Unwan Chishti (5 February 1937 – 1 February 2004) was an

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

poet who gained repute as a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, as a

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

, as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

and as a

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

. He was the disciple of Abr Ahasani Gunnauri.

Life

Chishti was born Iftikharul Hasan in

Manglaur Manglaur is a town with municipal board in Haridwar district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Uttarakhand. Pin code of Manglaur is 247656. Manglaur is located on national highway-58 (Delhi–Haridwar). It is 175 km ...

Haridwar Haridwar (; ; formerly Mayapuri) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is s ...

district,

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

. He was the son of Pirzadah Shah Anwarul Hasan ''Anwar Manglauri''. He completed his early education in Manglaur and

Muzaffarnagar Muzaffarnagar (, ) is a city under Muzaffarnagar district in the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated midway on the Delhi - Haridwar/Dehradun National Highway ( NH 58) and is also well connected with the national railway network. It ...

. After his graduation he got his M.A. (geography, 1961), M.A. (Urdu, 1963), M.Lit. (1968), and Ph.D. (1973) degrees. He worked as a lecturer in Shoaib Mohammadia College in

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

before joining

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia is a Public university, public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British R ...

on 15 September 1964. He taught

and rose to be the Head of Urdu Department,

University,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

; he retired in 1997 as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Languages.

Literary career

Chishti was an Urdu poet, a critic and an historian of Urdu literature, and has many books to his credit. He was the disciple of Abr Ahasani Gunnauri. He has to his credit three published collections of poems – , and . His literary career started in 1950 with the composition of his first ghazal. His first , , was published in 1953 in the Urdu Monthly Shair. His first collection of poems titled was published in 1966 followed by and in 1968. He learned the art of writing Urdu poems from his father and Nikahat Ali Adab Siddiqi. A comprehensive appraisal on the works of Unwan Chishti conducted by Sughra Alam was published in 2003 titled – . Earlier, , dealing with his life and works, had been published in 1995.

Bibliography

Books by Unwan Chishti: 1) Urdu poetry: * * * 2) Books (of research and criticism) by Unwan Chishti: * ''Manaviyyat ki talaash'' * ''Aruzi aur fanni masail'' * ''Urdu shairi men haiat ke tajurbe'' * ''Tanqidi pairae'' * ''Tanqid se tahqiq tak'' * ''Tanqid namah'' * ''Makatib e Ahsan, ma’muqqaddamah va havashi'' * ''Urdu shaeri mein jadeeddiyat ki rawayat'' * ''Azadi ke bad Delhi mein urdu ghazal'' * ''Chand chakor aur chandani'' * ''Urdu mein classiki tanqid'' * ''Islah nama'' * ''Harf e barhana'' * ''Manzoom tarjume ka amal'' * ''Nazim e jadeed ki falsafiyana asas'' * ''Minar e sadaa'' * ''Urdu mein classiki tanqid'' * ''

Krishan Chander Krishan Chander (23 November 1914 – 8 March 1977) was an Indian Urdu and Hindi writer of short stories and novels. Some of his works have also been translated into English. He was a prolific writer, penning over 20 novels, 30 collections ...

: Hayat o Khidmat''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chishti, Unwan 1937 births 2004 deaths Urdu-language poets from India Muslim poets 20th-century Indian Muslims Poets from Uttarakhand People from Haridwar district 20th-century Indian poets Indian male poets 20th-century Indian male writers Chishtis