Hasrat Mohani

Hasrat Mohani Biography

Hasrat Mohani was a freedom activist and Urdu poet who lived in the British era. He lived during the period 1 January 1875 – 13 May 1951. The legendary slogan of Indian Independence Movement, Inquilab Zindabad was coined by none other than Hasrat Mohani, who along with Swami Kumaranand became the first person to demand complete independence for India. The historic moment happened in Ahmedabad Session of the Indian National Congress held in 1921. He authored Urdu poetry on love and philosophy. As a poet, he is best remembered for the ghazal, Chupke Chupke Raat Din sung by Ghulam Ali and also Jagjit Singh. This piece was also included in the Bollywood film Nikaah (1982) in a shorter version.

Hasrat Mohani was born on 1 January 1875 at Mohan, a town in the Unnao district of present-day Uttar Pradesh. His birth name is Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan, and he used the pen name, Hasrat for his poetry along with ‘Mohani’ tag, a representation of his hometown Mohan. His ancestors migrated from Iran to India. Though he was a Muslim by birth, he wrote verses expressing deep love for Krishna and also romance, and he used to celebrate Krishna’s birthday, Janmashtami. He studied in Aligarh Muslim University, and during his academic years, he came into contact with siblings - Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar and Maulana Shaukat Ali who were studying in the same college. The brothers later became freedom fighters.

Along with poetry, he was also involved with freedom movement and he was a political activist too, who coined the landmark slogan, Inquilab Zindabad, later followed by revolutionaries and politicians of today. He was also influenced by leftist ideologies. As a writer, some of his noted works include - Kulliyat-e-Hasrat Mohani, Sharh-e-Kalam-e-Ghalib, Nukaat-e-Sukhan, Mushahidaat-e-Zindaan etc are among his major poetry works.

Published: October 16, 2018

Updated: October 16, 2018