Ali Sikandar علی سکندر, commonly called Jigar Moradabadi جگر مرادآبادی, was born in Mohalla Lal Bagh محلہ لال باغ, Moradabad مراد آباد, in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (UP), British India, on 6 April 1890. His ancestors had moved to Moradabad and Azampur around the middle of the 18th Century. His father, Maulvi Ali Nazar, who was a poet, passed away when Ali was a young boy. One of his uncles, Maulvi Ali Asghar, supported him during that difficult time. Ali got his education of Arabic and Farsi from a local madrassah. He started writing poetry in his teen years and mailed a few ghazals to Daagh Dehlavi for correction. His formal poetry teacher (ustad) was Munshi Hayat Bakhsh (Rasa Rampuri). He moved to Gonda (also in the UP, near Lucknow), most probably in his early teens, where he resided till his death. There he became very close to Asghar Gondwi, who was 6 years older than him. Asghar acted as both a friend and as an older brother for him. They together went through different struggles in life. There was a time when Jigar was in his late 20's that both of them travelled city to city selling eye-glasses for an Agra based company. Ali used the takhallus جگر Jigar, which means liver in Farsi, Urdu, and Punjabi. It is commonly used as a symbol for the trials and tribulations of a lover as it is believed that it gets burnt in love. Asghar tried to help Jigar in managing his affairs. Jigar showed deep reverence for Asghar, for his piety and the help he extended to him. Asghar and his wife also arranged a marriage for Jigar, who was married to Naseem, a sister of Asghar's wife. The marriage was arranged after Jigar had promised to Asghar that he would quit alcohol after the marriage. Jigar had become an alcohol addict in his late 20's. Perhaps Asghar believed that Jigar would be able to get rid of his bad habit in this way. When Jigar could not do what he had promised, Asghar asked him to divorce Naseem, a command he obeyed.
Those were very difficult days for Jigar as his financial condition was very bad. Still he had a generous heart and he would help the people whom he thought were more needy than him. His fame increased with time and he became one of the best loved poets in India. He was one of those Urdu poets who had opted to stay in India at the time of partition of India in 1947. In the first half of the 20th Century, he was among the foremost poets of Urdu ghazal in India, along with Hasrat Mohani (1875-1951), Fani Badayuni (1879-1941), and Asghar Gondwi (1884-1936). Jigar did not have a lot of formal education, but his ghazal is known for its simplicity and feelings of love. Some of his ashaar:
یہ عشق نہیں آساں، بس اتنا سمجھ لیجے: اک آگ کا دریا ہے، اور ڈوب کے جانا ہے
جان ہی دے دی جگر نے آج پائے یار پر: عمر بھر کی بیقراری کو قرار آہی گیا
دل کا نہ پوچھ، معرکہِ حسن و عشق میں: کیا جانیئے غریب کہاں کام آ گیا
In his 40's, Jigar did his taoba (repentance) and quit alcohol for good . He subsequently married Naseem, about 15 years after they had divorced. They remained childless. Jigar performed the Haj in 1953. With time, the fame of Jigar spread throughout the Indian sub-continent. He became one of the most sought after poets and young men flocked to him. He was also invited to mushairas in Pakistan, and he attended some mushairas in Lahore. The glare of wealth did not change Jigar and he remained the same simple hearted and polite man with a generous heart. He was always sympathetic to the weak and the poor, and was a deeply religious and kindhearted man. Both him and Asghar Gondwi had said بیعت bai'at (oath of allegiance) to قاضی عبدالغنی منگلوری Qazi Abdul Ghani Mangalori (Mangalore is in District Saharanpur, Northwestern UP), a respected sufi. Indian Movie Industry asked him many times to write songs for Indian movies, but he was not interested. He passed away on 6 September 1960 in Gonda, UP, India, and is buried there.
The collections of his poetry include: Daagh-e Jigar داغِ جگر, Shola-e Toor شعلۂِ طور, and Aatish-e Gul آتشِ گُل. For his services to the Urdu language, he was awarded an honorary D. Litt. Degree by the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, UP, India, the second poet after Allama Iqbal to whom this rare honour has been bestowed.
It is said that a picture says a thousand words. The picture attached to this video perhaps says much more. It shows a polite, cultured, and decent man, at peace with himself and of a dervish nature. It also depicts a collective sadness and nostalgia for an age and culture passed now.
KhamoshTamashai
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