Introduction

This is a translation of the collection of Marathi Poetry of Prof FM Shahajinde. It was first published in 1979 under the title, Nidharmee, which means without religious denomination. It was in 1995 that I first translated a few select poems at the instance of my friend Ashok Gopal, which he used in his article on Shahajinde. For this translation, both Ashok and I made a trip to the poet's place, which is 7 hours of bus ride away from Pune. Subsequently the translated verses were published in the special issue of Indian Literature (a publication of Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, India) devoted to Marathi literature.

Fakir Mahboob Shahajinde was born in 1946 in a family of farmers in a remote village in Marathwada. He was the first in the family to pursue higher studies. He completed his MA despite opposition from the family. He has taught Marathi in Deenanath Mangeshkar College, Aurad Shahajani, Dist Osmanabad. Aurad is a small town on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border.

He has published three collections of poems, a novelette and has edited a volume on the Marathi literature of Muslim writers. He has several state awards to his credit.

Shahajinde belongs to a small Muslim community that has traditionally been involved in performing folk-arts. These folk-artists enjoyed patronage but never any status. In fact they lived on the fringes of society amid denial of legitimacy. Their social intercourse was always marked by ambivalence. The fact of being Muslim further complicated their social existence. Shahajinde captures the living pain of people and of himself through his literary work.