Forum Pakistan

Azad, Muhammad Hussain (1829-1910) Poet/Critic. Azad was a critic and poet, writing in *Urdu. Azad was educated at Delhi and became an authority on Persian and Arabic literature. He was commissioned by the British authorities to make a trip to Iran and Central Asia. Working in the education system in Lahore, he had a chance to study *English literature. In 1874, he founded the Punjab Society (Anjuman-i-Punjab), which played an important role in the renovation of *Punjabi literature. Azad stood for revising old canons, democratisation of literature, and making literary language more colloquial.

His main works include: Ab-i-Hayat (The Water of Life, colloquial: Fountain of Youth), a history of *Urdu poetry with pen portraits of major poets; Nairang-iKhayal (The Magic of the Mind), a collection of allegoric essays; Darbar-i-Akbari (Akbar's Court), a historical novel; Nazm-i-Azad (Azad's Poems), a collection of poetry; and more. Azad is considered to be one of the finest stylists in *Urdu literature. Together with *Hali, he carried out a reform of Urdu poetry and democratised Urdu poetic canons. Azad is best known for his Sukhandan-i-Far s, Urdu's first book on philology, in which he traces the common roots between Indian and Indo-European languages. He suffered from mental illness for the last twenty-five years of his life.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.S. Sukhochev, 'From Dastan to the Novel', Moscow, 1971 (in Russian); A. Farrukhi, 'Muhammad Hussain Azad', Karachi, vols. 1-2, 1965; M. Sadiq, 'A History of Urdu Literature', London, 1964; F.W Pritchett, 'Nets of Awareness' Karachi, 1995.