Raghupati Sahay – better known under his pen name Firaq Gorakhpuri – was born on 28 August 1896 and he died on 3 March 1982. He is known to have fought to save the idea of secular India, most of his life. He is counted amongst the most influential poets who laid the foundation for the modern Urdu ghazal. He established himself among peers including famous Urdu poets like Allama Iqbal, Yagana Changezi, Jigar Moradabadi, Josh Malihabadi, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Kaifi Azmi and Sahir Ludhianvi. Yet he was able to make his mark in Urdu poetry at an early age. He had a Master’s degree in Urdu, Persian and English literature
Aaney wali naslain tum par fakr kareingi Hum-asron
Jab inn ko Maaloom Yeh Hogaa tum ne Firaq ko dekhaa thaa
(The generations to come will envy you, compatriots,
When they will realize that you had seen Firaq.)
He went to prison many times during freedom struggle of the country. Firaq Gorakhpuri was selected for the Provincial Civil Service (P.C.S.) and the Indian Civil Service (British India) (I.C.S.), but he resigned to follow Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-cooperation movement, for which he went to jail for 18 months. Later, he joined Allahabad University as a lecturer in English literature. It was there that he wrote most of his Urdu poetry, including his magnum opus Gul-e-Naghma which earned him the highest literary award of India, the Jnanpith Award, and also the 1960 Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu. During his life, he was given the positions of Research Professor at the University Grants Commission and Producer Emeritus by All India Radio. After a long illness, he died on 3 March 1982, in New Delhi
Gorakhpuri was well-versed in all traditional metrical forms such as ghazal, nazm, rubaai and qat’aa. He wrote more than a dozen volumes of Urdu poetry, a half dozen of Urdu prose, several volumes on literary themes in Hindi, as well as four volumes of English prose on literary and cultural subjects. Firaq enriched and indigenized his urdu writing by assimilating so many words from Hindi, Sanskrit and Braj Baasha. Words like komal, kaaran, Deepshikha, Agnikund, vish, Ang, Pawan, Mukh, Kumadni, Kanwal, Banvaas, roop, Singaar, Dukh, Sansaar,Amrit, Suhaagan, and many more have been frequently used by him in poems, Gazals and Rubais. Through his Gazals, He has fully explored the emotional, physical and spiritual dimensions of Love as the fundamental emotion of a human being. Along with hope, wait, sensuousness and other issues, there is a stream of sorrow that flows through his work . I would call it a sorrow of spiritualised helplessness; And this very aspect brings him very close to Mir Taqi Mir .And Firaq duly acknowledges greatness of Mir when he says’ Gazal ka saaz uthaao Barri udaas hai Raat, Navaa e Mir sunaao Barri udaas hai Raat’..
Firaq’s study of religious scriptures of Hinduism, Islam and Christianity is profound. He uses references from Ramayana and Mahabharata and also mentions incidents related with Karbala and life of Prophet of Islam. Incidents related to Jesus Christ and Moses have been mentioned at many places. For him every prophet visited this earth specifically to ameliorate human pain and suffering. That spectacular quality makes him a true and genuine humanist. Firaq had a great fascination for English literature. Who else except Firaq could translate Homer, Virgil, Wordsworth, Hardy and Wallace Stevens into beautiful Urdu
