The Rebel Poet of Bengal, The National Poet of Bangladesh and probably, more appropriately, the voice and beacon of Global Belonging. Kazi Nazrul Islam said, "Even though I was born in this country (Bengal), in this society, I don't belong to just this country, this society. I belong to the world." [Nazrul Rochonaboli, Bangla Academy, Vol. 4, p. 91]

Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) called the 'rebel poet' (Bidrohi Kobi) for his fierce resistance to all forms of repression. His poetry, with its vibrant rhythms and iconoclastic themes. Through literature, journalism and political activism, Nazrul fought against foreign rule, communalism, imperialism, colonialism, fundamentalism and exploitation. In response, the British colonial government proscribed his books and newspapers and put him behind bars. Through his written Rajbandir Jabanbandi (a political prisoner's deposition) and his 40-day hunger strike, Nazrul protested against the harassment. In support of him, Rabindranath dedicated one of his books to him.

Nazrul was born on 24 May 1899 in the village of Churulia in Burdwan, west bengal. His father, Kazi Fakir Ahmed, was the imam of a mosque and the caretaker of a mausoleum. After his father's death in 1908, Nazrul took up his father's job as caretaker and also served as muazzin of the mosque to support his family.

Nazrul was attracted to folk theatre, with its mixture of poetry, song and dance. He left his duties at the mazar and mosque, and joined a leto group. This was the beginning of Nazrul's life as a poet and artiste. He acted with the group and also learnt the art of composing poems and songs at short notice. Through his association with the leto group, he began to learn about the Hindu puranas. The young adolescent poet composed a number of folk plays for his leto group: Chasar San, Shakunibadh, Raja Yudhisthirer San, Data Karna, Akbar Badshah, Kavi Kalidas, Vidyabhutum, Rajputrer San, Buda Saliker Ghade Ron and Meghnad Badh.

While working at the tea stall, Nazrul became acquainted with Rafizullah, a police inspector of Asansol, who succeeded in persuading the young man to return to school. In 1914 Nazrul got admitted to class VII of Darirampur School at Trishal in mymensingh. A year later he returned to his own village and in 1915 got admitted to class Vlll of Raniganj Searsole Raj School. Here he continued his studies up to class X. However, he did not sit for the pretest that would have qualified him to sit for the Entrance examination. Instead, towards the end of 1917, he joined the army. Nevertheless, during these formative years, he was influenced by at least four of his teachers at Searsole: Satishchandra Kanjilal in classical music, Nibaranchandra Ghatak in revolutionary ideas, Hafiz Nurunnabi in Persian literature and Nagendranath Bannerjee in literature.

Nazrul joined the 49 Bengal Regiment and was posted to Karachi. His life in the army lasted about two years and a half from the close of 1917 to March-April 1920. During this time, from an ordinary soldier he rose to havildar (battalion quartermaster). During his stay in the army, Nazrul learnt Persian from the regiment's Punjabi moulvi, practised music with other musical-minded soldiers to the accompaniment of local and foreign instruments and at the same time pursued literary activities in both prose and poetry. Nazrul's stories and poems written at Karachi cantonment were published in different journals: his first prose writing 'Baunduler Atmakahini' (saogat, May 1919), first published poem 'Mukti' (bangiya mussalman sahitya patrika, July 1919).

During his stay at Karachi, Nazrul subscribed to various literary journals published from Kolkata: Prabasi, Bharatbarsa, Bharati, Manasi, Marmavani, sabujpatra, Saogat and Bangiya Mussalman Sahitya Patrika. During his stay at Karachi, Nazrul had books by Rabindranath and sharat chandra chattopadhyay as well as writings of the Persian poet Hafiz. In fact, it was at Karachi cantonment that Nazrul's literary activities truly began.

