The Khudnawisht Sawani Hayat-i-Nassakh comprises the self-written life story of the great Urdu versifier of Bengal, 'Abdul Ghafur Nassakh, who is commonly known as the 'Father of Urdu poetry in Bengal'. A native of Faridpur district of undivided Bengal, Nassakh has been aptly described by the noted contemporary Bengali journalist Sambhu Chandra Mukherjee (1839- 1894) as a 'genuine chip off the old block of Islam. This eminent Urdu bard of Bengal created a place for his province in the map of Urdu poetical literature even as he achieved wide- spread literary fame by dint of his excellent belles lettres.
Though there is hardly any dearth of literature on the socalled Bengal Renaissance of the nineteenth century, there is little that can give us an idea of the awakening among the Muslims who formed no mean part of the urban elite of the undivided province. While the present work does not seek to remove that desideratum, it at least provides us with glimpses of the intellectual life of the Bengali Muslims as it postrays the personal career of Abdul Ghafur Nassakb. which incidently spans the most formative period in the emergence of the Muslim identity in Bengal.
Ever since my initiation into original research some thirty years ago, I have constantly felt tempted to work on this most precious hitherto unpublished Urdu manuscript belonging to the Asiatic Society. But my preoccupations always kept me away from turning seriously to the job. In the meantime, all the researchers who have chanced to use the manuscript have invariably stressed the need for preparing a critical edition of the text, which I ultimately took up at the persuasion of Mr. Moquitul Hasan of the National Library, Calcutta, who contributed the first detailed notice of the work for Lakhnow's erstwhile Urdu monthly, Nigar, in 1959. In fact, the book deserved early publication in order to acquaint the enquirers with the biography of this literary colossus who stands head and shoulders above the contemporary stalwarts of Urdu literature in point of creative fecundity, poetic excellence and critical acumen. Though the Khudnawisht mainly centres round the author's personal life, the numerous incidental references to notable persons, places and happenings serve to heighten its intrinsic value as a dependable source-book reflecting the aspirations of the Muslim intelligentsia of Bengal in the later half of the nineteenth century.
The Khudnawisht Sawanik Hayat-i-Nassakh comprises the autobiography of Maulvi Abdul Ghafor (1834-1889), poetically surnamed Nassakh, a pioneer of Urdu literary writings in Bengal and younger brother of Nawab 'Abdul Latif (1824-1893), noted educationist and precursor of Muslim modernism in Bengal. Like his illustrious contemporary Bankim Chunder Chatterjee (1838-1894), Abdul Ghafur belonged to the British administrative service, being posted as Deputy Magistrate at various places throughout the province of Bengal. But his fame chiefly rests on his numerous literary writings in Urdu which speak volumes of his excellence as a poet and writer of this language. His poetic proficiency elicited respectful attention from such traditional centres of Urdu poetry as Delhi and Lucknow. Indeed, for a native of Bengal it was highly creditable for Nassikh to be looked upon by poets of Northern India as an authority in matters of Urdu poetry.
Abu Muhammad 'Abdul Ghafur Khan Khalid, commonly known as 'Abdul Ghafur Nassakh, was born in the Kalinga area of Central Calcutta on the 1st of Shawwal, A.H. 1249, corresponding to the 31st of January 1834. He belonged to a noted Qadi family of Eastern Bengal. which traced its descent from the famed Generalassimo of Islam, Khalid bin Walld, who won the sobriquet of 'Saifullah' (Sword of God"). The descendants of Khalid lived in Baghdad as respected theologians and saints till one of them named Shah Ainuddin Mahammad migrated to Delhi during the reign of Emperor Jahangir in A.H. 1032 in the wake of Shah Abbas's seige of Baghdad. After Shah 'Ainuddin's death in Delhi in A.H. 1041, his son 'Abdur Rasul became the first member of the family to go to Bengal on being appointed Qadi of sarkar Fatehabad, chaklah Bhoosnah, (modern Faridpur district of Bangladesh) which at that time belonged to the territories of Bara Bhuyyas of Bengal. He married the daughter of Qutub Danishmand of Lashkardia, grand-daughter of Majlis Bayazid, zamindar of Fatehabad. After his death his son Qadi 'Abdul Wahbab obtained a sanad from Emperor Aurangzib for twelve khadas of rent-free land in Mauza Rajapur and established himself there. naming the place as Barakhadia. This newly-settled Muslim family of ecclesiastics and jurists lived in affluence and honour as country gentlemen, enjoying obedience of their tenants and dependents and respected for their learning and picty in the surrounding territory. With a phenomenal growth of family tree over the years, the inherited property by an operation of the Muslim law of inheritance became too small for their sustenance till the succeeding descendant Qadi Faqir Muhammad, father of 'Abdul Ghafur, left his ancestral home in 1816 to seek his fortune in Calcutta, which was the seat of the government in those days. Since law was the only field open to respectability on account of the independence and dignity of the profession, Qadi Faqir Muhammad first enrolled himself as an assistant to his uncle-in-law, Munsh! Baqa'ullah, who was an eminent pleader in the Sudder Dewany Adalat in Calcutta, on whose death he was appointed to the post of Vakil, which he filled with great distinction for twenty eight years. Besides being a lawyer, he was a man of letters with a historical bent of mind. His Persian work, Jami-ut Tawarikh' ("Universal History") is a really meritorious production, well-written, condensed and accurate. Qadi Faqir Muḥammad, who died at Rajapur in 1844, left several sons, the youngest of whom was our author, 'Abdul Ghafur.
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