Raghupati Sahai “Firaq “ Gorakhpuri was an excellent conversationalist. He could speak extempore for hours on Dante , Kierkegaard , Shakespeare , Tulsi Das ,Kabir , Tagore , Ghalib , Kalidas , Rumi or Hafiz and then switch over to weird topics like variety of snakes and frogs in Indian Jungles . His personal cook , Gardner , Washer Man , Hair cutter and Tailor had to listen to his ideas on issues that fell under their jurisdiction . Sometimes he could be seen giving long lectures to his cook as to How he should cook “Baingan Ka Burthhaa “. His Dhobi was regularly counseled about the technique of ironing different clothes or washing these on Ganga Ghaat at Allahabad
The death of his children and a failed marriage caused him great grief and made him lonely . It brought enormous pain in Firaq’s life And Firaq had no one close to him to share this grief .His biography, Firaq Gorakhpuri: The Poet of Pain & Ecstasy, written by his nephew Ajai Mansingh was published by Roli Books in 2015. The book included anecdotes from his life and translations of some of his work
tumheñ kyūñkar batā.eñ zindagī ko kyā samajhte haiñ
samajh lo saañs lenā ḳhud-kushī karnā samajhte haiñ
kisī badmast ko rāz-āshnā sab kā samajhte haiñ
nigāh-e-yār tujh ko kyā batā.eñ kyā samajhte haiñ
bas itne par hameñ sab log dīvāna samajhte haiñ
ki is duniyā ko ham ik dūsrī duniyā samajhte haiñ
kahāñ kā vasl tanhā.ī ne shāyad bhes badlā hai
tire dam bhar ke mil jaane ko ham bhī kyā samajhte haiñ
umīdoñ meñ bhī un kī ek shān-e-be-niyāzī hai
har āsānī ko jo dushvār ho jaanā samajhte haiñ
yahī zid hai to ḳhair āñkheñ uThāte haiñ ham us jānib
magar ai dil ham is meñ jaan kā khaTkā samajhte haiñ
kahīñ hoñ tere dīvāne Thahar jaa.eñ to zindāñ hai
jidhar ko muñh uThā kar chal paḌe sahrā samajhte haiñ
jahāñ kī fitrat-e-begāna meñ jo kaif-e-ġham bhar deñ
vahī jiinā samajhte haiñ vahī marnā samajhte haiñ
hamārā zikr kyā ham ko to hosh aayā mohabbat meñ
magar ham qais kā dīvāna ho jaanā samajhte haiñ
na shoḳhī shoḳh hai itnī na purkār itnī purkārī
na jaane log terī sādgī ko kyā samajhte haiñ
bhulā diiñ ek muddat kī jafā.eñ us ne ye kah kar
tujhe apnā samajhte the tujhe apnā samajhte haiñ
ye kah kar ābla-pā rauñdte jaate haiñ kāñToñ ko
jise talvoñ meñ kar leñ jazb use sahrā samajhte haiñ
ye hastī nīstī sab mauj-ḳhezī hai mohabbat kī
na ham qatra samajhte haiñ na ham dariyā samajhte haiñ
‘firāq’ is gardish-e-ayyām se kab kaam niklā hai
sahar hone ko bhī ham raat kaT jaanā samajhte haiñ
तुम्हें क्यूँकर बताएँ ज़िंदगी को क्या समझते हैं
समझ लो साँस लेना ख़ुद-कुशी करना समझते हैं
किसी बदमस्त को राज़-आश्ना सब का समझते हैं
निगाह-ए-यार तुझ को क्या बताएँ क्या समझते हैं
बस इतने पर हमें सब लोग दीवाना समझते हैं
कि इस दुनिया को हम इक दूसरी दुनिया समझते हैं
कहाँ का वस्ल तन्हाई ने शायद भेस बदला है
तिरे दम भर के मिल जाने को हम भी क्या समझते हैं
उमीदों में भी उन की एक शान-ए-बे-नियाज़ी है
हर आसानी को जो दुश्वार हो जाना समझते हैं
यही ज़िद है तो ख़ैर आँखें उठाते हैं हम उस जानिब
मगर ऐ दिल हम इस में जान का खटका समझते हैं
कहीं हों तेरे दीवाने ठहर जाएँ तो ज़िंदाँ है
जिधर को मुँह उठा कर चल पड़े सहरा समझते हैं
जहाँ की फितरत-ए-बेगाना में जो कैफ़-ए-ग़म भर दें
वही जीना समझते हैं वही मरना समझते हैं
हमारा ज़िक्र क्या हम को तो होश आया मोहब्बत में
मगर हम क़ैस का दीवाना हो जाना समझते हैं
न शोख़ी शोख़ है इतनी न पुरकार इतनी पुरकारी
न जाने लोग तेरी सादगी को क्या समझते हैं
भुला दीं एक मुद्दत की जफ़ाएँ उस ने ये कह कर
तुझे अपना समझते थे तुझे अपना समझते हैं
ये कह कर आबला-पा रौंदते जाते हैं काँटों को
जिसे तलवों में कर लें जज़्ब उसे सहरा समझते हैं
ये हस्ती नीस्ती सब मौज-ख़ेज़ी है मोहब्बत की
न हम क़तरा समझते हैं न हम दरिया समझते हैं
‘फ़िराक़’ इस गर्दिश-ए-अय्याम से कब काम निकला है
सहर होने को भी हम रात कट जाना समझते हैं