At the end of the First World War, Nazrul returned to Bengal and began the career of a litterateur-journalist in Kolkata. His first accommodation was at the office of the bangiya mussalman sahitya samiti at 32 College Street, where he roomed with Muzaffar ahmed, an official of the organisation. People started becoming aware of a new talent in Bangla when journals like moslem bharat, Bangiya Mussalman Sahitya Patrika and Upasana published his novel Bandhan-hara and poems such as 'Bodhan', 'Shat-il-Arab', 'Badal Prater Sharab', 'Agamani', 'Kheya-parer Tarani', 'Korbani', 'Moharram' and 'Fateha-i-Doazdaham'. In a letter published in Moslem Bharat, the poet-critic mohitlal majumder profusely praised Nazrul's poems 'Kheya-parer Tarani' and 'Badal Prater Sharab' and welcomed him to the learned society of Bengal. At the office of the Bangia Mussalman Sahitya Samiti, Nazrul became close to quite a few contemporary Muslim litterateurs such as mohammad mozammel huq, Afzalul Huq, kazi abdul wadud and muhammad shahidullah. Nazrul also used to attend two other popular literary addas or talking clubs: 'Gajendar Adda' and 'Bharatiya Adda'. Here he came in close contact with top personalities of contemporary Bangla art, literature, music and theatre such as atulprasad sen, Dinendranath Thakur, abanindranath tagore, satyendranath dutta, Charuchandra Bannerjee, Ustad Karamatullah Khan, premankur atarthi, shishir kumar bhaduri, Hemendrakumar Roy, sharatchandra chattopadhyay, Nirmalendu Lahiri and dhurjatiprasad mukhopadhyay. In October 1921, Nazrul went to santiniketan with Muhammad Shahidullah and met Rabindranath. For the subsequent two decades, up to Rabindranath's death in 1941, these two important poets of Bengal maintained a close association.

Nazrul's life as a journalist began with the publication of the evening daily nabajug on 12 July 1920. Though ak fazlul huq (Sher-e-Bangla) was listed as editor, the work was mainly done by Nazrul. The political situation was volatile: the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements were in full swing. In this climate, Nazrul's fiery article, Muhajirin hatyar janya dayi ke? (Who is responsible for killing the refugees?) led to the forfeiture of the security deposit of the paper. A police watch was placed on Nazrul.

Along with carrying out his journalistic activities, writing about the socio-political aspects of the national and international developments, Nazrul was also attending various political meetings with Muzaffar Ahmed. At the same time, he participated in cultural activities, attending social gatherings and rendering songs. He was yet to compose tunes for his songs, but Mohini Sengupta, a musicologist and member of the Brahma Samaj, set a few of his songs to music and published the songs with their notations. Among these songs were 'Hayta tomar paba dekha' and 'Ore e kon sneha-suradhuni'. Nazrul's song 'Bajao prabhu bajao ghana' was first published in the Baishakh issue of Saogat in BS 1327 (1920 AD).

April-June 1921 marked an important change in Nazrul's life. He met the book publisher Ali Akbar Khan at the office of the Muslim Sahitya Samiti and accompanied him to Comilla. There he visited the house of Biroja Sundari Devi, where he met Promila, a young Hindu woman whom he would marry subsequently.

At Kolkata in December 1921, Nazrul composed two of his most famous revolutionary writings: 'Vidrohi' and 'Bhangar Gan'. These two compositions totally changed the tenor of Bangla poetry.

Towards the end of 1921 Nazrul composed another famous poem: 'Kamal Pasha'. This poem demonstrated Nazrul's sense of contemporary international history and the hollowness of the Indian Khilafat movement. Nazrul was most deeply influenced by the leadership of Mostafa Kamal Pasha, who had overthrown the feudal sultanate and turned Turkey into a secular and modern republic. Nazrul was particularly impressed by the way Kamal Pasha had removed fundamentalism from Turkish society as well as got women to give up their veils. He wondered why the reforms in Turkey could not be replicated in India and Bengal.

Among Nazrul's literary works published in 1922 the most notable were Byathar Dan, a collection of short stories, Agni-vina, a collection of poems, and Yugavani, a collection of essays. Agni-vina, which included 'Pralayollas', 'Agamani', 'Kheya-parer Tarani', 'Shat-il-Arab', 'Vidrohi' and 'Kamal Pasha', created a stir in Bangla literature and proved to be a turning point in Bangla poetry. Its first edition was sold out soon after publication, and several editions in quick succession had to be printed.

On August 12 1922 Nazrul published the dhumketu, which played an important role in reviving the concept of armed revolution after the failure of the Non-cooperation and Khilafat movements. In a sense the Dhumketu became the mouthpiece of revolutionaries. The paper appeared, bearing on its mast these words of blessing from Rabindranath: Kazi Nazrul Islam kalyaniyesu, ay chale ayre dhumketu/ andhare bandh agnisetu, durdiner ei durgashire udiye de tor vijay ketan 'Dear Kazi Nazrul Islam, Come O comet come. Blaze in darkness the bridge of fire, hoist your flag of victory atop this fortress in distress'. After Nazrul's veiled political poem Anandamayir Agamane (on welcoming the arrival of the goddess Durga) appeared in the Dhumketu on 26 September 1922, the issue was proscribed. Nazrul's book of essays, Yugavani, was also proscribed on 23 November 1922. The same day the poet was arrested in Comilla and brought to Kolkata. On 7 January 1923, Nazrul, as an under-trial prisoner, gave a deposition in self-defence in the court of chief presidency magistrate Swinho. That deposition, 'Rajbandir Jabanbandi', has been acknowledged as a piece of literature. In the judgement delivered on January 16, Nazrul was sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment.

