Munawwar Rana

Munawwar Rana was an Indian Urdu poet who brought the mother into the centre of the ghazal, a form long reserved for the beloved. Born in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, and long associated with Kolkata and later Lucknow, he wrote in plain Hindi-Urdu mixed with Awadhi, deliberately avoiding heavy Persian and Arabic vocabulary so ordinary listeners could follow him at mushairas. His best-known work, Maa, and collections including Shahdaba, for which he won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014, celebrate mothers, daughters, labourers, migrants and home. He returned the Akademi award in 2015 in protest against rising intolerance. He died in Lucknow on 14 January 2024, aged 71.