Amin Kamil

Who is Amin Kamil?

Amin Kamil is a major voice in Kashmiri poetry and one of the chief exponents of modern ghazal in the language. His influence is widely accepted by his contemporaries and later generations. Kamil, besides being a poet, has also written short stories and a novel and works of literary criticism. He has also written a number of plays and musicals for the radio. His critically edited collection of Sufi poetry remains a definitive text which has been widely acclaimed. He has also edited the collected verse of Nund Reshi, and that of Habba Khatun. Kamil is also known as a scholar of high calibre.

Kamil has also given us some memorable poems in the Nazm form. He edited the independent journal Neab for some time. As a critic he has acquired wide recognition. He also helped create the modified alphabet presently used for Kashmiri language. Kamil has also contributed to the field of translation. His translation of Tagore's Dak Ghar, as also the poetry of the Urdu poet lqbal have been significant additions to the corpus of translated literature available in Kashmiri.

Kamil was born at Kaprin, a village in South Kashmir. He graduated in Arts from the Punjab University and took his degree in Law from the Aligarh Muslim University. He joined the Bar in 1947 and continued to practice Law till 1949, when he was appointed a Lecturer in Sri Pratap College, Srinagar. He was closely associated with the writers' movement of that time and under its influence switched over from Urdu to Kashmiri as his medium of expression. He joined the State Cultural Academy when it was set up in 1958 and was appointed the Convener for Kashmiri language. He later became Editor for Kashmiri and edited the two journals of the Cultural Academy – Sheeraza and Son Adab with distinction for many years. He retired from the service of the Cultural Academy in 1979.