Life and Death of the Rebel Poet: Iklas Kader Zihad

Today marks the 45th death anniversary of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, widely revered for his limitless contribution to Bengali literature.

Known and regarded as the ‘Rebel Poet’ for his iconoclastic and majestic literary creations, Kazi Nazrul was born in Churulia village of Burdwan in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1899.

According to the Nazrul Institute, Kazi Nazrul wrote 2,600 songs, 600 poetry, three novels, and 43 articles in a career spanning 21 years before losing his speech.

Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh, was born 24 May 1899 in the village of Churulia, Asansol Sadar, Paschim Bardhaman district of the Bengal Presidency (now in West Bengal, India).

After the independence of Bangladesh, the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman brought poet Nazrul Islam to Dhaka from Kolkata along with his family and made arrangements for living with state honor.

In 1942, Kazi Nazrul began to lose his voice and memory due to an unexplained ailment. Later, a medical team in Vienna identified his illness as Pick's disease, a rare and incurable neurodegenerative disease.

He produced a large body of poetry and music with themes that included religious devotion and rebellion against oppression and was awarded an Honorary D Litt by the University of Dhaka in 1974, Ekushey Padak in 1976, Jagattarini Gold Medal in 1945 - the highest honor for work in Bengali literature by the University of Calcutta - and the Padma Bhushan in 1960.

Kazi Nazrul breathed his last in Dhaka on August 29, 1976.