Kashmir’s veteran poet Jnanpith award winning writer Rahman Rahi passed away

Kashmir’s great poet Rehman Rahi passed away at the age of 95. He was known as the poet of silence. Reahy’s interests were poetry, essays, poetry, and criticism. He received the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 1961 and the Padma Shri in 2000 and received the Jnanpeeth in 2007. Rahi is the first Kashmiri writer to receive the Jnanpeeth. He was awarded the Jnanpeeth for his work Siya Rud Jaren Mans (Amidst the Black Drizzle).

1925 Rahman Rahi was born in Srinagar, British India. Worked as a clerk in Public Works Department. An active worker in the progressive literary movement, Rahi was the General Secretary of the Progressive Writers’ Association. He also worked as the editor of Kwang Posh, the organization’s mouthpiece. Served as sub-editor in Urdu daily Khidmat.

Rahi passed MA in Persian in 1952 and English in 1962 from the University of Jammu & Kashmir, where he worked as a lecturer in the Persian department and a member of the editorial board of the Urdu newspaper Ajkal in Delhi. As a student, he was an active worker in the cultural wing of the communist movement in Kashmir.

Fahi translated the Sufi poems of Baba Faridi from Punjabi into Kashmiri. Following the literature of Camus, Sartre and Dinanath Nadeem, Rahi carved his ideals into poems.

The major works are Sana Wani Saas, Sukhok Soda, Kalam e Rahi, Navroz e Saba, Kahwat, Kashir Shara Sombran, Azich Kashir Shairi, Kashir Naghmati Shairi, Saba Mollakhat and Farmov Sartushtadia.

Several dignitaries including Lieutenant Governor, PDP President Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah expressed their condolences. ‘His creative genius was expressed in various fields of literature. His writings reflect the cultural and political evolution of Kashmir. Rahi’s work has continued to influence young/new poets and writers for a long time to come – Jammu and Kashmir Left leader and MLA Muhammad Yousaf Tarigami said in his condolence message.