Book Review: Kulyat-I-Raaz
by Raj
Nath Bhat
Book:
Kulyat-I-Raaz (Kashmiri & Urdu)
Author:
Pandit
Vidyalal Koul ‘Raaz’
Price: Rs. 125/ pp. 160.
Kulyaat-I-Raaz
is a
collection of Urdu
Ghazals and Kashmiri
poetry by Pandit
 Vidyalal
Koul ‘Raaz’ written over a period of more than seventy years. Born
in 1912 at Kuloosa, Bandipora, Kashmir,
Raaz and his only brother were brought
up by their young widowed mother with
great tribulation and suffering. There
was scarcity all around him. As a young
kid he had to work as a school watchman
at night to earn and thereby continue
his studies. In 1946 he obtained first
class in ‘Adiib Fazil’ from the then Punjab University. With a natural flavour and a
fertile, creative mind Raaz began penning
down his literary pieces at a very young
age. The present collection is just a
fraction of what he wrote all these years
for the displacement of 1990 robbed him
of significant number of his very valuable
creations. His reluctance to get his work
published delayed its appearance but his
sons and daughter finally succeeded in
persuading him to agree. His Professor
son Ashok Kaul arranged to bring it out
from Varanasi as a token of their (sons and daughter) love and esteem on their
Papaji’s 96th birthday. With a preface by Dr. Salman Raghib and a foreword by his
illustrious son
 Professor Ashok Kaul, the
volume comprises
nearly fifty Ghazals,
over twenty Nazams in
Urdu and nearly thirty
Bhajans, Nazams and
Ghazals in Kashmiri.
There is a prose piece
in Urdu at the end
which he wrote to Mama Sahab, the Qazi
of his native village on 22nd September,1990 during the first year of
Displacement. The poetic creations are
a vivid reflection of Papaji’s (Raaz Sahab’s) depth of understanding and
expanse of observation. His control over
the twin languages is superb. The reader
takes deep breaths frequently to grasp
and reach out to the imagery, symbolism
pervading in each creation. There are
poems of mundane love, of the
enchanting bounty of Kashmir,
devotional songs; one gets transfixed.
Some instances are:
- Taaza tar taabanda tar tere lahu se
hai jahan, Garam rakhne ke liye
bakhsha gaya tujh ko shabaab
- surat-e gul tamam umra kaantuun
men hi basar huii, samjhe shagufatagi
jise lakht lakht hai jigar
gar ye shab se dhul saken, daaman-e
tar ke daagh kuch, ab yahi chand katre
hain, bas mera zaadi safar
- nazar miithi-miithi adaa pyaari-pyaari
ye aadabe mahfil sikhaye hain kis ne
- ye des thagon kaa hai, mumkin hai
nahin raahat, jiine kaa mazaa kya hai
naa paida hui ulfat
insaan banaa vahshi
(Author is Head, Deptt. of Linguistics, Banaras Hindu University)
Source: Milchar
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