Firaq Gorakhpuri’s real name was Raghupati Sahai. He was born on 28 August 1896 in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. He was a famous Urdu poet and critic. His father was an acclaimed poet and a leading advocate of Gorakhpur. He received his early education in Urdu, Persian and Sanskrit from his father.
Firaq Gorakhpuri personal life
They were married at a very young age. He was only 18 years old when he was married to Kishori Devi. In his personal life, he was an unfortunate man as he separated from his wife within a few years of his marriage. His only son committed suicide at a very young age. He lived alone on the university campus for over 40 years.
Firaq Gorakhpuri Education
He completed his basic education. He graduated from the University of Allahabad in 1917 and completed his master’s degree in Urdu, Persian and English literature. Enrolled for civil service in 1919. Like other revolutionaries, he too did not want to work in the British Raj, then he decided to join the movement of national independence fully under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. He was also jailed in 1920 for agitating against the British government. After his release in 1922, he worked for the Secretary in the Indian National Congress. For 40 years later, he chose teaching as his profession and retired from the University of Allahabad in 1959.
Honors and Awards
The Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan in recognition of his literary works. He was also honored with the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award and the Bharatiya Jnanpith Award. He also received India’s highest literary award, the Jnanpith Award and the Sahitya Akademi Award of 1960 in Urdu. During his life, he was given the positions of Research Professor in the University Grants Commission and Producer Emeritus by All India Radio.
Firaq Gorakhpuri Ghazals
- What has happened in the eyes
- lives is a story of pain
- Where is my sorrow for my sorrow
- know those steps long ago
- colonies are finding them in the desert
- Who happened to someone like this all the time
- lack of greed to blow
- There were some gestures that the world understood us
- hit me before every pain pain o medicine
- nights sleep too story too
- understand that you are separate from me
- those nights of shedding tears
- These softest soft airs are shimmering light / Firaq Gorakhpuri
Firaq’s Books and Poems
His long and rich poetic career spanned 60 years, in which he wrote over 40,000 couplets and was ranked as the foremost figure in the modern Urdu world. Firaq had shown early signs of excellence in Urdu poetry and had always shown a fascination for literature.
His contemporaries included famous Urdu poets like Allama Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Kaifi Azmi and Sahir Ludhianvi. Nevertheless, he was able to make his mark in Urdu poetry in an early age. He wrote most of his Urdu poems, including his magnus opson Gul-e-Nagma. Gorakhpuri was proficient in all traditional metric forms like Ghazal, Nazm, Rubaiyad Qata’a.
He wrote more than a dozen volumes of Urdu poetry, more than half a dozen of Urdu prose, several editions on literary subjects in Hindi as well as four volumes of English prose on literary and cultural subjects. After a long illness, he died on 3 March 1982 in New Delhi.
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