainly among Muslim communities. The variant in Sylhet was identical to the Baitali Kaithi script of Hindustani with the exception of Sylhet Nagri possessing matra . Sylhet Nagri was standardised for printing in c. 1869 . Up until the 19th century, numerous variations of the Arabic script had been used across Bengal from Chittagong in
5684-701: The Middle Indo-Aryan dialects were influential in the first millennium when Bengal was a part of the Greater Magadhan realm. The local varieties had no official status during the Gupta Empire , and with Bengal increasingly becoming a hub of Sanskrit literature for Hindu priests, the vernacular of Bengal gained a lot of influence from Sanskrit. Magadhi Prakrit was also spoken in modern-day Bihar and Assam , and this vernacular eventually evolved into Ardha Magadhi . Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what
5800-520: The Nadia region . Bengali shows a high degree of diglossia , with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language. Modern Bengali vocabulary is based on words inherited from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, along with tatsamas and reborrowings from Sanskrit and borrowings from Persian , Arabic , Austroasiatic languages and other languages with which it has historically been in contact. In
5916-631: The Non-Cooperation Movement – the first mass nationalist campaign of civil disobedience against British rule. Nazrul Islam explores the different forces at work in a rebel, the destroyer, and the preserver who is able to express rage as well as beauty and sensitivity. He followed up by writing Pralayollas ('Destructive Euphoria'), and his first anthology of poems, the Agni-veena ("অগ্নি-বীণা", 'Lyre of Fire') in 1922, which enjoyed commercial and critical success. He also published
SECTION 50
#17328633520396032-573: The Padma Bhushan , the third-highest civilian award of India, in 1960. Nazrul Islam's works for children have won acclaim for his use of rich language, imagination, enthusiasm, and an ability to fascinate young readers. Nazrul is regarded for his secularism. His poetry has been translated to several languages including English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The Uzbek poet Erkin Vohidov wrote an epic poem about Nazrul Islam entitled Ruhlar isyoni ( The Rise of
6148-672: The Qur'an and Muhammad by writing about them. Nazrul Islam has been compared to William Butler Yeats by Serajul Islam Choudhury , Bengali literary critic and professor emeritus at the University of Dhaka , for being the first Muslim poet to create imagery and symbolism of Muslim historical figures such as Qasim ibn Hasan , Ali , Umar , Kamal Pasha , and Muhammad . His condemnation of extremism and mistreatment of women provoked condemnation from Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists who opposed his liberal views on religion. Nazrul Islam's mother died in 1928, and his second son, Bulbul, died of smallpox
6264-539: The Quran , Hadith , Islamic philosophy , and theology. His father died in 1908 and at the age of ten, Nazrul Islam took his father's place as a caretaker of the mosque to support his family. He also assisted teachers in the school. He later worked as the muezzin at the mosque. Attracted to folk theatre, Nazrul Islam joined a leto (travelling theatrical group) run by his uncle Fazle Karim. He worked and travelled with them, learning to act, as well as writing songs and poems for
6380-590: The University of Karachi (established by East Pakistani politicians before Independence of Bangladesh ) also offers regular programs of studies at the Bachelors and at the Masters levels for Bengali Literature. The national anthems of both Bangladesh ( Amar Sonar Bangla ) and India ( Jana Gana Mana ) were written in Bengali by the Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore . Notuner Gaan known as " Chol Chol Chol"
6496-499: The boldface represents primary and secondary stress. Native Bengali words do not allow initial consonant clusters ; the maximum syllabic structure is CVC (i.e., one vowel flanked by a consonant on each side). Many speakers of Bengali restrict their phonology to this pattern, even when using Sanskrit or English borrowings, such as গেরাম geram (CV.CVC) for গ্রাম gram (CCVC) "village" or ইস্কুল iskul (VC.CVC) for স্কুল skul (CCVC) "school". The Bengali-Assamese script
