Gopi Chand Narang (1931 – 2022) was an Indian theorist, literary critic and scholar who published more than sixty-five academic and critical books on language, literature, poetics and cultural studies. He wrote more than twelve books in English language, eight in Hindi language and more than 40 books in Urdu language.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Gopi Chand Narang was born on Wednesday, 11 February 1931 (age 91 years; as of 2022) in Dukki, Balochistan, British India (present-day Balochistan, Pakistan). His zodiac sign was Aquarius. In 1950, he obtained a BA degree from Delhi University. In 1952 he completed his master’s degree in Urdu from Delhi University. In 1958, Gopi Chand Narang obtained a Research Fellowship (PhD) degree from the Ministry of Education. He completed his Doctor of Letters degree from Aligarh Muslim University in 2009, Maulana Azad National Urdu University in 2008 and the Central University of Hyderabad in 2007.
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye colour: black
Family
Gopi Chand Narang belonged to a Saraiki family.
parents and siblings
His father’s name is Dharam Chand Narang (literateur).
Gopi Chand’s father and mother
Gopi Chand Narang has four brothers named Yudhishthir, Jagdish Chander, Arjun and Bhimsen. His two sisters are Bhagya and Shanti.
Gopi Chand (centre in turban) with his siblings
wife and children
Gopi Chand Narang’s wife’s name is Manorama Narang. The couple has two sons named Arun Narang and Tarun Narang who are both doctors in America.
Gopi Narang with wife Manorama Narang, sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren
adulthood
Gopi Chand Narang’s father, Dharam Chand Narang was a scholar of Persian and Sanskrit. He was a litterateur who inspired Gopi Chand to study literature. At a very young age, he liked reading the books of writer Ratan Nath Sarshar and poetry of Ghalib and Iqbal. Gopi Chand Narang also appreciated the serious works of writers like Dr. Radhakrishnan and Dr. Syed Abid Hussain and the theology, devotion and Sufism.
A young Gopi Chand Narang
livelihood
In 1957, Gopi Chand Narang started teaching Urdu literature at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. And he taught there until 1958. He was then appointed visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin in 1963 and 1968. During the same time, at the University of Minnesota and the University of Oslo, he was teaching as a professor. At Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, Gopi Chand Narang started teaching as a professor in 1974. Narang received the President’s National Gold Medal from Pakistan for his works in Allama Iqbal in 1977. Subsequently, he served as a professor in the same university. 1986 to 1995. In 2005, he was named Professor Emeritus at the University of Delhi, and in 2013, Jamia Millia Islamia University appointed him as its Professor Emeritus. Gopi Chand Narang served as the Vice President of Delhi Urdu Academy from 1996 to 1999. He was appointed as the Vice Chairman of the National Urdu Language Promotion Council – HRD in 1998. From 1998 to 2002, he served in this position. Vice President of the University’s Sahitya Akademi. He served as the President of the Sahitya Akademi from 2003 to 2007. He was resident at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy in 1997. At the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, he was Indira Gandhi Memorial Fellow from 2002 to 2004. In 2009, the Sahitya Akademi awarded him Fellowship, its highest honour.
literary work
In 1961, he published his first book titled Karkhandari Boli of Delhi Urdu. Later, he released more than 60 books in Urdu, English and Hindi languages.
hindi books
Some of his famous Hindi books are Pathakwadi Criticism (1999), How to Write Urdu (2001), and Amir Khusro: Hindavi Folk Poetry Anthology (2021).
english books
His popular English books include Faiz Ahmed Faiz: Thought Structure, Evolutionary Love and Aesthetic Sensibility (2019), The Urdu Ghazal: A Gift of India’s Composite Culture. (2020), and The Hidden Garden: Mir Taqi Mir (2021).
urdu books
His famous Urdu volumes include Kulliyat-e Hindawi Amir Khusro: Mai Tashrih o Tajjiya Resikh-e Berlin. (2017), In the name of Khutut Gopi Chand Narang of Mashahar. (2017), and Imla Nama Pakistani edition. (2021).
