Great Urdu Poet – Firaq Gorakhpuri

Firaq Gorakhpuri

Death Anniversary – 3 March

Raghupati Sahay 'Firaq' Gorakhpuri ( (1896-1982) was one of the most noted contemporary Urdu poets of India. Raghupati Sahay, was born in 1896, Gorakhpur in a Kayastha family.He left his imprint on three important genres of Urdu poetry - ghazal, nazm and rubaayee. He wrote more than 40,000 couplets. He was a poet of love and beauty. His poems are published in three anthologies - Rooh-o-Qaayanat, Gul-e-Ra'naa, Nagma-numaa. He was co-opted into the Provincial Civil Service (PCS), but resigned and joined Allahabad University as a lecturer in English. It was here he wrote most of his Urdu poetry and his magnum opus Gul-e-Naghma which fetched him the Jnanpith Award and also the 1960 Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu, and was later awarded the highest award of the 'Akademi', the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship' in 1970. Of a very sharp intellect, he was also known for his vituperative wit.He died in 1982.

Courtesy – Ashwani Dubey, Gorakhpur