The Rebel(Original: Bidrohi)

Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976)

The National Poet of Bangladesh, Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) was simultaneously a poet, philosopher, novelist, lyricist, composer, short story writer, film maker, dramatist, journalist, social activist and a freedom fighter. He wrote mostly in Bengali (Bangla) and created one of the most invaluable anthologies on human rights, religious tolerance, spiritual pursuit, global peace and harmony. His indelible legacy crossed the boundaries of language, geography and time, and touched people of the world as evidenced by the following comments:

“I want the world to know that this human being is not only a great poet, but that his poetry speaks to us today, and in profound ways-ways which reflect an intellectual, aesthetic, moral, social, and political sophistication that we cannot afford to overlook” . “Nazrul is one of the most remarkable poets of all time and, likewise, one of the world’s most morally provoking artists of the twentieth century. Additionally, he is perhaps the most prolific composer the world has come to know”. Prof. Winston E. Langley, Ph. D., Prof. of International Relations & Political Science and Vice Chancellor of academic affairs, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA.

“Interested in a humanism that extended well beyond the perimeters of race, class, and gender, Nazrul was a visionary social justice artist. And, his activism is apparent in his reputation as “the rebel poet.” Such a sensibility and subjectivity was forged through Nazrul’s journalistic and poetic work, which boldly criticized British colonial policies, the British Raj, and sectarianism. Nonetheless, Kazi Nazrul Islam was not bound by traditional nation-state affiliations, a sense evident in his assertion that he and his work “belong[ed] to the world”. Cathy Schulnd-Vials, Prof. of English and Director of Asian American Studies Institute, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.

Nazrul's Poem

বিদ্রোহী

বল বীর -
বল উন্নত মম শির!
শির নেহারি আমারি, নত-শির ওই শিখর হিমাদ্রীর!
বল বীর -
বল মহাবিশ্বের মহাকাশ ফাড়ি'
চন্দ্র সূর্য্য গ্রহ তারা ছাড়ি'
ভূলোক দ্যুলোক গোলক ভেদিয়া,
খোদার আসন 'আরশ' ছেদিয়া
উঠিয়াছি চির-বিস্ময় আমি বিশ্ব-বিধাত্রীর!
মম ললাটে রুদ্র-ভগবান জ্বলে রাজ-রাজটীকা দীপ্ত জয়শ্রীর!
বল বীর -
আমি চির-উন্নত শির!

THE REBEL

Speak, Hero, say,
My head is held high,
At its sight the Himalayan peak hangs down its head.
Speak, Hero, say,
Rending the cosmic skies,
Leaving sun and moon and planets and stars far behind,
Tearing through the spheres of earth and heaven,
Piercing the throne of the Almighty,
I arise, Earth-Mother’s immortal wonder-child!
Blazoned on my forehead is the fiery seal of Shiva,
A dazzling sign of royal triumph!
Speak, Hero, say,
My head is ever held high!

Translated by Kaiser Haq

All Poems of Nazrul

Acknowledgement

"The ICNAZRUL website has evolved from the Kazi Nazrul Islam Page, from the website developed by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq in 1999. Through participation and contribution of many Nazrul enthusiasts, the personal effort of Dr. Farooq greatly enhanced Nazrul's introduction to the rest of the world through cyberspace. In 2015, Dr. Farooq and ICNAZRUL, an initiative supported by AKKHAN Foundation, reached an understanding that further development and maintenance of the website be under the auspices of ICNAZRUL, to ensure continuity under an institutional stewardship. ICNAZRUL acknowledges this thoughtful gesture of Dr. Farooq towards a collaborative effort to further the cause of introducing Nazrul to the world." Dr. Omar Farooq can be reached at farooqm95@gmail.com

The Rebel

(Original: Bidrohi)

Kazi Nazrul Islam

Translation: Kabir Chowdhury

========================= Say, Valiant,
Say: High is my head!
Looking at my head
Is cast down the great Himalayan peak!
Say, Valiant,
Say: Ripping apart the wide sky of the universe,
Leaving behind the moon, the sun, the planets
and the stars
Piercing the earth and the heavens,
Pushing through Almighty's sacred seat
Have I risen,
I, the perennial wonder of mother-earth!
The angry God shines on my forehead
Like some royal victory's gorgeous emblem.
Say, Valiant,
Ever high is my head!
I am irresponsible, cruel and arrogant,
I an the king of the great upheaval,
I am cyclone, I am destruction,
I am the great fear, the curse of the universe.
I have no mercy,
I grind all to pieces.
I am disorderly and lawless,
I trample under my feet all rules and discipline!
I am Durjati, I am the sudden tempest of ultimate summer,
I am the rebel, the rebel-son of mother-earth!
Say, Valiant,
Ever high is my head!
I am the hurricane, I am the cyclone
I destroy all that I found in the path!
I am the dance-intoxicated rhythm,
I dance at my own pleasure,
I am the unfettered joy of life!
I am Hambeer, I am Chhayanata, I am Hindole,
I am ever restless,
I caper and dance as I move!
I do whatever appeals to me, whenever I like,
I embrace the enemy and wrestle with death,
I am mad. I am the tornado!
I am pestilence, the great fear,
I am the death of all reigns of terror,
I am full of a warm restlessness for ever!
Say, Valiant,
Ever high is my head!
I am creation, I am destruction,
I am habitation, I am the grave-yard,
I am the end, the end of night!
I am the son of Indrani
With the moon in my head
And the sun on my temple
In one hand of mine is the tender flute
While in the other I hold the war bugle!
I am the Bedouin, I am the Chengis,
I salute none but me!
I am thunder,
I am Brahma's sound in the sky and on the earth,
I am the mighty roar of Israfil's bugle,
I am the great trident of Pinakpani,
I am the staff of the king of truth,
I am the Chakra and the great Shanka,
I am the mighty primordial shout!
I am Bishyamitra's pupil, Durbasha the furious,
I am the fury of the wild fire,
I burn to ashes this universe!
I am the gay laughter of the generous heart,
I am the enemy of creation, the mighty terror!
I am the eclipse of the twelve suns,
I herald the final destruction!
Sometimes I am quiet and serene,
I am in a frenzy at other times,
I am the new youth of dawn,
I crush under my feet the vain glory of the Almighty!
I am the fury of typhoon,
I am the tumultuous roar of the ocean,
I am ever effluent and bright,
I trippingly flow like the gaily warbling brook.
I am the maiden's dark glassy hair,
I am the spark of fire in her blazing eyes.
I am the tender love that lies
In the sixteen year old's heart,
I am the happy beyond measure!
I am the pining soul of the lovesick,
I am the bitter tears in the widow's heart,
i am the piteous sighs of the unlucky!
I am the pain and sorrow of all homeless sufferers,
i am the anguish of the insulted heart,
I am the burning pain and the madness of the jilted lover!
I am the unutterable grief,
I am the trembling first touch of the virgin,
I am the throbbing tenderness of her first stolen kiss.
I am the fleeting glace of the veiled beloved,
I am her constant surreptitious gaze.
I am the gay gripping young girl's love,
I am the jingling music of her bangles!
I am the eternal-child, the adolescent of all times,
I am the shy village maiden frightened by her own budding youth.
I am the soothing breeze of the south,
I am the pensive gale of the east.
I am the deep solemn song sung by the wondering bard,
I am the soft music played on his lyre!
I am the harsh unquenched mid-day thirst,
I am the fierce blazing sun,
I am the softly trilling desert spring,
I am the cool shadowy greenery!
Maddened with an intense joy I rush onward,
I am insane! I am insane!
Suddenly I have come to know myself,
All the false barriers have crumbled today!
I am the rising, I am the fall,
I am consciousness in the unconscious soul,
I am the flag of triumph at the gate of the world,
I am the glorious sign of man's victory,
Clapping my hands in exultation I rush like the hurricane,
Traversing the earth and the sky.
The mighty Borrak is the horse I ride.
It neighs impatiently, drunk with delight!
I am the burning volcano in the bosom of the earth,
I am the wild fire of the woods,
I am Hell's mad terrific sea of wrath!
I ride on the wings of the lightning with joy and profound,
I scatter misery and fear all around,
I bring earth-quakes on this world!
I am Orpheus's flute,
I bring sleep to the fevered world,
I make the heaving hells temple in fear and die.
I carry the message of revolt to the earth and the sky!
I am the mighty flood,
Sometimes I make the earth rich and fertile,
At another times I cause colossal damage.
I snatch from Bishnu's bosom the two girls!
I am injustice, I am the shooting star,
I am Saturn, I am the fire of the comet,
I am the poisonous asp!
I am Chandi the headless, I am ruinous Warlord,
Sitting in the burning pit of Hell
I smile as the innocent flower!
I am the cruel axe of Parsurama,
I shall kill warriors
And bring peace and harmony in the universe!
I am the plough on the shoulders of Balarama,
I shall uproot this miserable earth effortlessly and with ease,
And create a new universe of joy and peace.
Weary of struggles, I, the great rebel,
Shall rest in quiet only when I find
The sky and the air free of the piteous groans of the oppressed.
Only when the battle fields are cleared of jingling bloody sabres
Shall I, weary of struggles, rest in quiet,
I the great rebel.
I am the rebel eternal,
I raise my head beyond this world,
High, ever erect and alone!

Courtesy: Mohammad Nurul Huda. Poetry of Kazi Nazrul Islam in English Translation [Dhaka: Nazrul Institute, 2000). pp. 12-16.

Stage reading in University of Connecticut

October 2014- University of Connecticut (UCONN), Storrs, CT, staged a reading “O the ever beautiful jubilant youth arise and take charge”, based on Nazrul’s drama “Jago Sunder Chiro Kishor”. It was jointly sponsored by the Theater Department, Department of English, Asian American Cultural Center and the Nazrul Endowment Committee of UCONN. The actors & actresses were a diverse group of undergraduate students of the Universitycoming from various ethnic and religious backgrounds. The play was translated by Gulshan Ara Kazi.

Annual Nazrul Lecture

April 2014– Annual Nazrul Lecture was jointly sponsored by the Nazrul Endowment Committee of California State University, Northridge (CSUN), CA, and Taranga of California (TOC), under the leadership of Mr. Shiper Chowdhury and Mr. Moazzam H. Chowdhury. Prof. KarunamoyGwashami,aacclaimedNazrul Scholar of Dhaka, Bangladesh, was the keynote speaker.

A workshop on Nazrul

December 2015 – A workshop on Nazrul was held at University of Connecticut (UCONN). The event was sponsored by the Nazrul Endowment committee of UCONN and participated by the faculty members of UCONN, Profs. Cathy Schlund-Vials, Roger Buckley, Glenn Mitoma, Angela Rola and other members of the Endowment Committee, Prof. Sarah Tasnim, Mrs. Bela Chowdhury, Mrs. SaminaManwar, Dr. RokeyaHaque, Dr. BaishaliKanjilal, Dr. Gulshan Ara Kazi and Mr. KaziBelalShahjahan. Syed Tipu Sultan, the president of Nazrul Academy of New York and prof. Ziauddin Ahmed, vice chairman of the North America Nazrul Conference committee, wereInvited guests. Main topic of discussion was “Nazrul’s philosophy relating to human rights & dignity”.

June 2015 – A culturalprogram based on Nazrul’s songs, music and philosophywas presented by theNazrul Endowment Committee of California State University, under the leadership of Mr. Shiper Chowdhury and Mr. Moazzam H. Chowdhury. The event was jointly sponsored by California State University, Northridge, CA (CSUN) and Taranga of California(TOC). Acclaimed Nazrulsinger ShahinSamadwas the featured singer.

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