Bismil Azimabadi


Bismil Azimabadi was a freedom fighter, landlord, and an Urdu poet from Patna, Bihar.

Family

Bismil Azimabadi's real name was Syed Shah Muhammad Hasan, he was born in 1901 in Azimabad, Patna, Bihar.
His family belonged to the zamidars and they were initially based at Khusrupur, Nawada but were settled at Patna City.
Syed Shah Aale Hasan a barrister was his father, he died at an early age of Bismil.
His maternal Grandfather Shah Mubarak Kakvi Azimabadi and his maternal uncle, Khan Bahadur Syed Shah Muhiuddin alias Shah Kamal both were poets and were disciple of famous poet of Allahabad Waheed Allahabadi.
Bismil died on 20 June 1978 in Azimabad, Patna and was buried at village Kurtha, Bihar, and was survived by five sons and three daughters.

Involvement in independence movement

Bismil developed the nationalist views and took part in freedom movement, he attended the Calcutta Congress Session in 1920 where he recited his poem Sarfaroshi.

As poet

His maternal Grandfather and his maternal Uncle both were poets. He grew in Azimabad where the atmosphere was poetic and literary and it was from there he picked up the love for Urdu poetry. He chose the word Bismil as his pen name and became disciple of Khan Bahadur Shad Azimabadi,. He used to frequent Qutubkhana Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu Library, Patna. He is counted amongst notable poets of Patna.

Works

Most of his work was lost and the remaining was compiled and published by the name of Hikayat-i-Hasti in 1980 with the help of Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library. His works are listed in the catalogues of various institutions, like, University of Chicago Library, Delhi Public Library, Delhi University Central Library System, etc. His works have been quoted in magazines & journals like, The London Magazine.

Ghazals

Bismil have written many ghazals, Sarforoshi being the most celebrated of them all.

''Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna''

In 1921 he wrote the patriotic poem Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna, following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and other atrocities by the British colonialists. The poem was immortalised by Ram Prasad Bismil, an Indian freedom fighter, as a war cry during the British Raj period in India. It was first published in journal "Sabah", published from Delhi. The ghazal have 11 couplets. Khuda Bakhsh Library has preserved the original copy and page of his diary containing this poem written by him and the corrections done by his mentor Shad Azimabadi. The famous poem been used in many films like, Shaheed, Sarfarosh, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Rang de Basanti and Gulaal.

Other ghazals

Few other ghazals are,
Many of his standalone shers too are found.

Other books

Following are other works/books/collections by Bismil,
gives an award in his name, known as the "Bismil Azimabadi Award".