6612-483: The ghazal songs in the Bengali language and is also known for his extensive use of Arabic and Persian influenced Bengali words in his works. Nazrul Islam wrote and composed music for nearly 4,000 songs (many recorded on HMV gramophone records ), collectively known as Nazrul Gīti. In 1942 at the age of 43, he began to be affected by an unknown disease, losing his voice and memory. A medical team in Vienna diagnosed
6728-557: The phonology of Eastern Bengali is seen through the lack of nasalised vowels and an alveolar articulation of what are categorised as the "cerebral" consonants (as opposed to the postalveolar articulation of western Bengal). Some varieties of Bengali, particularly Sylheti , Chittagonian and Chakma , have contrastive tone ; differences in the pitch of the speaker's voice can distinguish words. Kharia Thar and Mal Paharia are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages. Similarly, Hajong
6844-608: The 16th century, Portuguese missionaries began a tradition of using the Roman alphabet to transcribe the Bengali language. Though the Portuguese standard did not receive much growth, a few Roman Bengali works relating to Christianity and Bengali grammar were printed as far as Lisbon in 1743. The Portuguese were followed by the English and French respectively, whose works were mostly related to Bengali grammar and transliteration. The first version of
6960-574: The 1920s, the British Indian government banned many of his writings. Rabindranath Tagore dedicated his play "Basanta" to Nazrul Islam in 1923. Nazrul Islam wrote the poem "Aj Srishti Shukher Ullashe" to thank Tagore. His book Bisher Banshi ('The Flute of Poison'), published in August 1924, was banned by the British Raj . Bisher Banshi called for rebellion in India against the British Raj. Bisher Banshi
7076-637: The 19th and 20th centuries, there were two standard forms of written Bengali: In 1948, the government of Pakistan tried to impose Urdu as the sole state language in Pakistan, giving rise to the Bengali language movement . This was a popular ethnolinguistic movement in the former East Bengal (today Bangladesh ), which arose as a result of the strong linguistic consciousness of the Bengalis and their desire to promote and protect spoken and written Bengali's recognition as
SECTION 60
#17328633520397192-621: The 49th Bengal Regiment was disbanded, and settled in Calcutta . He joined the staff of the Bangiya Mussalman Sahitya Samiti ("Bengali Muslim Literary Society"). He published his first novel Bandhan-hara ( বাঁধন-হারা , 'Freedom from Bondage') in 1920, on which he continued to work over the next seven years. His first collection of poems, which included " Bodhan ", " Shat-il-Arab ", " Kheya-parer Tarani ", and " Badal Prater Sharab ", received critical acclaim. Nazrul Islam grew close to other young Muslim writers, while working at
7308-576: The 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time. The ancestor of Bengali was the language of the Pala Empire and the Sena dynasty . During the medieval period, Middle Bengali was characterised by the elision of the word-final অ ô and the spread of compound verbs, which originated from the Sanskrit Schwa . Slowly, the word-final ô disappeared from many words influenced by
7424-442: The Bengal state unit of the Indian National Congress. Along with Muzaffar Ahmed , Nazrul also helped organise the Sramik Praja Swaraj Dal (Workers and Peasants Party), a socialist political party committed to national independence and the service of the working class. On 16 December 1925, Nazrul began publishing the Langal ('Plough'), a weekly, and served as its chief editor. During his visit to Comilla in 1921, Nazrul Islam met
7540-430: The Bengali Muslim Literary Society, including Mohammad Mozammel Haq , Kazi Abdul Wadud , and Muhammad Shahidullah . Nazrul Islam and Muhammad Shahidullah remained close throughout their lives. He was a regular at the social clubs for Calcutta's writers, poets, and intellectuals such as the Gajendar Adda and the Bharatiya Adda. Nazrul did not have the formal education of Rabindranath and as a result his poems did not follow
7656-401: The Bengali equivalent of a full stop – have been adopted from Western scripts and their usage is similar. Unlike in Western scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, etc.) where the letter forms stand on an invisible baseline, the Bengali letter-forms instead hang from a visible horizontal left-to-right headstroke called মাত্রা matra . The presence and absence of this matra can be important. For example,
