The songs written and music composed by him were broadcast on Radio stations across the country. He was also enlisted/attached with the Indian Broadcasting Company.
“I don’t see any difference
Between 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.”
(Translated by Sajed Kamal)
His poetry retains long-standing notions of men and women in binary opposition to one another and does not affirm gender similarities and flexibility in the social structure :
“Man has brought the burning, scorching heat of the sunny day;
Woman has brought peaceful night, soothing breeze and cloud.
Man comes with desert-thirst; woman provides the drink of honey.
Man ploughs the fertile land; woman sows crops in it turning it green.
Man ploughs, woman waters; that earth and water mixed together,
brings about a harvest of golden paddy.”
However, Nazrul’s poems strongly emphasise the confluence of the roles of both sexes and their equal importance to life. He stunned society with his poem Barangana (‘Prostitute’), in which he addresses a prostitute as ‘mother.’ Nazrul accepts the prostitute as a human being, reasoning that this person was breast-fed by a noble woman and belonging to the race of ‘mothers and sisters’; he assails society’s negative notions of prostitutes.
Who calls you a prostitute, mother?
Who spits at you?
Perhaps you were suckled by someone:
as chaste as Seeta.
…
And if the son of an unchaste mother is ‘illegitimate,’
so is the son of an unchaste father.
Barangana (Prostitute) Translated by Sajed Kamal)
Nazrul was an advocate of the emancipation of women; both traditional and non-traditional women were portrayed by him with utmost sincerity. Nazrul’s songs are collectively called as Nazrul Sangeet.
Nazrul’s mother died in 1928, and his second son Bulbul died of smallpox the following year. His first son, Krishna Mohammad had died prematurely. His wife gave birth to two more sons – Savyasachi in 1928 and Aniruddha in 1931 – but Nazrul remained shaken and aggrieved for a long time.
Shunno e bookey paakhi mor aaye! Phirey aaye phirey aaye!
His works changed significantly from rebellious expositions of society to deeper examination of religious themes. His works in these years led Islamic devotional songs into the mainstream of Bengali folk music, exploring the Islamic practices of Namaz (prayer), Roza (fasting), Hajj (pilgrimage) and Zakat (charity). This was regarded by his contemporaries as a significant achievement as manyh of the Bengali Muslims had been strongly averse to devotional music.
Nazrul’s creativity diversified as he explored Hindu devotional music by composing Shyama Songeet, bhojons and kirtons, often merging Islamic and Hindu values. Nazrul’s poetry and songs explored the philosophy of Islam and Hinduism.
“Let people of all countries and all times come together. At one great union of humanity. Let them listen to the flute music of one great unity. Should a single person be hurt, all hearts should feel it equally. If one person is insulted; it is a shame to all mankind, an insult to all! Today is the grand uprising of the agony of universal man.”
The bodna, a water jug typical in usage by Bengali Muslims for ablutions (wazu) and bath (ghusl) and the garu a water pot typical in usage by Bengali Hindus, meet and embrace each other under the peace of the new pact (between the rioting Hindus and Muslims in Bengal during the British Raj on certain politico-religious differences and disputes that had preceded the said pact). There is no knife in the hand of the Muslim and also the Hindu does not wield the bamboo any more!
Bodna gaarute kolakuli korey Nobo pacter aashnaai! Musolmaner hatey nai chhuri, Hindur hatey bansh nai!
Nazrul’s poetry imbibed the passion and creativity of Shokti, which is identified as the Brahman, the personification of primordial energy. He wrote and composed many bhojons, shyamasongeet, agomonis and kirtons. He also composed large number of songs on invocation to Lord Shiva, Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati and on the theme of love of Radha and Krishna.
Nazrul assailed fanaticism in religion, denouncing it as evil and inherently irreligious. He devoted many works to expound upon the principle of human equality, exploring the Qur’an and the life of Islam’s last Prophet Muhammad. Nazrul has been compared to William Butler Yeats for being the first Muslim poet to create imagery and symbolism of Muslim historical figures such as Muhammad and Qasim, Ali, Umar, Kamal Pasha, Anwar Pasha. His vigorous assault on extremism and mistreatment of women provoked condemnation from Muslim and Hindu orthodox quarters.
In 1920, Nazrul expressed his vision of religious harmony in an editorial in Joog Bani,
‘Come brother Hindu! Come Musalman! Come Buddhist! Come Christian! Let us transcend all barriers, let us foresake forever all smallness, all lies, all selfishness and let us call brothers as brothers. We shall quarrel no more.’
In another article entitled Hindu Musalman published in Ganabani on September 2, 192 he wrote –
‘”I can tolerate Hinduism and Muslims but I cannot tolerate the Tikism (Tiki is a tuft of never cut hair kept on the head by certain Hindus to maintain personal Holiness) and beardism. Tiki is not Hinduism. It may be the sign of the pundit. Similarly beard is not Islam, it may be the sign of the mollah. All the hair pulling has originated from those two tufts of hair. Todays’ fighting is also between the Pundit and the Mollah: It is not between the Hindus and the Muslims. No prophet has said, “’I have come for Hindus I have come for Muslims, I have come for Christians.’ They have said, ‘I have come for the humanity for everyone, like light.” But the devotees of Krishna say, ‘Krishna is for Hindus.’ The followers of Muhammad (Sm) say, ‘Muhammad (Sm) is for the Muslims’. The Disciple of Christ is for Christian.’ Krishna-Muhammad-Christ has become national property. This property is the root of all trouble. Men do not quarrel for light but they quarrel over cattle.”
Nazrul was an exponent of humanism.
In 1933, Nazrul 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 kirtons and some 30 were patriotic songs.
From the time of his return to Kolkata until he fell ill in 1941, Nazrul 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 also wrote and published poems for children.
Nazrul’s success soon brought him into Indian theatre and the then-nascent film industry. The first picture for which he worked was based on Girish Chandra Ghosh’s story Bhakta Dhruva in 1934. Nazrul acted in the role of Narada and directed the film. He also composed songs for it, directed the music and served as a playback singer.
To be continued
