Pandit Daya Shankar Naseem Lakhnawi: Urdu’s Kashmiri Genius

A Kashmiri Pandit boy walked through the perfumed lanes of 19th-century Lucknow, carrying a pen that would change Urdu poetry forever. Pandit Daya Shankar Naseem Lakhnawi lived only 32 years, from 1811 to 1843, but his masnavi Gulzar-e-Naseem still captures hearts nearly two centuries later. Born into a scholarly Kashmiri family that settled in the royal courts of Awadh, Naseem transformed a Persian fairy tale into an Urdu masterpiece, becoming the crown jewel of Lucknow’s poetic tradition.

His life burned bright and fast, yet the flame he lit continues to flicker in the corridors of Indian literature. This is the story of how a Hindu poet became one of Urdu’s greatest voices, proving that art knows no boundaries of faith or community.

The City That Breathed Poetry

Lucknow in 1811 was not just a city. It was a living poem. Under the rule of Nawabs Ghazi-ud-Din Haider and Naseer-ud-Din Haider, the streets pulsed with music, art, and endless cultural refinement. Silk merchants called out their wares while dancers performed in royal courtyards. The air smelled of attar and rose water. Into this world stepped Daya Shankar, son of Pandit Ganga Prashad Kaul, a respected member of a Kashmiri Pandit family that had migrated from the incredible mountains to the warm embrace of Awadh.

The Kauls possessed something valuable: knowledge. Their home buzzed with Sanskrit manuscripts and recitals of Urdu poetry. Young Daya grew up listening to verses from Mir Taqi Mir and Mirza Muhammad Rafi Sauda, two giants of Urdu literature. His education came quickly. He learned Urdu and Persian, the languages that opened doors in Nawabi India. By his teenage years, he had joined the royal army’s finance department, working as a clerk who tallied coins and maintained ledgers.

But numbers never satisfied his soul. His heart belonged to words, rhythms, and stories. Lucknow shaped him profoundly. The city’s famous tehzeeb, its cultured refinement, meant Hindus and Muslims sat together in poetry gatherings, sharing hookahs and verses under starlit skies. There were no rigid boundaries, only shared beauty. This environment gave Naseem both his identity and his voice.

The Teacher Who Changed Everything

Every great artist needs a mentor who recognises their potential. For Naseem, that person was Khwaja Haider Ali Atash, one of Urdu’s most respected teachers and reformers. Around the 1830s, the young clerk approached Atash, trembling and hopeful. Atash ran a famous literary circle in Lucknow where aspiring poets gathered to refine their craft. Naseem started writing ghazals, the traditional two-line couplets that expressed love, loss, and longing.

His early ghazals showed promise. But ghazals felt limiting to Naseem. They were like small rooms when he wanted to build palaces. Atash understood this restlessness. He pushed his student toward masnavi, the long narrative poetry form where imagination could run wild across hundreds of verses. Naseem threw himself into this new challenge with fierce dedication. He wrote by lamplight, crossing out lines, rewriting scenes, building entire magical worlds on paper. Atash reviewed every draft with sharp eyes. This exchange between teacher and student produced something extraordinary.

When Naseem completed Gulzar-e-Naseem in 1838, they knew they had created something special. The poem was neither too long nor too short. Every word earned its place. The Lucknow school of poetry was reaching its peak during these years, known for elegant language, bold female characters, and unashamed celebration of physical beauty. Naseem absorbed all these qualities. His verses felt alive, urgent, and utterly captivating.

A Magical Tale Retold With Genius

Gulzar-e-Naseem did not start as an original tale. The story came from a Persian work by Ezzatullah Bengali, which Nihal Chand Lahori had translated into Urdu prose for Fort William College in Calcutta. But what Naseem created in 1838 was something entirely new. He took those dry bones and breathed life into them. The plot centres on Prince Taj-ul-Muluk, whose father has gone blind. The only cure is a magical flower called Gul Bakawli from the fairy realm of Paristan.

