------------------------------------------------------------
Syed Wali Mohammad, known as Nazeer Akbarabadi, is the only poet of his kind in Urdu for a variety of reasons. He was born in 1735 in Delhi. There was huge celebration at his birth as he was the only male child of his parents born after twelve daughters. He was brought up with great care and his mother took him to Agra when Delhi fell into bad days.
Nazeer received his early education in Agra. He belonged to a prosperous family and led his childhood and early life in comfort. Following the usual practice of the day, he trained himself as a soldier. He was deeply interested in sports also. When it was the time to pick on a profession for earning a livelihood, he chose to be teacher and started teaching children at Mathura. It is said that he was a teacher to six children of Raja Vilas Rao. Later, the raja of Bharatpur and the nawab of Lucknow, Wajid Ali Shah, wanted to enrol him in their courts but Nazeer did not agree to leave his place.
Nazeer was a contemporary of Meer, Sauda, Jurat, Insha, and Mushafi who stood as the vanguards of classical Urdu poetry with ghazal being nourished as the most prestigious form of poetical expression. Nazeer opened up entirely new avenues for Urdu poetry as he chose his material from life brilliantly spread all around. There is hardly any aspect of secular life that did not engage his attention. His wrote poems on all religious festivals, communal events, carnivals, sports, hobbies, and scenes and scenarios of common life which none had done before him. He evolved a diction that too entirely new for the kind of poems he wrote. There is a general misconception that Nazeer wrote only on the folk life and its various manifestations but he also wrote highly sophisticated, persianised, and creatively rich ghazals which find him a place among the elitist poets of Urdu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
His father was Muhammad Farooq and his mother was the daughter of Nawab Sultan Khan who was the governor of Agra Fort. Agra, the Indian city, was known as Akbarabad after Mughal emperor at that time. He used simple, everyday language in his poems.
Nazeer's date of birth is not certain but most of his biographers believe that he was born in Delhi (then called "Dihli") in 1735 AD. The period of his birth coincided with the decline of the Mughal empire in India. In 1739, Nazeer was still a child when Nadir Shah attacked Delhi and the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (also known as "Muhammad Shah Rangila") was arrested. He was later released but countless people were mercilessly killed in Delhi. The horrors of this plunder were still fresh in the minds of people when 18 years later, in 1757 AD, Ahmad Shah Abdali attacked Delhi. People left Delhi for safer cities. Nazeer along with his mother and grandmother also abandoned Delhi and migrated to Akbarabad. At this time, Nazeer was 22-23 years old.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Banjaranama , Chronicle of the Nomad) is a satirical Urdu poem, written by the eighteenth-century Indian poet Nazeer Akbarabadi. The poem's essential message is that pride in worldly success is foolish, because human circumstances can change in a flash, material wealth and splendor is always transient, and death is the only certainty for all men. The poem quickly captured the popular imagination, and achieved fame in the Indian subcontinent that has lasted for over two centuries. Critics have observed that, despite the deliberate simplicity of its language, the poem's idioms and imagery were dazzling in their span, and portrayed lives of wealth and power as ultimately subject to a nomad's whims (an allusion to death). The poem continues to be hailed as distilling "the teachings of thousands of years into one summary form."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
بنجارا
----------
ٹک حرص وھوا کو چھوڑ میاں، مت دیس بدیس پھرے مارا
قذًاق اجل کا لوٹے ہے دن رات بجا کر نقًارا
یہ دھوم دھڑکًا ساتھ لیے کیوں پھرتا ہے جنگل جنگل
ا ک تنکا ساتھ نہ جاے گا، موقوف ہوا جب ان اور جل
سب ٹھاٹھ پڑا رہ جاے گا جب لاد چلے گا بنجارا
مغرور نہ ہو تلواروں پر، مت پھول بھروسے ڈھالوں کے
سب پٹاً توڑ کے بھاگیں گے، منہ دیکھ اجل کے بھالوں کے
ہو ڈھیر اکیلا جنگل میں تو خاک لحد کی پھانکے گا
اس جنگل میں پھر آہ نظیر اک بھنگا آن نہ جھانکے گا
سب ٹھاٹھ پڑا رہ جاے گا جب لاد چلے گا بنجارا
The Angel of death
----------------------------------
Discard greed and temptations, forget your travels to near and far;
The bandit of death is blowing his trumpet and indulging in looting day and night;
Why are you roaming from place to place with all your paraphernalia;
Not even a twig will eventually go with you when your death arrives;
Your riches and grand life style are all left behind when the angel of death loads you on his back;
Do not feel proud of your swords and shields;
They will abandon you on seeing the spear of death;
Alone in a desert would you then eat the dust of the grave;
In that desert, indeed Nazeer, not even an insect would care to visit you;
Your riches and grand life style are all left behind when the angel of death loads you on his back.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nazeer Akbarabadi
-------------------------
Natural poetry
------------------
Nazeer was the one who laid the foundation of natural poetry which was later continued by Altaf Hussain Hali and Muhammad Husain Azad. The best thing in his poetry is that he never used the hard poetic language and he always tried to give the concepts of ethics and social values.
