All melody, all love – that was Shair-e-Kashmir Mahjoor, Dr Farooq Ahmad Peer pays tribute to the poet of Kashmir.

Shair-e- Kashmir, Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor, stands out as a poet par excellence for his valuable contribution towards Kashmiri poetry. He could be easily called as the harbinger of modern Kashmiri poetry because he widened and diversified its parameters, enriched its language and extended its use of idiom and infused a new life into it. Mahjoor was the poetic name or title of Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad who was born on 11TH of August in 1887, at a scenic and naturally beautiful village called Mitrigam in the district of Pulwama.
With a proper ambience his creative energy was properly channelized. And Kashmir witnessed a poet of great merit. In 1905, he secretly left Srinagar where at that time he was pursuing his middle course and reached Amritsar in Punjab to breath and feel freely and accumulate new experiences of the new world of literature  and life. After coming back from Punjab to Kashmir, he was able to get a job in the Revenue Department as a Patwari and was posted in Ladakh where in the leisure time he studied the socio- philosophical and romantic poems of Rasool Mir, Lal Dad. Mahmood Ghami, Wali Ullah Mattu,Pir Maqbool Shah Kralwari, Wahab Khar and Aziz Darwesh. It was in Ladakh that he was able to compile his work Safarnama-e-Baltistan in which he writes about and portrays the wasteland of Ladakh with its pristine beauty. Mahjoor gave serious attention towards Kashmir language and tried to learn it passionately with the intention of contributing to his literary world through this language and in the course of time his creations in Kashmiri became instrumental in awakening the consciousness of the people and for representing their concerns and voicing their feelings and this contour ultimately earned him the title of Shair-e-Kashmir.
In 1914, Mahjoor started contributing his eternal verses in Kashmiri by writing a lyric in Kashmiri language, did not reprieve and continued writing romantic lyrics in Kashmiri making nature as their background. One among these famous lyrics is ‘Bage Nishat ke Gulo’ the verses of which please and put an excitement in the hearts of the readers.  Mahjoor had extreme interest in the bounty of nature in Kashmir and he invariably depicted the scenic gardens,  forests, waterfalls, rivers, lush green fields and mountains as a source and means of conveying his heartfelt emotions and messages to awaken his countrymen to raise their voice against all kinds of injustices and ills perpetuated against them.
Through his verses in Kashmiri, Mahjoor lend a new vigour to the freedom struggle during the barbarous Dogra regime. His poems gave impetus to the struggle and served as a clarion call to the masses to free their nation from the chains of slavery. He express his patriotic fervor in the poem “Walo Ho Bage-e-Wano” (Arise, O Gardener) and stresses upon his fellow countrymen to decorate their nation and land with flowers symbolizing their apt traditions based on honesty ,truthfulness and dignity.
In the beautiful poem, “Gulshan Watan Chu Souni” Mahjoor expresses his love for his nation and breathes out the idea symbolically and that too with sincerity and pride that there is nothing dear to him than his nation. He wants to see it prospher. Mahjoor in his verses also appeals to the nation to maintain communal harmony and not get divided on the basis of religion and community. He asks his nation to shun the path of strife with each other and shun jealousy, hatred, animosity and remain united against the enemy and share love and affection with each other.
Mahjoor through his immortal verses teaches lessons about nature, love, peace, unity, faith in God, upholding of human values, uselessness of strife’s, jealousy, hatred, and he also touches the psyche of the people by awakening their conscience and advocates the concern of the poor, downtrodden, and suppressed workers. He invariably teaches his nation to learn to live with honor and dignity and fight for their lost identity and freedom. He tries to rejuvenate and strengthen the sentiments of the people to fight against injustice cruelty and anarchy.
Shair-e-Kashmir, Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor died on 9th of April, 1952. He will be remembered for his melodious poetry for generations to come.

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Lastupdate on : Wed, 7 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
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