7772-426: The Bengali script is an abugida, its consonant graphemes usually do not represent phonetic segments , but carry an "inherent" vowel and thus are syllabic in nature. The inherent vowel is usually a back vowel , either [ɔ] as in মত [m ɔ t] "opinion" or [o] , as in মন [m o n] "mind", with variants like the more open [ɒ] . To emphatically represent a consonant sound without any inherent vowel attached to it,
7888-413: The Darirampur School (now Govt. Nazrul Academy) in Trishal , Mymensingh District . Amongst other subjects, Nazrul Islam studied Bengali, Sanskrit , Arabic, Persian literature and Hindustani classical music under teachers who were impressed by his dedication and skill. Nazrul Islam studied up to grade 10 but did not appear for the matriculation pre-test examination; instead in 1917, he joined
8004-445: The Spirits ). A major avenue is named after him in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Kazi Nazrul University in Asansol, West Bengal, India is named after him and Kabi Nazrul College In Birbhum, West Bengal. Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University in Mymensingh, Bangladesh is a public university named after him. Kabi Nazrul Government College in Dhaka, Bangladesh is also named after him. There is a cultural institution called Nazrul Academy, which
8120-462: The aspirations of the working class, a sphere of his work known as "mass music". O poverty, thou hast made me great Thou hast made me honoured like Christ With his crown of thorns. Thou hast given me Courage to reveal all. To thee I owe My insolent, naked eyes and sharp tongue. Thy curse has turned my violin to a sword... O proud saint, thy terrible fire Has rendered my heaven barren. O my child, my darling one I could not give thee even
8236-536: The basis of modern standard colloquial Bengali. In the dialects prevalent in much of eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh ( Barisal , Chittagong , Dhaka and Sylhet Divisions of Bangladesh), many of the stops and affricates heard in West Bengal and western Bangladesh are pronounced as fricatives . Western alveolo-palatal affricates চ [ tɕɔ ] , ছ [ tɕʰɔ ] , জ [ dʑɔ ] correspond to eastern চ [tsɔ] , ছ [tsʰɔ~sɔ] , জ [dzɔ~zɔ] . The influence of Tibeto-Burman languages on
8352-487: The citizenship of Bangladesh was conferred upon him. He died on 29 August 1976. Nazrul Islam was born on Wednesday 24 May 1899 in the village of Churulia , Asansol Sadar , Paschim Bardhaman district of the Bengal Presidency (now in West Bengal, India ). He was born into the Bengali Muslim Taluqdar family of Churulia and was the second of three sons and a daughter. Nazrul Islam's father Kazi Faqeer Ahmed
8468-469: The consonant which comes first is put on top of or to the left of the one that immediately follows. In these ligatures, the shapes of the constituent consonant signs are often contracted and sometimes even distorted beyond recognition. In the Bengali writing system, there are nearly 285 such ligatures denoting consonant clusters. Although there exist a few visual formulas to construct some of these ligatures, many of them have to be learned by rote. Recently, in
8584-455: The country. In India, Bengali is one of the 23 official languages . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal , Tripura and in Barak Valley of Assam . Bengali has been a second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. In Pakistan , Bengali is a recognised secondary language in the city of Karachi mainly spoken by stranded Bengalis of Pakistan . The Department of Bengali in
8700-587: The development of Dobhashi . Bengali acquired prominence, over Persian, in the court of the Sultans of Bengal with the ascent of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah . Subsequent Muslim rulers actively promoted the literary development of Bengali, allowing it to become the most spoken vernacular language in the Sultanate. Bengali adopted many words from Arabic and Persian , which was a manifestation of Islamic culture on
8816-549: The disease as Pick's disease , a rare incurable neurodegenerative disease . It caused Nazrul Islam's health to decline steadily and forced him to live in isolation. He was also admitted in Ranchi ( Jharkhand ) psychiatric hospital for many years. The ailing Indian poet was taken to Bangladesh with the consent of the Government of India on 24 May 1972, at the invitation of the Government of Bangladesh . His family accompanied him and relocated to Dhaka . Later, on February 18, 1976,
