Noted writer, poet Naji Munawar passes away

Shopian: Noted writer and poet Naji Munawar, 86, passed away in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Wednesday.

He was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard.

   

Born in 1935 in Kapran, Munawar’s real name was Ghulam Nabi Lone.

He used Naji Munawar as his pen name.

Munawar had a penchant for literature right from his childhood.

He has written more than two dozen books, mostly in Kashmiri language.

He was popularly known as the children’s poet.

Munawar penned over a dozen books for children, which include Mokhte Laer, Shuren Hund Lu Ki Baith, Shuren Hund Iqbal, and Shuren Hund Naji.

He conducted extensive research on Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani (RA), popularly known as Sheikh-ul-Alam, and his scholarship on the Sufi saint is unparalleled.

His research on Sheikh-ul-Alam ‘Kuliyaat-e-Sheikh-ul-Alam’ is a masterpiece.

Munawar has translated famous works of Shakespeare including ‘King Lear’ and ‘Oedipus Rex’ into Kashmiri language.

He was also a curator, who gathered a large number of coins and artifacts belonging to various ruling dynasties of Jammu and Kashmir.

Munawar won Sahitya Akademi award in 2002 for his book Pursaan.

Expressing grief over the death of Munawar, CPI (M) leader Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami termed his demise as an irreparable loss to Kashmiri literature and language.

“Munawar was legendary, unparalleled scholar, a preface of the history of Kashmiri language and literature. He was a linguist, critic, and a great historian,” Tarigami said in a statement issued here.

Khurshid Zargar, the patron of Ahad Zargar Memorial Research Foundation, also condoled Munwar’s demise and hailed his contribution to the development of Kashmiri poetry.

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