While Nazrul was serving his term in Alipore Central Jail, Rabindranath dedicated to him his musical play Basanta (22 January 1923). Nazrul celebrated the news by composing his poem about the ecstasy of poetic creation: 'Aj Srsti Sukher Ullase' (In the ecstasy of creation). On 14 April 1923, Nazrul was moved to Hughli Jail. The same day he began a hunger strike in protest against the ill treatment of political prisoners. Rabindranath sent Nazrul a telegram saying: 'Give up hunger-strike, our literature claims you'. The telegram was not delivered. Meanwhile, under the pressure of public opinion, the civilian jail inspector, Dr Abdullah Suhrawardy, visited the jail on 22 May 1923 and at his persuasion Nazrul broke his 40-day hunger strike. On 18 June, Nazrul was transferred to Behrampur jail. He was released on December 15, after suffering imprisonment for a year and three weeks. While in Hughli Jail Nazrul wrote his famous song, 'Ei shikal-para chhal moder e shikal-para chhal' (Chains cannot bind us) and in Behrampur jail he wrote another famous song 'Jater name bajjati sab jat-jaliyat khelchhe juya' (The communal cheats are gambling in the name of communities).

The first anthology of Nazrul's poems on love and nature, Dolan-Chanpa, was published in October 1923. Its long poem 'Pujarini' reveals Nazrul's multifaceted perception of romantic love. It was not surprising that Nazrul's thoughts at this time of political turmoil should have turned to thoughts of love. His acquaintance with Promila had ripened to love, and, despite the disapproval of many, Nazrul married Promila in Kolkata on 24 April 1924. Promila was from a Brahmo family and only her mother, Giribala Devi, accepted the marriage. Nazrul was also detached from his family. Nazrul and Promila set up home at Hughli.

In 1926 Nazrul started living at Krishnanagar. Here he composed ghazals. Though these ghazals with their focus on love are very different from the patriotic songs that Nazrul was writing at this time with their focus on struggle and revolution, they are in fact two aspects of youth. atulprasad sen had earlier composed poems in this genre, but the Bangla ghazal is mainly the creation of Nazrul. Nazrul's ghazals are structured like Urdu ghazals and are sung with or without tal.

Nazrul had also become associated with HMV Gramophone Company. This association lasted from 1928 to 1932. The earliest of his songs produced as records from HMV were 'Bhuli kemane' and 'Eta jal o kajal chokhe', sung by Angurbala under his guidance. HMV also recorded Nazrul's recitation of his poem 'Nari'. Nazrul's first radio programme was broadcast from the Calcutta station of All India Radio in the evening of 12 November 1929. Nazrul also started composing songs for plays. In 1929 he composed songs and set them to music for sachindranath sengupta's play Raktakamal staged at Manomohan Theatre in Kolkata. Sachindranath dedicated the play to Nazrul. Nazrul also composed eight songs for manmatha roy's sensational play Karagar, staged in 1930. After running for 18 consecutive nights, the play was banned by the government. The banning did not lessen Nazrul's popularity.

On 10 December 1929 Nazrul Islam was accorded a reception at Albert Hall, Kolkata, on behalf of the people of Bengal. It was presided over by Acharya prafulla chandra ray, the felicitation was read by barrister S Wazed Ali, and addresses of good wishes were given by subhas chandra bose and Rai Bahadur jaladhar sen. The poet was presented a set of golden pen and inkpot. At the reception Prafulla Chandra Ray said, Amar bishvas, Narul Islamer kavita pathe amader bhabi bangshadharera ek ekti ati manuse parinata habe (It is my belief, by reading the poems of Nazrul Islam that each of our future children will become a superman.) Subhas Chandra Bose said, Amra yakhan yuddhaksetre yab takhan sekhane Nazruler yuddher gan gaoya habe! (When we go to war we shall sing Nazrul's war songs. When we go to prison, we shall still sing his songs.)