His poem was named "Aadmi Nama" was mistakenly published "Army Nama" in Pakistan. Similarly all his words "Aadmi" were replaced by "Army" which become controversial by mistake, it was taken farce on large scale."
In popular culture
---------------------
In 1954, Habib Tanvir, wrote and directed his first significant play "Agra Bazar," based on the works and times of Nazir Akbarabadi. It used local residents and folk artist from Okhla village in Delhi and students of Jamia Millia Islamia as actors, a play not staged in a confined space, rather a bazaar, a marketplace.
----------------------------------------------------
Rotiyaan
-------------
roTiyaaN jab aadamii ke peT mein aatii hain roTiyaaN
phuulii nahiin badan mein samaaatii haiin roTiyaaN
aaNkhein parii_ruKhon se laDaatii hain roTiyaaN
siine uupar bhii haath chalaatii hain roTiyaaN
jitane maze hain sab ye dikhaatii hain roTiyaaN
roTii se jis kaa naak talak peT hai bharaa
karataa phire hai kyaa vo uchhal kuud jaa ba jaa
diivaar phaaNd kar koii koThaa uchhal gayaa
ThaaThTha haNsii sharaab sanam saaqii is sivaa
sau sau tarah kii dhuum machaatii hain roTiyaaN
jis jaa pe haaNDii chuulhaa tavaa aur tanuur hai
Khaaliq ke qudaraton kaa usii jaa zahuur hai
chuulhe ke aage aaNch jo jalatii hazuur hai
jitane hain nuur sab mein yahii Khaas nuur hai
is nuur ke sabab nazar aatii hain roTiyaaN
aave tave tanuur kaa jis jaa zabaaN pe naam
yaa chakkii chuulhe kaa jahaaN gulzaar ho tamaam
vaa.N sar jhukaa ke kiijiye DanDavat aur salaam
is vaaste ke Khaas ye roTii ke hain muqaam
pahale inhiin makaano.n me.n aatii hain roTiyaaN
in roTiyon ke nuur se sab dil hain puur puur
aaTaa nahiin hai chhalanii se chhan chhan gire hai nuur
peDaa har ek us kaa hai barfii-o-motii chuur
hargiz kisii tarah na bujhe peT kaa tanuur
is aag ko magar ye bujhaatii hain roTiyaaN
puuchhaa kisii ne ye kisii kaamil faqiir se
ye mehr-o-maah haq ne banaaye hain kaahe ke
vo sun ke bolaa baabaa Khudaa tujh ko Khair de
ham to na chaa.Nd samajhe na suuraj hain jaanate
baabaa hamen to ye nazar aatii hain roTiyaaN
phir puuchhaa us ne kahiye ye hai dil kaa nuur kyaa
is ke mushaahide men hai khulataa zahuur kyaa
vo bolaa sun ke teraa gayaa hai sha_uur kyaa
kashf-ul-quluub aur ye kashf-ul-qubuur kyaa
jitane hain kashf sab ye dikhaatii hain roTiyaaN
roTii jab aaii peT men sau qand ghul gaye
gul_zaar phuule aaNkhon men aur aish tul gaye
do tar nivaale peT men jab aa ke dhul gaye
chaudaa tabaq ke jitane the sab bhed khul gaye
ye kashf ye kamaal dikhaatii hain roTiyaaN
roTii na peT mein ho to phir kuchh jatan na ho
mele kii sair Khvaahish-e-baaG-o-chaman na ho
bhuuke Gariib dil kii Khudaa se lagan na ho
sach hai kahaa kisii ne ke bhuuke bhajan na ho
allaah kii bhii yaad dilaatii hain roTiyaaN
ab jin ke aage maal_puye bhar ke thaal hain
puurii bhagat unhiin kii vo saahab ke laal hain
aur jin ke aage rauGanii aur shiir_maal hain
aarif vohii hain aur vohii saahab kamaal hain
pakii pakaaii ab jinhen aatii hain roTiyaaN
kapa.De kisii ke laal hain roTii ke vaaste
lambe kisii ke baal hain roTii ke vaaste
baaNdhe koii rumaal hai rotii ke vaaste
sab kashf aur kamaal hain rotii ke vaaste
jitane hain ruup sab ye dikhaatii hain roTiyaaN
roTii se naache piyaadaa qavaayad dikhaa dikhaa
asavaar naache gho.De ko kaavaa lagaa lagaa