8932-623: The east to Meherpur in the west. The 14th-century court scholar of Bengal, Nur Qutb Alam , composed Bengali poetry using the Persian alphabet . After the Partition of India in the 20th century, the Pakistani government attempted to institute the Perso-Arabic script as the standard for Bengali in East Pakistan ; this was met with resistance and contributed to the Bengali language movement. In
9048-549: The eastern subcontinent, Purbi Apabhraṃśa or Abahatta (lit. 'meaningless sounds'), eventually evolved into regional dialects, which in turn formed three groups, the Bengali–Assamese languages , the Bihari languages , and the Odia language . The language was not static: different varieties coexisted and authors often wrote in multiple dialects in this period. For example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around
9164-467: The education of children throughout the country. The Nazrul Endowment provides funding for research into the life and work of Kazi Nazrul Islam in U.S. Universities like California State University, Northridge and Connecticut State University . Nazrul was awarded the Jagattarini Gold Medal, the highest honour for work in Bengali literature by the University of Calcutta , in 1945 and was awarded
9280-500: The emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. In 1999, UNESCO recognised 21 February as International Mother Language Day in recognition of the language movement. Although Sanskrit has been spoken by Hindu Brahmins in Bengal since the 3rd century BC, the local Buddhist population spoke varieties of the Prakrit . These varieties are generally referred to as "eastern Magadhi Prakrit ", as coined by linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji , as
9396-524: The emperor'), Kobi Kālidās ('poet Kalidas '), Bidyan Hutum ('the learned owl'), and Rājputrer Shōng ('the prince's sorrow'). In 1910, Nazrul Islam left the troupe and enrolled at the Searsole Raj High School in Raniganj . In school, he was influenced by his teacher, a Jugantar activist, Nibaran Chandra Ghatak, and began a lifelong friendship with fellow author Sailajananda Mukhopadhyay, who
9512-466: The final ন in মন [m o n] or the medial ম in গামলা [ɡamla] ). A consonant sound followed by some vowel sound other than the inherent [ɔ] is orthographically realised by using a variety of vowel allographs above, below, before, after, or around the consonant sign, thus forming the ubiquitous consonant-vowel typographic ligatures . These allographs, called কার kar , are diacritical vowel forms and cannot stand on their own. For example,
9628-436: The following year. His first son, Krishna Mohammad, had died prematurely. Pramila gave birth to two more sons – Sabyasachi in 1928 and Aniruddha in 1931 – but Nazrul Islam remained grief-stricken and grieved for a long time. His works changed significantly from the rebellious exploration of society to a deeper examination of religious themes. His works in these years led Islamic devotional songs into
9744-663: The government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared Bengali as an honorary official language in December 2002. In 2009, elected representatives in both Bangladesh and West Bengal called for Bengali to be made an official language of the United Nations . Regional varieties in spoken Bengali constitute a dialect continuum . Linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji grouped the dialects of Bengali language into four large clusters: Rarhi , Vangiya , Kamrupi and Varendri ; but many alternative grouping schemes have also been proposed. The south-western dialects ( Rarhi or Nadia dialect) form
9860-499: The graph মি [mi] represents the consonant [m] followed by the vowel [i] , where [i] is represented as the diacritical allograph ি (called ই-কার i-kar ) and is placed before the default consonant sign. Similarly, the graphs মা [ma] , মী [mi] , মু [mu] , মূ [mu] , মৃ [mri] , মে [me~mɛ] , মৈ [moj] , মো [mo] and মৌ [mow] represent the same consonant ম combined with seven other vowels and two diphthongs. In these consonant-vowel ligatures,
9976-412: The graphical form. However, since this change is not as widespread and is not being followed as uniformly in the rest of the Bengali printed literature, today's Bengali-learning children will possibly have to learn to recognise both the new "transparent" and the old "opaque" forms, which ultimately amounts to an increase in learning burden. Bengali punctuation marks, apart from the downstroke । daṛi –
