Jagan Nath Azad (Urdu: جگن ناتھ آزاد ,Hindi: जगन नाथ आज़ाद)(1918–2004)[1] was a renowned Urdu poet, writer and academician. A literary giant, Azad penned over 70 books, including poetry collections, epic poems, biographies & travelogues.
He was an acclaimed authority on the life, philosophy & works of Sir Dr Allama Mohammad Iqbal. Azad’s books (in Urdu & English) on Allama Iqbal are recognised as the “definitive reference” in the Urdu-speaking world. He served as President of the Iqbal Memorial Trust for a term of five years (1981-85).
Azad was elected Vice-president of Anjuman_Taraqqi-i-Urdu (Hind) (a national body for the promotion of Urdu under the Ministry of Human Resource Development) in 1989 and President in 1993, remaining in this office till his demise.[2]
He was at his writing desk till fifteen days before he died - of carcinoma and a brief illness - at the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre in New Delhi, India on 24 July 2004. He was 84 and was survived by his wife and five children.
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Azad was born on December 5, 1918 in the small town of Isa Khel in Mianwali District, Punjab. The District became part of Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947. He inherited his love of Urdu literature from his father, Tilok Chand Mehroom – himself a poet of renown - who introduced him to Urdu poetry via Diwan-e-Ghalib and took him to mushairas that he participated in (the first such event resulted in the young Azad meeting Hafeez Jalandhari for the first time and being presented with a copy of Hindustan Hamara, which he read, cherished and re-read over the years).
Having passed his Matriculation examination from Raja Ram Mohan Rai High School (Mianwali) in 1933, he joined Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) College (Rawalpindi), obtained an FA degree in 1934 and moved on to Gordon College (Rawalpindi), achieving an MA degree in 1937. He returned to education after a period of employment and attained MA (Farsi) in 1944 and MoL in 1945 from University of the Punjab (Lahore). Achieving 1st position in the college, he was awarded a set of Rabindra Nath Tagore's books.
Azad’s introduction to journalism came at an early age when, during his college days, he served as Editor of the Gordonian – the College newspaper. His first formal posting was as Editor of the Urdu monthly Adabi Dunya, published in Lahore. On moving to Delhi after the partition of India, Azad secured the post of Assistant Editor of the Urdu daily, Milap.
In 1948 Azad joined the Government of India's Ministry of Labour as Editor of Employment News. A few months later he applied for, and secured one of the three posts of Assistant Editor (Urdu) with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting's Publications Division. He was promoted to Information Officer (Urdu) in 1955. Subsequently, he served as IO (U) in the Ministry of Food & Agriculture; the Ministry of Tourism Shipping & Transport, and the Ministry of Works & Housing with a brief return to the Ministry of I & B (1964-65) and as the first Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs for the newly created Border Security Force. On promotion to Deputy Principal Information Officer, he joined the Government of India's Press Information Bureau and served in both the New Delhi & Srinagar offices.
He remained in Srinagar on promotion to Director of Public Relations in 1973 and retired from the PIB & the Government Service in 1977.
On retirement from the Government Service in 1977, Azad accepted University of Jammu's offer of Headship of the Department of Urdu and the post of Professor at the University in Jammu. This posting provided him the atmosphere and the opportunity to spread his literary & academic wings. It is here that he produced the translation of Allama Iqbal's Javed Nama and undertook the massive task of writing Allama's biography (Roodad-e-Iqbal) in five volumes. Volume I was published in 2005 and Volume II (646 pages), completed shortly before his death, is pending publication. Unfortunately, research material & manuscripts of volumes III - V were destroyed in the flood of 1988. Azad found it impossible to reconstruct the lost manuscripts. The University honoured him with the award of Deanship of the Faculty of Oriental Learning in 1980 and Emeritus Fellowship in 1984. It also facilitated his literary work with the provision of accommodation and staff till his demise.
The DLit degrees awarded by the Universities of Jammu & Kashmir to him and the 10+ books & numerous research articles written about him are testimony to Azad’s impact on the literary circles of both India and Pakistan.
Azad's book "Iqbal: Mind and Art" [3] received glowing reviews and was accorded an effusive welcome in the world of academia.
Azad Gulati,[4] himself a professor and an award-winning Urdu poet,[5] echoed these sentiments when he reviewed the book in the April 1985 issue of the Iqbal Review published by the Iqbal Academy in Pakistan.[6] Two short extracts from his review epitomise the plaudits showered on Jagan Nath Azad, as the leading authority on Iqbal, whenever either of them is discussed in academic or literary circles:
"Prof. Jagan Nath Azad, who has earned for himself an authoritative niche in Iqbaliat, encompasses in this book the quartet of poetry, politics, philosophy and religion that forms the matrix of Iqbal’s creative genius."
"The appendices include stray notes on Iqbal, Prof. Azad’s letters to newspapers and journals about controversial facets of Iqbal’s evaluation, his reviews of books about Iqbal and his preface to Anand Narain Mulla’s translation of Iqbal’s “Lala-i-Tur”. Prefaced by Dr. Mohammad Maruf’s balanced and perceptive analysis of Prof. Azad’s views and copiously studded with illustrative extracts from Iqbal’s works and their meticulous translations, this valuable compendium on Iqbaliat provides smooth, racy reading in spite of frequent visitations from Printer’s Devil."
