Kazi Nazrul Islam: The forgotten voice of Durga puja and Bengal’s pluralism

Early this year in Kolkata, while examining India’s pluralism and multiculturalism, a panel of elite speakers mentioned several literary and cultural icons of Bengal, including Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray. But one name — Kazi Nazrul Islam — was curiously missing from the list.

Political scientist and author, Mujibur Rahman, who was in attendance took note of this omission and decided to make amends by organising a discussion on the life and legacy of Nazrul at India International Centre in Delhi ahead of the ‘Bidrohi Kobi’s (rebel poet) death anniversary on August 29. 

Nazrul’s (1899-1976) disappearance from the collective consciousness of Bengal’s intelligentsia is near total, his presence in the people’s sphere at best fleeting. In the run-up to Durga Puja, though, selections from his bouquet of ‘Agomoni’ songs are occasionally played and performed to welcome the goddess.

Emerging from the Bengal Renaissance of the 19th century, Nazrul flourished in the time of Atul Prasad Sen, Rajanikanta Sen, Dwijendralal Roy and Rabindranath Tagore, who had great affection for the firebrand young writer whom he lovingly called Dhumketu (comet). Together, they were referred to as the Pentagon of Poets or Pancha-kobi.  

Nazrul’s literary and musical oeuvre, that found expression in a staggering creative span, was cut short in 1942 at the age of 42, due to a debilitating neurological disorder. He composed over 3,000 songs in a variety of genres — from Indian classical to ghazals — in Bengali. A stint in the British army exposed him to Persian literature, its influences finding their way into his songs. He discovered God in all faiths, composing Islamic songs and some of the most moving kirtans invoking goddess Kali and Durga. He was a passionate advocate of amity, countering communal tensions with songs of unity: “On the same branch blossom twin buds Hindu and Muslim (Hindu-Musalman duti bhai bharater dui ankhi-tara)’.