10092-483: The language as: While most writing is in Standard Colloquial Bengali (SCB), spoken dialects exhibit a greater variety. People in southeastern West Bengal, including Kolkata, speak in SCB. Other dialects, with minor variations from Standard Colloquial, are used in other parts of West Bengal and western Bangladesh, such as the Midnapore dialect, characterised by some unique words and constructions. However,
10208-535: The language. Major texts of Middle Bengali (1400–1800) include Yusuf-Zulekha by Shah Muhammad Sagir and Srikrishna Kirtana by the Chandidas poets. Court support for Bengali culture and language waned when the Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the late 16th and early 17th century. The modern literary form of Bengali was developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries based on the west-central dialect spoken in
10324-428: The letter ত tô and the numeral ৩ "3" are distinguishable only by the presence or absence of the matra , as is the case between the consonant cluster ত্র trô and the independent vowel এ e , also the letter হ hô and Bengali Ôbogroho ঽ (~ô) and letter ও o and consonant cluster ত্ত ttô . The letter-forms also employ the concepts of letter-width and letter-height (the vertical space between
10440-482: The life of Siraj-ud-Daula . He worked on the plays "Jahangir" and "Annyapurna" by Monilal Gangopadhyay. In 1939 Nazrul began working for Calcutta Radio, supervising the production and broadcasting of the station's musical programs. He produced critical and analytic documentaries on music, such as "Haramoni" and "Navaraga-malika". Nazrul Islam also wrote a large variety of songs inspired by the raga Bhairav . Nazrul Islam's wife Pramila Devi fell seriously ill in 1939 and
10556-523: The literary practices established by Rabindranath. Due to this he faced criticism from followers of Rabindranath. Despite their differences, Nazrul looked to Rabindranath Tagore as a mentor. In 1921, Nazrul Islam was engaged to Nargis, the niece of a well-known Muslim publisher, Ali Akbar Khan, in Daulatpur, Comilla . On 18 June 1921, the day of the wedding, upon public insistence by Khan that the term "Nazrul must reside in Daulatpur after marriage" be included in
10672-657: The mainstream of Bengali folk music , exploring the Islamic practices of namaz (prayer), roza (fasting), hajj (pilgrimage), and zakat (charity). He wrote the song " O Mon Romzaner Oi Rozar Sheshe " on fasting during Ramadan. This was regarded by his contemporaries as a significant achievement, as Bengali Muslims had been strongly averse to devotional music. Nazrul Islam was not limited to Islamic devotional music but also wrote Hindu devotional music. He composed Agamanis , Bhajans , Shyama Sangeet , and kirtan . Nazrul Islam wrote over 500 Hindu devotional songs. However,
10788-450: The marriage contract, Nazrul Islam walked away from the wedding ceremony. Nazrul Islam reached the peak of his fame in 1922 with Bidrohi (The Rebel), which remains his most famous work, winning the admiration of India's literary society for his description of a rebel. Published in the Bijli (বিজলী , "Lightning") magazine, the rebellious language and theme were well received, coinciding with
10904-585: The neighbouring states of Odisha , Bihar , and Jharkhand , and sizeable minorities of Bengali speakers reside in Indian cities outside Bengal, including Delhi , Mumbai , Thane , Varanasi , and Vrindavan . There are also significant Bengali-speaking communities in the Middle East , the United States , Singapore , Malaysia , Australia , Canada , the United Kingdom , and Italy . The 3rd article of
11020-514: The parliament of Bangladesh and the legislative assembly of West Bengal proposed that Bengali be made an official UN language. As of January 2023, no further action has been yet taken on this matter. However, in 2022, the UN did adopt Bangla as an unofficial language, after a resolution tabled by India. In 2024, the government of India conferred Bengali with the status of classical language . Approximate distribution of native Bengali speakers (assuming
11136-665: The plays and musicals. Through his work and experiences, Nazrul Islam began studying Bengali and Sanskrit literature , as well as Hindu scriptures such as the Puranas . Nazrul Islam composed folk plays for the group, which included Chāshār Shōng ('the drama of a peasant'), and plays about characters from the Mahabharata including Shokunībōdh ('the Killing of Shakuni ), Rājā Judhisthirer Shōng ('the drama of King Yudhishthira ), Dātā Kōrno ('the philanthropic Karna '), Ākbōr Bādshāh (' Akbar
