Ehsan Fazil/Srinagar

On July 1, 1948, the first radio waves wafted across Kashmir. “Adab. Yeh Radio Kashmir Srinagar hai,” was the first sound on Radio Kashmir, Srinagar that is now AIR, Srinagar. The deepset and reassuring voice resonated across Kashmir and beyond was of Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki, a renowned poet and a writer whose works were to inspire a generation of Kashmiris to embark on the literary path.

Khandaan

Nazki was picked for this job and shifted from Radio Kashmir’s Jammu station, the first one to be set up in the State of Jammu and Kashmir for a reason.

“Nazki was given this honour not because he was a senior member of the staff and transferred from Radio Kashmir Jammu, but because of his stature as a great poet and scholar highly respected in society,” writes Pran Kishore, famous playwright and radio artist, in his memoirs.

Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki 

Pran Kishore writes that Nazki sahib also had the honour of presenting the live commentary of the boat procession of the President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad in river Jhelum in Srinagar in 1950. That is a memorable event for the people of Kashmir as they watched in awe the colourful boats cruising through the Jhelum from its banks and also sitting at home from Nazki in their native language. The first live broadcast of Radio Kashmir, Srinagar was a hit.

Nazki also worked with the AIR at Nagpur and Indore.

While Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki, the broadcaster, was a famous voice of his times, his poetry in different languages - Kashmiri, Urdu, Persian, and Arabic -dominated the literary scene of Kashmir for the major part of the twentieth century, and remains a treasure trove. Nazki was awarded by Sahitya Academy In 1987, for his poetry titled Awaz-e-dost.

Born on March 16, 1910, Nazki got his early education in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic from his illustrious father Mir Mustafa Nazki at Madar village near Bandipore town in North Kashmir, where the family had shifted from Srinagar when he was still a young child.

At the age 16, he was appointed as a teacher in the Government school and he was elevated as the Inspector of schools in due course of time.

Nazki is also seen as the "first Kashmiri writer" in Free India and the first poet to resuscitate quatrain poetic form in Kashmiri literature. This form of poetry originally began during the period of thirteen and fourteenth-century Sufi poets such as Lal Ded and Noorudin Noorani alias Nund Reshi.

Ayaz Rasool Nazki (left) with his elder brother Farooq Nazki and a younger relative (Facebook page of Ayaz Nazki)

He wrote poetry on various subjects and in different poetic genres such as rubaʿi, spiritualism, moral philosophy, ghazals, and aesthetics and in satire.

His proficiency in Urdu and English languages brought him fame; he emerged as a lead broadcaster in Kashmir with his stint at the Radio Kashmir, Srinagar. He passed away on April 16, 1998, in Srinagar. The with vision shows in the prediction of his end and the epithet he wrote for himself and adorns his final resting place in Srinagar:

Night of Friday,

18th, month of Hajj

You accepted this, the lowliest of men!

And what was the chronogram of this union?

'Pray, intercede on my behalf, my Prophet."

His literary works include Deedai-Tar (Urdu) poetry 1948, Namrud-Nama (Kashmiri) quatrains, Awaz-e-Dost (Kashmiri) poetry, Chirage Raah (Urdu) poetry, Kawe Yenewol (Kashmiri) poetry, Matai-e-Faqir (Urdu) poetry, Kuliyaat-e-Nazki (Kashmiri) poetry, Roohi Gani (Urdu) prose, Abdul Ahad Nadim (Urdu) prose, Waraq Waraq Roshan (Urdu) essays.

His family has set up the The Nazki Foundation to safeguard the treasure trove of literature the patriarch has left for the world. Each year between March and April that is Springtime in Kashmir, the Trust celebrates his works though the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the commemoration for the last two years. His family said the timing of the festival coincides with his death and also with the Spring season, his favourite time of the year.

An English translation of Nazki’s monograph (originally written in Kashmiri by Dr Aziz Hajni) from the Sahitya Akademi has also been published recently.

Ayaz Rasool Nazki with his wife (right) and poet Pratima Mukherjee Mullick 

“Most of the poets in Kashmir have some influence of Nazki in their diction or treatment of the subject”, Ayaz Rasool Nazki, his son told Awaz-the Voice. “As our father, we have seen him from close quarters and known the actual height of the towering personality.”

Nazki’s family originally belonged to Qadi Kadal, in downtown Srinagar. The family traces its lineage to Mir Syed Ali (Bukhari), who headed the justice department of the King (Budshah) Zain ul Abideen early 15th century. Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki is the 7th descendent of Mir Nazuk.During his early childhood, his father Mir Mustafa, well versed with Persian and Arabic literature, shifted to Maadar village in Bandipore, where Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki and his younger brother, Ghulam Mohammad Nazki received their early education.

Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki’s wife hailed from an equally renowned Fazili family of Gamroo (Bandipore).They had seven sons and a daughter, who have continued the legacy of excelling in their respective fields.

Mir Ghulam Rasool Nazki with his family - sons, daughter and grand children

Three of his sons have embarked on a literary journey following their illustrious father and also pursuing different professions. The eldest, daughter, Nadira, married to a well-known teacher, Mohammad Sayeed Andrabi, is the mother of a former bureaucrat-turned politician, Naeem Akhtar. He was a minister in the cabinet of Mufti Mohammad Syed and was recently interned in the aftermath of the removal of the special status of J&K.

Riyaz-ul-Islam, eldest among the brothers, was a technocrat and retired as Joint Director, J&K Agriculture Department in the early 90’s. Like his father, Farooq Nazki rose as an ace broadcaster and retired as Deputy Director-General of Prasar Bharti in the nineties. He too is a leading poet of Kashmir who writes in Kashmiri and Urdu. 

Dr Tariq Nazki, has shifted to London where he passed away 10 years ago.

Another son Iqbal Nazki was a Professor of Education at the University of Kashmir, where he retired as Controller of Examinations. He too is a poet and these days he is busy translating Plato’s works into Kashmiri. Yet another scion Justice (retd) Bilal Nazki, was a judge in J&K, Bombay, and Hyderabad High Courts. He rose to become the Chief Justice of Odisha High Court.

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Dr Ayaz Rasool Nazki, professor of animal Physiology had been associated with the Agriculture universities of J&K like the SKUAST and BGSBU to retire as the Dean of Faculty at the SKUAST. He is also a poet with two published books of Kashmiri poetry, three collections of Urdu poetry, and two collections of Kashmiri poetry. He has also authored a novel and travelogue among at least 20 published works. The youngest of all, Viqar-uk-Mulk, was associated as a senior functionary of the J&K Bank.