Meeraji

Meeraji Biography

Meeraji was an eminent Urdu poet of British India who died at a very young age of 37 in Mumbai. He was born in Gujranwala, British India, now in Pakistan. Most recently in May 15, 2012 his 100^th birth anniversary was celebrated in a grand manner. His experimental and unconventional style of writing created magic among Urdu poetry lovers across the nation. He wrote nazms in the inspiration of Western literature and also other disciplines like psychology. He has been a poet in rebellion against the mainstream culture of his times and led an unconventional lifestyle. Regarded as one of the pioneers of symbolism in Urdu poetry, he is also known for introducing Free Verse in Urdu poetry.

His real name is Mohammad Sanaullah Dar born on May 25, 1912 in Gujranwala to a Kashmiri family. His father was a railway engineer and for the same reason her family moved from place to place and has stayed in places like Lahore and Mozang. He started writing while at school, using the pen name Shastri. He was attracted towards Hindu mythology in his younger days. Later he fell in love for a Bengali girl, Meera Sen and adopted her name as his pen name. Though he was a part of a well settled family, he chose to lead a nomadic way of life and he sold his poetry to earn money for a living. He was also associated with Adabi Duniya in Lahore.

He worked for AIR Delhi, apart from writing columns and editing works for a few literal magazines.  Though he wrote numerous works during his lifetime, he published only a few. Many of his works have been compiled and published later; "Iss Nazm Mein","Baqiyat-e-Meeraji" and "Kulliyat-e-Meeraji" are among those.

Published: N/A

Updated: July 21, 2014