India & Pakistan: The single event that affected Azad more than any other was the partition of India. Before the partition, he worked as personal assistant to the Secretary, Communal Harmony Movement (Lahore) for a time and, when Sir Sikander Hayaat Khan (Unionist Muslim League) published a newsletter, Azad (a Hindu) travelled around Punjab spreading the word of the League. After the partition he always wished Pakistan well and firmly believed that "political divisions cannot divide the Indian poets from their love of Pakistan, nor the Pakistani poets from their love for India".
Azad was a passionate advocate of close friendship and bonding between the people of India and Pakistan.
Kashmir: During his 10-year tenure of Srinagar (Kashmir) as representative of the Government of India, Azad forged and cemented strong links with every shade of opinion in Kashmir ranging from Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Umar Farooq (Kashmiri religious & political leader) to Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (Prime Minister of Kashmir). Kashmiris recognised Azad as an unbiased intellectual who was imbibed only with the spirit of humanity, not as ‘an agent of the Government’.
It is not a co-incidence that Kashmir witnessed a golden era of peace & progress in the 1970s & 80s – the time of Azad’s efforts in building bridges in the State.
He received the National Unity Award 2001-02 from Himotkarsh, Sahitya, Sabskriti aivam Jan Kalayan Parishad of Kashmir.
During his life Azad was the honoured recipient of numerous awards for his contribution to Urdu Literature and work on Allama Iqbal. Both the Governments of India & Pakistan (central & regional) presented him with trophies & citations. The Government of Pakistan awarded him the President of Pakistan's Gold Medal for his services to Urdu literature and the Government of India presented him with the Award for Services in the Cause of Strengthening Indo-Soviet Cultural Relations. Azad received the Minar-e-Pakistan from the Chief Minister of West Punjab (Pakistan) and Shiromani Sahityakar & Robe of Honour from the Government of East Punjab (India).
Local, national & international literary organisations including the Ghalib Institute, Ghalib Memorial Society, All India Meer Academy, Iqbal International Congress, Iqbal Memorial Trust, The Urdu Society of Canada, The Houston (Texas) Literary Society, The World Urdu Conference, various Universities (including the University of Peking (China)) bestowed him with honours. He was presented with awards for his literary works, invited to preside over their functions, launch their publications and present awards to winners of their awards.
Unikarians International (UAE Chapter) organised Jashn-e-Azad in Abu Dhabi in 1993 and Halqa-e-Fun-o-Adab (USA) convened Jashn-e-Azad in 1998. The Jammu & Kashmir Urdu Forum recognised him as “Abroo-e-Adab” in 1997.
“Not many people know that, while still in the land of his birth, Azad sahib wrote Tarana-e-Pakistan at the behest of the people with authority in Pakistan” (Qaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s office?), says Dr Khaliq Anjum (author and General Secretary, Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Hind) in his forward to “Jagan Nath Azad – Hayat Aur Adabi Khidmaat” (page 10) published in 1993.[7] He continues, “What can be a greater honour, particularly for a non-Muslim, than having his Tarana broadcast from Radio Lahore immediately after the announcement of Pakistan’s establishment on the night of 14 August 1947?”
Luv Puri, an award-winning Indian journalist, interviewed Azad shortly before his demise. Reported in the Milli Gazette of 16-31 August 2004 and the Hindu of 19 June 2005,[8] part of the interview claiming that “A Hindu wrote Pakistan's first national anthem” and that, “Jinnah got Urdu-knowing Jagannath Azad to write the song” initiated a controversy in the academic circles of Pakistan.
The campaign to reinstate Azad’s Tarana-e-Pakistan as Pakistan’s National Anthem led by writer-activist Beena Sarwar[9] was matched by denials of the Tarana[10]ever being the National Anthem of Pakistan by prominent historians Dr. Safdar Mahmood and Aqeel Abbas Jafri (author of Pakistan Chronicle).
Azad himself refers to hearing his Tarana-e-Pakistan being broadcast from Radio Lahore on the night of 14 August 1947 in his book “Ankhen Tarastiyan Hain" published in 1981[11] and in “Hayat-e-Mehroom” published in 1987[12] he wrote:
“I was still in Lahore, living in my house in Ramnagar with the intention of never leaving Lahore. In those days Pakistan probably had only two radio stations: one in Lahore and the other in Peshawar. When Radio Pakistan (Lahore) made the announcement of the founding of Pakistan that night, it was followed by a broadcast of my National Anthem ‘Zarre tere hein aaj sitaaron se taabnaak, Ai sarzameen-e-Pak’. The other side of this image is that on the next day, 15 August 1947 – when India was celebrating its independence – Hafeez Jalandhari’s anthem ‘Ai watan, Ai India, Ai Bharat, Ai Hindustan’ was broadcast by All India Radio (Delhi)."
Adil Najam, a well-known blogger, posted extracts from Azad’s speeches on his blog: “I asked my friends why Jinnah sahib wanted me to write the anthem. They said Qaid-e-Azam wanted the anthem to be written by an Urdu-knowing Hindu.”
“Through this, I believe Jinnah sahib wanted to sow the roots of secularism in Pakistan,” read a post that quoted Azad in an interview with Luv Puri.