Books on Gopi Chand Narang
Some other authors wrote books on Gopi Chand Narang. Some books contain Fe in their names. seen. Ijaz, ed. 2004. Gopi Chand Narang (Regular Book Edition). Kolkata: Insha Publications, Saifi Sironji. 2012. Ma’abad-e Jadidiyat and Gopi Chand Narang. Sironj: Intisab Publications, Jameel Akhtar. 2015. Zindagnaama: Gopi Chand Narang. Delhi: Educational Publishing House, Zafar Sironji. 2022. Eye of the century Gopi Chand Narang. Sironj: Intisab Publications, and Idris Ahmed. 2022. Prof. Gopi Chand Narang Adeeb-o-Daanishwar. New Delhi: Ghalib Institute.
Controversy
From 2003 to 2007, Gopi Chand Narang served as the President of the Sahitya Akademi and during his tenure as President, he was accused of corruption and controversial appointments at the National Academy. Later, Rehman Abbas, an Indian writer, published an article in which he condemned all the negative allegations against Gopi Chand. The name of the article was ‘How writer and critic Gopi Chand Narang survived a defamation campaign.’ In this article, Abbas stated that Narang was targeted because he had criticized unrealistic modernism in Urdu in some of his writings. Abbas wrote,
Gopi Chand Narang was targeted for his criticism of unrealistic modernism in Urdu. This was mere propaganda against him that could not withstand literary scrutiny or any serious debate, those who tried to defame him had no understanding of his work or literary objectives.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
In 1977 he received the President of Pakistan Gold Medal. In 1982, he was the winner of the Association of Asian Studies (Mid-Atlantic Region) Award. In 1985 he won the Ghalib Award. In 1987, he received the Canadian Academy of Urdu Language and Literature Award and the Amir Khusro Award in Chicago. In 1995 he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Urdu Markaz International Award.
Gopi Chand Narang (left) receiving the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship
In 1998, he was awarded the Alami Farogh-e-Urdu Adab Award. In 2004 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. In 2005, he earned the European Urdu Writers Society Award and the Mazzini Gold Medal in Italy. In 2010, he earned the Urdu Academy’s Bahadur Shah Zafar Award and the Indian Language Council Award. In 2011, he was awarded the Madhya Pradesh Iqbal Samman. In 2012 he received the President of Pakistan Sitara-e-Imtiaz Award, Bharatiya Jnanpith Murti Devi Award and Murti Devi Award. In 2021, he earned the Sir Syed Excellence National Award.
Death
On 15 June 2022, Gopi Chand Narang died in America under natural circumstances at the age of 91. The news of his death was posted by his son on social media.
Facts/General Knowledge
- According to Gopi Chand Narang, soon after getting admission in Delhi College, he chose Urdu as his main subject. However, his father wanted him to become an engineer or a scientist and wanted him to choose mathematics, physics or chemistry as his field of study, but Gopi Chand was fond of literature.
- Hindustani Kisson Se Makhooz Urdu Masnaviyan (1961), Urdu Ghazal and Hindustani Zehan-o-Tahzeeb (2002) and Hindustan Ki Tehreek-e-Azadi and Urdu Shayari (2003) are some of his extensive literary works.
- His socio-cultural and historical studies research such as Amir Khusro’s Hindvi Kalam (1987), Saniha-e-Karbala as Sheri Istiyara (1986), and Urdu Zaban and Lisaniat (2006) are popular throughout the world.
- Gopi Chand Narang was criticized in 1995 for copying some excerpts from his Sahitya Akademi Award winning book ‘Sakhtiyat, Paas-Sakhtiyat and Mashriqi Shariat (Structuralism, Post-Structuralism and Eastern Poetics)’ from some secondary sources.
- In an interview with a media house, Gopi Chand Narang said that after the partition of India, he came to Delhi from Balochistan on a Red Cross plane; However, the rest of his family later reached Delhi. He said that at that time he was feeling very lucky to be sitting in the plane with his elder brother. He said,
At the time of Partition, I was fortunate to be able to come to India by Red Cross plane with my elder brother amid the Quetta massacre of 1947. The rest of the family members came later. I learned to live on my own in the foreign city of Delhi.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn