Jagan Nath Azad

Jagan Nath Azad (5 December 1918 – 24 July 2004), was an Indian Urdu poet, writer and academician.

He wrote over 70 books, including poetry collections, poems, biographies, and travelogues.

He was an authority on the life, philosophy and works of Muhammad Iqbal.

Azad was born on 5 December 1920 in the small town of Isa Khel in Mianwali District, Punjab.

After passing his Matriculation examination from Raja Ram Mohan Rai High School (Mianwali) in 1933, he joined Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) College (Rawalpindi), obtained an FA degree in 1934 and moved on to Gordon College (Rawalpindi), achieving an MA degree in 1937.

He returned to education after a period of employment and attained MA (Farsi) in 1944 and MoL in 1945 from University of the Punjab (Lahore).

Shabnam Roomani, Syed Fakhruddin Balley Alig, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Dr Wazeer Agha and Dr Waheed Qureshi were his closest friends and companions in Pakistan.

During his visit to Pakistan, so many times he stayed at Balley House.

Achieving 1st position in the college, he was awarded a set of Rabindra Nath Tagore's books.

Azad's introduction to journalism came at an early age when, during his college days, he served as Editor of the Gordonian – the College newspaper.

His first formal posting was as Editor of the Urdu monthly Adabi Dunya, published in Lahore.

On moving to Delhi after the partition of India, Azad secured the post of Assistant Editor of the Urdu daily, Milap.

The District became part of Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947.

He inherited his love of Urdu literature from his father, Tilok Chand Mehroom – was the close companion of Syed Hashim Raza, Syed Moeenuddin Jafri_UL_Chishti, Shabeer Hassan Khan (known as Josh Malihabadi) himself a poet of renown – who introduced him to Urdu poetry via Diwan-e-Ghalib and took him to mushairas in which he participated.

The first such event resulted in the young Azad meeting Hafeez Jalandhari for the first time and being presented with a copy of Hindustan Hamara, which he read, cherished and re-read over the years.

In 1948 Azad joined the Government of India's Ministry of Labour as Editor of Employment News.

A few months later he applied for, and secured one of the three posts of Assistant Editor (Urdu) with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting's Publications Division.

He was promoted to Information Officer (Urdu) in 1955.

Subsequently, he served as IO (U) in the Ministry of Food & Agriculture; the Ministry of Tourism Shipping & Transport, and the Ministry of Works & Housing with a brief return to the Ministry of I & B (1964–65) and as the first Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs for the newly created Border Security Force.

On promotion to Deputy Principal Information Officer, he joined the Government of India's Press Information Bureau and served in both the New Delhi & Srinagar offices.

He remained in Srinagar on promotion to Director of Public Relations in 1973 and retired from the PIB & the Government Service in 1977.

On retirement from the Government Service in 1977, Azad accepted University of Jammu's offer of Headship of the Department of Urdu and the post of Professor at the University in Jammu.

This posting provided him the atmosphere and the opportunity to spread his literary & academic wings.

It is here that he produced the translation of Allama Iqbal's Javed Nama and undertook the massive task of writing Allama's biography (Roodad-e-Iqbal) in five volumes.

The University honoured him with the award of Deanship of the Faculty of Oriental Learning in 1980 and Emeritus Fellowship in 1984.

It also facilitated his literary work with the provision of accommodation and staff till his demise.

The DLit degrees awarded by the Universities of Jammu & Kashmir to him and the 10+ books and numerous research articles written about him are testimony to Azad's impact on the literary circles of both India and Pakistan.

Tara Charan Rastogi, the noted Iqbal scholar, says:

"'In the context of his writings on Iqbal and connected topics, Azad stands out as a critic with encyclopedic erudition; he is Iqbal Academy incarnate; and, he is the first man who ventured to rehabilitate Iqbal and Urdu Literature in post-partition India.'"

Azad's book "Iqbal: Mind and Art" received glowing reviews and was accorded an effusive welcome in the world of academia.

He served as President of the Iqbal Memorial Trust for a term of five years (1981–85).

Azad Gulati, himself a professor and an award-winning Urdu poet, echoed these sentiments when he reviewed the book in the April 1985 issue of the Iqbal Review published by the Iqbal Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.

Unfortunately, research material & manuscripts of volumes III – V of Roodad-e-Iqbal were destroyed in the flood of 1988.

Azad found it impossible to reconstruct the lost manuscripts.

Azad was elected vice-president of Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu (Hind) (a national body for the promotion of Urdu under the Ministry of Human Resource Development), in 1989 and President in 1993, remaining in this office till his demise.

He was at his writing desk until fifteen days before he died – of carcinoma and a brief illness – at the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre in New Delhi, India on 24 July 2004.

He was 84 and is survived by his wife and five children.

Roodad-e-Iqbal, Volume I was compiled and published by Amin Banjara, a well-known writer, critic, research scholar and a close associate of Azad in 2005 and released by Begum Vimla Azad.

Roodad-e-Iqbal, Volume II (646 pages), completed shortly before his death, is also compiled by Amin Banjara in book form and ready for publication.

Amin Banjara is also working on Azad's Interviews and his letters.