The prince sets out on this quest and falls asleep in a garden. There, he meets Bakawli herself, a fairy princess of stunning beauty and courage. They exchange rings and fall in love at first sight. She gives him the flower he needs, and he returns home to cure his father. But when Bakawli wakes and realises what happened, she refuses to accept separation. Disguising herself as a man, she travels through enchanted forests to find her beloved. Her scheming mother tries to keep them apart. Battles erupt with demons. Stone prisons trap heroes.

In one unforgettable scene, a Raja captures Bakawli and traps her halfway inside a stone jaw. The story features second lives, seventeen-year time leaps, jungle duels, and lovers reuniting in elaborate disguises. Naseem’s genius lay in how he told this chaotic tale. His meter was slow and deliberate, forcing readers to savour each verse.

The Lucknow influence shines through with dominant female characters and frank descriptions of beauty. The narrative spirals and loops like a fever dream, showing how fate plays games with human hearts. Bakawli transforms from a delicate fairy to a fierce warrior. Atash’s editing made the final version tight enough to read in one sitting without losing interest.

The Brief Life of a Timeless Voice

In 1843, illness came for Naseem. He was only 32 years old. The same Lucknow streets that had nurtured his talent now witnessed his funeral procession. He left behind Gulzar-e-Naseem as his major work, along with scattered ghazals that hinted at depths he never got to fully explore. His professional life as a royal clerk continued until the end, but his evenings always belonged to poetry. Death at such a young age feels particularly cruel for an artist.

We will never know what other masterpieces might have emerged from his pen. He was buried in Awadh’s soil, but his verses took flight. They were recited in royal courts, copied by hand, memorised by students, and sung by musicians. A short life does not always mean a small impact. Naseem’s masnavi stood tallest among his contemporaries. It represented Lucknow’s poetic refinement and proudly competed with Delhi’s literary tradition.

The Rekhta Foundation has preserved his work in digital archives, making it accessible to modern readers. His legacy was clear and powerful. He took the Urdu masnavi to a romantic peak, blending Hindu cultural references with Islamic poetic forms. The facts about his life remain sparse and straightforward. But the impact roars across generations.

His Message for Our Divided Times

December 2025 finds India at a crossroads between tradition and modernity. In this context, Naseem’s voice matters more than ever. Gulzar-e-Naseem streams on Rekhta’s platform, where thousands discover it monthly. YouTube channels create animated explanations of his magical quest. Bakawli’s courage and determination fuel conversations about female empowerment. In an era of increasing polarisation, his story carries urgent meaning.

Here was a Hindu poet who mastered Muslim poetic forms and created one of Urdu’s finest works. His life embodied the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, the blended Hindu-Muslim culture that defined North India for centuries. When debates rage about who belongs where, Naseem quietly insists that art transcends religious boundaries. Modern readers find his themes surprisingly relevant today. Bakawli’s shape-shifting disguises and battle skills challenge gender stereotypes.

The enchanted forests resonate with environmental concerns in our climate-conscious age. Bollywood has borrowed heavily from this aesthetic. Heritage walks in Lucknow quote his verses. Cultural organisations revive mushairas where his lines mix with modern forms. In a world dominated by instant content, his deliberate, slow meter offers something radical: it forces us to pause and truly absorb each word.

His cross-cultural synthesis offers lessons for divided societies everywhere. Youth workshops in universities dissect his poetic craft. Rekhta’s ebooks put his entire work in the pockets of millions. He is not a dusty museum piece. He remains a living voice urging us to dream beyond the divisions that others construct. His brief life teaches us that even shooting stars leave permanent scars across the heavens. Reading Naseem now means feeling Lucknow’s heartbeat across two centuries, proving that old winds can birth new freedoms.

Also Read: Aazam Khursheed : The Poet Who Made Faces Speak & Still Matters 

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