THE JUNGLE WITHIN US

Muneer Niazi (1922-2006), who was born in Hoshiarpur district on the Indian side of Punjab, was one of Pakistan’s greatest poets. Now also acknowledged as one of the greatest poets of Urdu and Punjabi in the 20th century, many of his poems have become iconic songs.

The blurb on the book cover quotes Intizar Husain on Niazi: “We came out of the jungle and built big cities and surrounded ourselves with walls, but, unknown to us, the jungle entered into us and sat hidden behind seven veils. And now it is sleeping inside us. Muneer Niazi is that person within whom the jungle has awoken and is stirring.” In this translation of Niazi’s works into English, novelist Amitabha Bagchi, whose Half the Night is Gone won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature in 2019, brings Muneer’s melancholic, dark, hauntingly beautiful verses alive for new readers.

Muneer Niazi; Translated by Amitabha Bagchi

136pp, ~799, Juggernaut