ghungharuu ko baaNdhe paik bhii phirataa hai naachataa
aur is ke sivaa Gaur se dekho to jaa ba jaa
sau sau tarah ke naach dikhaatii hain roTiyaaN
duniyaa mein ab badii na kahiin aur nikoii hai
na dushmanii va dostii na tund khoii hai
koii kisii kaa aur kisii kaa na koii hai
sab koii hai usii kaa ke jis haath Doii hai
naukar nafar Gulaam banaatii hain roTiyaaN
roTii kaa ab azal se hamaaraa to hai Khamiir
ruukhii bhii roTii haq mein hamaare hai shahad-o-shiir
yaa patalii hove moTii Khamiirii ho yaa katiir
gehuuN juaar baajare kii jaisii ho 'Nazeer'
ham ko sab tarah kii Khush aatii hain roTiyaaN
----------------------------------------------------------------
iid ul fitr
--------------
hai aabidon ko ta'at-o-tajariid kii Khushii
aur zaahidon ko zuhad kii tamahiid kii Khushii ri.nd aashiqo.n ko hai ka_ii ummiid kii Khushii kuchh dil-baro.n ke val kii kuchh diid kii Khushii
[aabid=devotee; ta'at=devotion; tajariid=solitude] [zaahid=preacher; zuhad kii tamaheed=start of religious talk]
aisii na shab-e-baraat na baqriid kii Khushii
jaisii har ek dil men hai is iid kii Khushii
pichhale pahar se uTh ke nahaane kii dhuum hai shiir-o-shakar sivayyaa N pakaane kii dhuum hai piir-o-javaan ko nema'ten khaane kii dhuum hai laDako ko iid-gaah ke jaane kii dhuum hai
[piir=old; nema't=bounty]
aisii na shab-e-baraat na baqriid kii Khushii
jaisii har ek dil mein hai is iid kii Khushii
koii to mast phirtaa hai jaam-e-sharab se
koii pukarataa hai ke chhuuTe azaab se
kallaa kisii kaa phuulaa hai laDDuu kii chaab se chaTakaaren jii men bharate hain naan-o-kabaab se
[azaab=agony; kallaa=cheek]
aisii na shab-e-baraat na baqriid kii Khushii
jaisii har ek dil men hai is iid kii Khushii
kyaa hi muaanqe kii machii hai ulaT palaT
milate hain dauD dauD ke baaham jhapaT jhapaT phirate hain dil-baron ke bhii galiyon men Gat
ke Gat aashiq maze uDaate hain har dam lipaT lipaT
[muaaniq=embrace; GaT=crowd]
aisii na shab-e-baraat na baqriid kii Khushii
jaisii har ek dil men hai is iid kii Khushii
kaajal hinaa Gazab masii-o-paan kii dhaDii pishavaazen surKh sausanii laahii kii phul-jhaDii kurtii kabhii dikhaa kabhii angiyaa kasii kaDii
kah "iid iid" luuTen hain dil ko ghadii ghaDii
[pishwaaz=ladies' skirt]
aisii na shab-e-baraat na baqriid kii Khushii
jaisii har ek dil me.n hai is iid kii Khushii
roze kii Khushkiyon se jo hain zard zard gaal Khush ho gaye vo dekhate hii iid kaa hilaal poshaaken tan me.n zard, sunaharii safed laal dil kyaa ke ha.Ns rahaa hai pa.Daa tan ka baal baal
[roze=fastings; hilaal=crescent moon of Eid; poshaak=clothes]
aisii na shab-e-baraat na baqriid kii Khushii
jaisii har ek dil men hai is iid kii Khushii
jo jo ke un ke husn kii rakhate hain dil se chaah jaate hain un ke saath taa baa-iid-gaah
topon ke shor aur dogaanon kii rasm-o-raah mayaane, khilone, sair, maze, aish, vaah-vaah
aisii na shab-e-baraat na baqriid kii Khushii
jaisii har ek dil mein hai is iid kii Khushii
aisii na shab-e-baraat na baqriid kii Khushii
jaisii har ek dil mein hai is iid kii Khushii
rozon kii saKhtiyon men na hote agar amiir
to aisii iid kii na Khushii hotii dil-paziir
sab shaad hain gadaa se lagaa shaah taa vaziir dekhaa jo ham ne Khuub to sach hai miyaaN "Nazeer"
------------------------------------------------------------