11252-520: The poem as "mother". In the poem, Nazrul Islam accepts the prostitute as a human being first, reasoning that this person belonged to the "race of mothers and sisters"; he criticises society's negative views on prostitutes. An advocate of women rights, Nazrul Islam portrayed both traditional and nontraditional women in his work. He talked about the working poor through his works such as the poem: 'Poverty' (Daridro). Nazrul Islam wrote thousands of songs, known collectively as Nazrul Geeti . The exact number
11368-657: The poets native village, Churulia . When the sons arrived in Dhaka for the last rites, they found that they were completed without their attendance and that the poet had been buried in Dhaka University. Popular demand continues in West Bengal for the poet to be buried back in India. Bangladesh observed two days of national mourning, and the Parliament of India observed a minute of silence in his honour. According to literary critic Serajul Islam Choudhury , Nazrul Islam's poetry
11484-455: The religious quarrels were between priests and Imams and not between laymen Muslims and Hindus. He wrote that the Prophets had become property like cattle but they should instead be treated like a light that is for all men. Nazrul Islam criticised religious fanaticism, denouncing it as evil and inherently irreligious. He wrote about human equality in his writings. He also explored the philosophy of
11600-427: The so-called "inherent" vowel [ɔ] is first expunged from the consonant before adding the vowel, but this intermediate expulsion of the inherent vowel is not indicated in any visual manner on the basic consonant sign ম [mɔ] . The vowel graphemes in Bengali can take two forms: the independent form found in the basic inventory of the script and the dependent, abridged, allograph form (as discussed above). To represent
11716-536: The superposed chôndrôbindu (ঁ) , denoting a suprasegmental for nasalisation of vowels (as in চাঁদ [tʃãd] "moon"), the postposed ônusbar (ং) indicating the velar nasal [ŋ] (as in বাংলা [baŋla] "Bengali") and the postposed bisôrgô (ঃ) indicating the voiceless glottal fricative [h] (as in উঃ! [uh] "ouch!") or the gemination of the following consonant (as in দুঃখ [dukʰːɔ] "sorrow"). The Bengali consonant clusters ( যুক্তব্যঞ্জন juktôbênjôn ) are usually realised as ligatures, where
11832-502: The then-nascent film industry . His first film as a director was Dhruba , which made him the first Muslim director of a Bengali film . The film Vidyapati (Master of Knowledge) was produced based on his recorded play in 1936, and Nazrul Islam served as the music director for the film Patalpuri and Gora , (adaptation of Tagore's novel). Nazrul Islam wrote songs and directed music for Sachin Sengupta 's biographical epic play based on
11948-635: The third place, according to the 2011 census of India . Bengali has developed over more than 1,400 years. Bengali literature , with its millennium-old literary history, was extensively developed during the Bengali Renaissance and is one of the most prolific and diverse literary traditions in Asia. The Bengali language movement from 1948 to 1956 demanding that Bengali be an official language of Pakistan fostered Bengali nationalism in East Bengal leading to
12064-492: The time of his return to Kolkata until he fell ill in 1941, Nazrul Islam composed more than 2,600 songs, many of which have been lost. His songs based on Baul , jhumur , Santhali folksongs, jhanpan, or the folk songs of snake charmers , bhatiali , and bhaoaia consist of tunes of folk-songs on the one hand and a refined lyric with poetic beauty on the other. Nazrul Islam also wrote and published poems for children. Nazrul Islam's success soon brought him into Indian theatre and
12180-484: The visible matra and an invisible baseline). There is yet to be a uniform standard collating sequence (sorting order of graphemes to be used in dictionaries, indices, computer sorting programs, etc.) of Bengali graphemes. Experts in both Bangladesh and India are currently working towards a common solution for this problem. Throughout history, there have been instances of the Bengali language being written in different scripts, though these employments were never popular on
12296-435: The vocabulary may differ according to the speaker's religion: Muslims are more likely to use words of Persian and Arabic origin, along with more words naturally derived from Sanskrit ( tadbhava ), whereas Hindus are more likely to use tatsama (words directly borrowed from Sanskrit). For example: The phonemic inventory of standard Bengali consists of 29 consonants and 7 vowels, as well as 7 nasalised vowels . The inventory
