>Aseleste: Disambiguating links to Mau (link changed to Mau, Uttar Pradesh) using DisamAssist.

2021-04-05T03:05:20Z

Disambiguating links to Mau (link changed to Mau, Uttar Pradesh) using DisamAssist.

New page

{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2010}}
'''Shamim Karhani''' (8 June 1913 - 19 March 1975) was an eminent [[Urdu]] poet ([[Shayar (poet)|'Shayar']]) of the 20th century.

{{Infobox writer 
| name = Shamim Karhani
| image = Shamim_Karhani.jpg
| caption = Shamim Karhani
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1913|6|08}}
| birth_place = [[Karhan, Uttar Pradesh|Karhan]], [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1975|3|19|1913|6|08}}
| death_place = [[New Delhi]], [[India]]
| occupation = Poet<br>teacher
| citizenship = Indian
}}

==Early life, education and employment==

Shamim Karhani ({{lang-ur|{{Nastaliq| شمیم کرھانی }}}}) was born in a '[[Zamindar]]' family to Syed Muhammad Akhtar and Ummat ul Zehra on 8 June 1913 in village [[Karhan, Uttar Pradesh|'Karhan']] district [[Mau, Uttar Pradesh|Mau]], [[Uttar Pradesh|UP]] in India. His real name was 'Syed Shamsuddin Haider'. He himself chose 'Shamim Karhani' as his pen name ([[Urdu poetry#Pen names .28Takhallus.29|'Takhallus']]). Later, this pen name of his became so famous that once, at an interview, when he was asked his name, he himself had to pause for a moment to remember his real name! He did his secondary education from [[Aligarh Muslim University]] and also did 'Maulvi Kamil Munshi'. For his profession, he chose to be a teacher.<ref name="Ali Anjum 1986">Ali Anjum, Syed Khwaja: ''Shamim Karhani: Hayaat, Shaksiyat aur Shayari'', Syed Sikandar Ali & co., 1986.</ref> He worked with [[Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools System]], Kaumi Awaz and [[Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School|Anglo Arabic School]] (New Delhi).<ref name="Ali Anjum 1986"/> He was a scholar of the [[Persian language|Persian]] language; however he did all his poetry in [[Urdu]].

==Poetry and India's freedom struggle==

Shamim had a taste in poetry since he was a kid. He composed his first couplet at the age of eight.<ref name="Ali Anjum 1986"/> He now was aware what he was born for. He started writing and was adored all over [[Uttar Pradesh]]. This was the era when India was vehemently trying to get out of snare of [[British raj|British rule]]. Being an Indian he started writing [[Urdu poetry|poems]] that conveyed the moral of adhesion to one's own country. These poems became so influential that his popular revolutionary [[Nazm|'Nazms']] and 'Naghmas' ('Geets') were sung in the 'Prabhat-Pheris' taken out on the streets of cities like [[Lucknow]] and [[Varanasi]] during the [[India's independence|freedom struggle]].
[[File:Letter from Jawaharlal Nehru to Shamim Karhani.JPG|thumb|left| Letter from [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first [[Prime minister]] of [[India]], to Shamim Karhani. It reads:'''A poet should make his life itself a poem. Shamim Karhani has sung of India's freedom. I hope he will continue to do so and enjoy this freedom''']]
Soon Shamim Karhani's nationalist and revolutionary poetry started attracting the attention of both the common people and the literati. It was through this nationalist platform that he joined the [[Progressive Writers' Movement]]. In 1948 he composed a [[Nazm|poem]] entitled [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B3WdJB4l6_3hNmE5ZTU4NmEtOTY0Ni00ZGIxLWI5N2UtMjkwOTgxZjc5NTRl&hl=en_US ''Jagao Na Bapu Ko Neend Aa Gayi Hai''] just after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The above poem had such an emotional appeal that it spread like the jungle fire.<ref name="Ali Anjum 1986"/> Once, Shamim Karhani had the opportunity to recite the poem in the presence of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Nehru, after listening to the poem, got impressed by Shamim's work and asked him to come to [[Lucknow]] to recite his poems in [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] election meetings. Later, after independence, Nehru asked Shamim to come to [[Delhi]]. He migrated to [[Delhi]] in 1950 and met [[Jawaharlal Nehru|Nehru]] at 'Teen-Murti'. Nehru asked him to compose an epic in Urdu on the [[India's independence|freedom movement of India]] and started giving him a stipend for the job from his personal pocket. On 7 February 1950 he wrote in Shamim's diary:

