Elsa Kazi

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Elsa Kazi

Elsa Kazi
Born October 3, 1884(1884-10-03)
Rudel Stadt, Germany
Died May 28, 1967
Hyderabad, Buried at Jamshoro.

Elsa Kazi (3 October 1884 - 1967), commonly known as "Mother Elsa", was a German writer of one-act plays, short stories, novels and history, and one of the greatest poets of her time. She was also a composer and a musician of considerable achievement, involved in virtually every conspicuous branch of fine arts. Her paintings are often seen in many distinguished family homes. She also painted the famous courtesan queen of Khairpur Mirs, "Bali".

Although not well conversant with the Sindhi language, she yet managed to come with some of the best translations of selected verses of Shah Abdul Latif into English with the support of her husband, Allama I. I. Kazi. She successfully couched the substance of those verses in a remarkable poetical setting which, in musical terms, reflects the original Sindhi metrical structure and expression in which Latif had cast them. Her translation of Shah Abdul Latif's poetry still remains the best so far in the English language.

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Born Gertrude Loesch in Rudel Stadt, a small village in Germany, in the house of a great musician who ultimately migrated to Dulwich London, Elsa's father was a prosperous German Elderman who had property in London that was destroyed in World War II. After the war, compensation was paid to her for the property destroyed.

It was in London that she met Allama I. I. Kazi by sheer chance. It so happened that Allama Kazi, having arrived at the railway station while the train had already started moving, managed to board in the last compartment which was empty, except for a solitary young lady occupying a corner quarter. Reared in a traditional family background, Allama felt very much embarrassed and kept standing near the door with his back to the lady. Elsa was amazed, astonished and amused to meet a man who would not take seat, despite repeated offers and would only repeat apologies. For a man who was so innocent and fascinating, she sought his address and thus developed a life long association. The couple was married in Germany in 1910.

A young Student standing between the tombs of Elsa Kazi and II Kazi in the new campus of Sindh University
A young Student standing between the tombs of Elsa Kazi and II Kazi in the new campus of Sindh University


The couple lived in London from 1911 to 1919, and occasionally made short visits to Sindh. Altogether, the couple spent 30 years of life in England, during which they remained engaged in research, tracing the evolution of religion through the ages up to the advent of Islam. Both of them contributed numerous essays, articles and addresses in various vital branches of modern knowledge, besides preaching Islam under the aegis of Jamiatul Muslimeen. In the year 1919, the couple returned to Sindh, and Kazi Sahib first entered the Government Judiciary Service, but subsequently joined the Khairpur State Service on deputation. Because of some differences with His Highness Mir Ali Nawaz of Khairpur, he resigned after a two years' stay and the couple left for London.

The couple continued to propagate Islam in London till April 1951, when Allama was offered the post of Vice Chancellorship at the University of Sindh. After eight years, Allama resigned from the post and the couple lived a retired life at Hyderabad, Sindh. In the year 1967, Elsa was suddenly and seriously taken ill with a renal problem, and breathed her last at the age of 83. She had no children of her own but all the university students and all the residents of Sindh call her Mother Elsa. Furthermore, the name of the girls' hostel in the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology In Jamshoro and several other buildings are named after her. She now lies buried along with her husband, Allama I. I. Kazi at the New Campus of Sindh University in Jamshoro, Hyderabad. A free translation of Mother Elsa Kazi's chronogram is as follows:-

"Alas our reverend Elsa;
Left this world to live in that one;
She was steadfast on the right path;
She was expert in every fine art,
Accomplished in every blessed discipline;
In modesty had no parallel,
In delicacy no equal;
She was Allama's close confidante,
Well informed of Divine Secrets:
She was kind and tender,
To all high and low;
Elsa Kazi unsurpassed in gentleness
Got a permanent abode in paradise".

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