Yagana Changezi

Mirza Yas Yagana Changezi (1884–1956) (Urdu: مرزا یاس یگانہ چنگیزی ‎) was an Indian Urdu language poet who published several collections over a 30 year period.

Work and contribution

In 1914, at age 30, Yagana published his first collection of poetry,Nashtar-i Yas. He published his second collection, Aayat-i-Wijdani, in 1927. In 1933 Yagana published Tarana, and in 1934 and 1945 published the second and third edition of Aayat-i-Wijdani . Each edition of Aayat-i-Wijdani was enlarged.

In 1946, Sajjad Zaheer persuaded Yagana to prepare his Kulliyat for publication by the Communist Party of India publishing house, Qaumi Darul Ishaat. However, according to one source, "This collection, however, proved to be so unwholesome that we could consider it a major tragedy. Some couplets were added and some corrected (rather changed to the extent that Yagana lost his cool and blew up)".[1]

According to Intezar Husain,

"Mushfiq Khwaja has done a great job. He has managed to pull out a poetic genius from the oblivion where he had been pushed by his hostile contemporaries. They saw to it that he was personally humiliated as a poet. His uncompromising attitude in respect of his literary opinions and his unorthodox thinking in matters of religion made their task easy. While still alive, he was consigned to the grave along with his poetry. His poetic work remained unpublished. Most of us had heard of him only as a crackpot with no respect for the greats of Urdu poetry."[2]

Some critics described the following couplets as anti-religion.

Khudi ka nasha charhha, aap main raha na gaya

Khuda banay thay Yagana, magar bana na gaya
Sab terey siwa kafir, Aakhir iss ka matlab kya

Sar phira dey insaan ka, Aisa khabt-e-mazhab kya

In 2003, Pakistani scholar and writer Mushfiq Khwaja created a compilation of Yagana's work, Kulliyat-i-Yagana . It included four collections of poems to his credit: Nishtar-i Yas, Tarana , Aayat-i-Wijdani and also Ganjina (1948). The compilation also included Yagana's Ghalib-Shikan and other prose works. .[2]

References
  1. Yagana Changezi’s rebirth
  2. Intizar Husain, "Yagana Rediscovered"] in Dawn, 23 March 2003.

Further reading

Y as Yagana Changezi یاس یغانہ چنگیزی

  • A great iconoclast By Shamim Ahmad
  • Yagana Changezi’s rebirth
  • Remembering Yagana’s blues
  • Pak Tea House: Afzal Mirza, "Mirza Yagana Changezi", 7 July 2008. Accessed 30 July 2012.
  • Urdu poetry of Yagana Changezi
  • Yagana rediscovered by Intezar Husain
  • Google books: K. C. Kanda, Masterpieces of Urdu Rubaiyat.
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