{{cquote| "A poet should make his life itself a poem. Shamim Karhani has sung of India's freedom. I hope he will continue to do so and enjoy this freedom"}}

His collection entitled "Roshan Andhera" was entirely devoted to the "Quit India Movement".<ref>Gujral, I.K.: ''P.I.B. Press Release (Government of India)'', Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 1975.</ref>

Shamim Karhani was a contemporary of eminent poets like [[Faiz Ahmed Faiz|Faiz Ahmed 'Faiz']], [[Sardar Jafri|Ali 'Sardar' Jafri]], '[[Majaz Lucknawi]]', Moin Ahsan 'Jazbi', [[Ali Jawad Zaidi|Ali 'Jawad' Zaidi]], etc. Being basically a '[[Ghazal]]-go'<ref name="Ali Anjum 1986"/> (one who composes [[Ghazal|'Ghazals']]), however, tried his hand on each and every 'genre' of Urdu
poetry and some of his compositions found eternal place in Urdu literature. He has composed (apart from ghazals) poems, [[Ruba'i|'rubaees']], 'qataat', 'geet', elegies, [[Marsiya|'marsiyas']], [[Eulogy|'eulogies']] etc.<ref name="Ali Anjum 1986"/>
[[File:ShamimKarhani.JPG|thumb|right|Shamim Karhani]]

==List of works==

*''Burq-o-Baaran'' (1939)
*''Roshan Andhera'' (1942)
*''Taraaney'' (1944)
*''Badh Chal Re Hindustan'' (1948)
*''Tameer'' (1948)
*''Aks-i-Gul'' (1962)
*''Intekhaab-i-Kalaam-i-Shamim Karhani'' (1963)
*''Zulfiqaar'' (1964)
*''Harf-i-Neem Shab'' (1972)
*''Jaan-i-Baraadar'' (1973)
*''Subh-i-Faaran'' (1974)
*''Main Bootarabi'' (1974)
*''Kileed-i-Insha''
*''Pushp Chhaya'' (Hindi translation of Aks-i-Gul)

==Awards==

*'' Award from the government of Uttar Pradesh (India) for his collection 'Aks-i-Gul' in 1964<ref name="Karhani, Abid 1986">Karhani, Abid: “Aajkal Urdu (New Delhi)”, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government Of India, 1986.</ref>
*'' Award from [[Urdu Academy, Uttar Pradesh|Uttar Pradesh (India) Urdu Academy]] for his collection ‘Harf-i-Neem Shab’ in 1972<ref
name="Karhani, Abid 1986"/>

*'' Saroop Narayan Urdu Nazm Award in 1972<ref name="Karhani, Abid 1986"/>
*'' Award from Government of India for his collection ‘Ranga Ke Geet’<ref name="Karhani, Abid 1986"/>

==Notes==
<references/>

==References==
* Ali Anjum, Syed Khwaja: ''Shamim Karhani: Hayaat, Shaksiyat aur Shayari'', Syed Sikandar Ali & co., 1986
* Gujral, I.K.: ''P.I.B. Press Release (Government of India)'', Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 1975
* Karhani, Abid: “Aajkal Urdu (New Delhi)”, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government Of India, 1986
* Lall, Inder Jit, Shamim: Poet-Patriot, The Sunday Standard, 10, December 1972
* Lall, Inder Jit, Shamim: the Poet Whose Life Itself is a Poem, Patriot Magazine, 6, May 1973

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karhani, Shamim}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:Poets from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:People from Mau district]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]

Shamim Karhani - Revision history

>Aseleste: Disambiguating links to Mau (link changed to Mau, Uttar Pradesh) using DisamAssist.