The books published in 1930 include a political novel, Mrttuksudha, an anthology of songs, Nazrul-Gitika, a play, Jhilimili, and two anthologies of poems and songs: Pralay-shikha and Chandravindu. Chandravindu was proscribed, and a case was instituted against Nazrul for Pralay-shikha. Nazrul was arrested. On 16 December 1930, he was found guilty and awarded six months' rigorous imprisonment. Nazrul petitioned the High Court and was set free on bail. Meanwhile, under the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, the case against Nazrul was dismissed and he did not have to suffer imprisonment.

During 1932-33, Nazrul left HMV for the Megaphone Record Company. The first two Nazrul songs recorded here were 'Jay Vani Vidyadayini' and 'Laksmi Ma Tui', sung by Dhiren Das. In 1933 Nazrul returned to HMV as their exclusive composer. This was when many of his songs were recorded. In 1933 Nazrul completed three valuable translation works: Rubaiyat-i-Hafiz, Rubaiyat-i-Omar Khayyam and Kavya Ampara.

In 1934 Nazrul became associated with motion pictures. The first picture for which he worked was based on girish chandra ghosh's story Bhakta Dhruva (1934). Nazrul acted in the role of Narada, directed the film, composed songs for it, set them to music and directed them. He also did playback singing for four of Narada's songs. Of the 18 songs of the picture, Nazrul composed 17. He was also associated with other motion pictures such as Patalpuri (1935), Graher Pher (1937), Vidyapati (Bangla and Hindi, 1938), Gora (1938), Nandini (1945) and Abhinay Nay (1945). Nearly 50 Nazrul songs were used for different pictures up to 1945. During 1929 to 1941 Nazrul was associated with 20 stage plays in Kolkata including his own plays, Aleya and Madhumala. Some of the other plays were Raktakamal, Mahuya, Jahangir, Karagar, Sabitri, Aleya, Sarbahara, Sati, Sirajaddaula, Devidurga, Madhumala, Annapurna, Nandini, Haraparvati, Arjunvijay and Blackout. Altogether, these plays used 182 of Nazrul's songs.

All of Nazrul's publications during 1934 were related to songs, for instance, the song anthologies, Giti-Shatadal and Ganer Mala, and collections of notations, Suralipi and Suramukur.

Nazrul became formally associated with Kolkata radio station in October 1939. Many significant music programmes were broadcast under his direction, among them, 'Haramani', 'Mel-Milan', and 'Navaragamalika'. From 1939 to 1942, Nazrul, in association with the music maestro, Sureshchandra Chakravarty, broadcast from Kolkata station many raga-based music programmes of exceptional quality. This was regarded as the most significant phase of Nazrul's music life. Meanwhile, in addition to HMV and Megaphone, other gramophone companies, such as Twin, Colombia, Hindustan, Senola, Pioneer and Viellophone, were recording his songs. By 1950, HMV had issued 567 Nazrul records, Twin 280, Megaphone 91, Colombia 44, Hindustan 15, Senola 13, Pioneer 2, Viellophone 2 and Regan 1. In all, of the two thousand odd songs that Nazrul had composed, these companies produced over a thousand records.

On 7 August 1941, Rabindranath died. Nazrul spontaneously composed two poems-'Rabihara' (Without Rabi) and 'Salam Astarabi' (Farewell, Setting Sun) -and an elegy, 'Ghumaite Dao Shranta Rabire (Let the Tired Rabi Sleep). Nazrul himself recorded 'Rabihara' and recited it on radio.

Within a year of Rabindranath's death, Nazrul himself fell ill and gradually lost his voice and his memory. His treatment at home and abroad produced no results. For 34 long years, from July 1942 to August 1976, the poet suffered this unbearable life of silence.

With consent of the Indian government, Nazrul and his family were brought to independent Bangladesh on 24 May 1972. In recognition of his contribution to Bangla literature and culture, Dhaka University awarded the poet the honorary degree of DLitt at a special convocation on 9 December 1974. In January 1976, the Bangladesh government granted him citizenship of Bangladesh and on February 21 awarded him the 'Ekushey Padak'. On 29 August 1976 the poet died at the Institute of Post Graduate Medicine and Research (now BSMM University) in Dhaka.

The national poet of Bangladesh, Kazi Nazrul Islam was buried with state honour on Dhaka University campus, on the northern side of Dhaka University mosque.