12412-400: The wings of lightning with joy and profundity, I scatter misery and fear all around, I bring earthquakes on this world! "(8th stanza)" I am the rebel eternal, I raise my head beyond this world, High, ever erect and alone! – Translation by Kabir Choudhary Kazi Nazrul Islam joined the army in late 1917. Nazrul Islam left the British Indian army in 1920, when
12528-511: The works of Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay , as well as the Persian poets Hafez , Omar Khayyam , and Rumi . He learned Persian poetry from the regiment's Punjabi Moulvi , practiced music, and pursued his literary interests. His first prose work, "Life of a Vagabond" ( ' Baunduler Atmakahini ), was published in May 1919. His poem "Mukti" ("মুক্তি", 'Freedom') was published by
12644-527: Was a commercial success and created interest in gramophone companies about publishing his works. A significant impact of Nazrul Islam's work in Bengal was that it made Bengali Muslims more comfortable with the Bengali arts, which used to be dominated by Bengali Hindus. His Islamic songs are popular during Ramadan in Bangladesh. He also wrote devotional songs on the Hindu Goddess Kali . Nazrul Islam also composed
12760-535: Was achieved before mental dysfunction intensified and he was admitted to a mental asylum in 1942. Spending four months there without making progress, Nazrul Islam and his family began living a quiet life in India. In 1952, he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital in Ranchi . Through the efforts of a large group of admirers who called themselves the "Nazrul Treatment Society", Nazrul Islam and Pramila were sent to London, then to Vienna for treatment. The examining doctors said he had received poor care, and Dr. Hans Hoff ,
12876-510: Was awarded Bangladeshi citizenship. He was awarded an Honorary D.Litt. by the University of Dhaka in 1974 and in 1976 he was awarded the Ekushey Padak by the President of Bangladesh Justice Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem . Many centres of learning and culture in Bangladesh and India had been founded and dedicated to his memory. The Bangladesh Nazrul Sena is a large public organization working for
12992-596: Was banned and he faced charges of sedition by the British Indian colonial government. He was sent to jail and released in 1931, after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact was signed. In 1933, Nazrul Islam published a collection of essays titled "Modern World Literature", in which he analyses different styles and themes of literature. Between 1928 and 1935, he published 10 volumes containing 800 songs, of which more than 600 were based on classical ragas . Almost 100 were folk tunes after kirtans , and some 30 were patriotic songs. From
13108-478: Was his classmate. He later transferred to the Mathrun High English School, studying under the headmaster and poet Kumud Ranjan Mullick . Unable to continue paying his school fees, Nazrul Islam left the school and joined a group of kaviyals . Later he took jobs as a cook at Wahid Confectionery, a well-known bakery of the region, and at a tea stall in the town of Asansol. In 1914, Nazrul Islam studied in
13224-401: Was paralysed from the waist down. To provide for his wife's medical treatment, he mortgaged the royalties of his gramophone records and literary works for 400 rupees. He returned to journalism in 1940 by working as chief editor for the daily newspaper Nabajug ('New Age'), founded by the Bengali politician A. K. Fazlul Huq . On hearing about the death of Rabindranath Tagore on 8 August 1941,
13340-727: Was read and distributed in secret following the ban. Nazrul Islam was a critic of the Khilafat Movement in British India which he condemned as "hollow religious fundamentalism ". His rebellious expression extended to rigid orthodoxy in the name of religion and politics. He also criticised the Indian National Congress for not embracing outright political independence from the British Empire . Nazrul became active in encouraging people to agitate against British rule, and joined
13456-414: Was the imam and caretaker of the local Pirpukur mosque and mausoleum of Haji Pahlawan. Nazrul Islam's mother was Zahida Khatun. Nazrul Islam had two brothers, Kazi Saahibjaan and Kazi Ali Hussain, and a sister, Umme Kulsum. He was nicknamed Dukhu Miañ (দুখু মিঞা) literally, 'the one with grief'). Nazrul Islam studied at a maktab and madrasa , run by a mosque and a dargah respectively, where he studied
#38961