Mahmud Gami- Makers of Indian Literature (An Old And Rare Book)

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Mahmud Gami (A.D.1765) born in Kashmir nearly a century and half after Haba Khatoon, upheld the tradition set by his predecessor of making Kashmiri literature rich and significant.

Writing predominantly in the vacun form, Gami also introduced new forms like ghazal, mathnavi, etc. in Kashmiri literature. His treatment of the language is masterly: with one stroke he creates a world of beauty which accommodates both the physical and the spiritual with equal ease. His poems, created to be sung, present a pagaentry of cultural features in a language which flows with ease and apparent spontaneity. The striking imagery as well as the symbols and metaphors woven intricately in the poems are the work of a master craftsman interpreting his reality with originality and wit.

Muzaffar Aazim (b. 1934) is the author of such collections as Zolana and Man-I-Kaman both of which won the 'best book of the year' award of the Cultural Akademi, J&K. He has also translated War and Peace, Wuthering Heights and Yaruingam.

Mahmud Gami has been regarded as an outstanding poet by the critics of the Kashmiri poetry but no adequate critical study of his work has been published so far. This booklet, based partly on the relevant comments on him scattered in various articles and mostly on my own humble effort to approach and appreciate his monumental contribution directly, must therefore be lacking in many respects. I am thankful to Professor Qazi Ghulam Mohammad, Head, Department of Mathematics, Kashmir University, for his valuable suggestions which were a great help in this work.

Professor Devinder Kohli, Head, Department of English, Kashmir University, was kind enough to read through the script and suggest improvements. Shri G. N. Khayal made a copy of Karl F. Burkhard's Latin translation of Mahmud Gami's Yusuf Zulaikha available to me. Shri Sheikh Bashir Ahmad, Lecturer, Institute of Foreign Languages, Kashmir University translated for me the prefatory note of Burkhard's translation which is in German. I express my sincere thanks to them all.