Desnavi died on July 7, 2011, in Bhopal at the age of 80.
Google on Wednesday honored noted Indian Urdu writer Abdul Qavi Desnavi on his 87th birthday. A dedicated homepage with a doodle featuring Desnavi was made to commemorate the birth anniversary of the writer.
Known as a poet, author, critic, and bibliographer, Desnavi has contributed immensely to Urdu literature.
Desnavi was born on November 1, 1930, in Bihar’s Desna village to the family of Muslim scholar Sulaiman Nadvi, who claimed to be descended from and who was a recognized historian and biographer of Prophet Mohammed. His father, Syed Mohammed Saeed Raza, was Professor of Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages in St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
After finishing college from St. Xavier’s, Desnavi joined the Urdu department in Saifia Post Graduate College in Bhopal in 1961 as a professor and became the head of the department later.
Many scholars, poets, and teachers of today were his students in the college. Poets and writers such as Javed Akhtar and Iqbal Masood were mentored by Desnavi. He was also an active member of many literary organizations.
During his career spanning over 50 years, Desnavi wrote about 30 books. His important works include ‘Sat Tahriren,’ ‘Motala-E-Khotoot Ghalib,’ ‘Talash-E-Azad,’ and biographies of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Mirza Ghalib, and Allama Muhammad Iqbal.
“As the head of the Urdu Department at Bhopal’s Saifia College and a member of several regional and national literary bodies, he exerted a powerful influence on the evolution of Urdu literature and academic thought in India,” noted a Google blog about Desnavi.
Desnavi died on July 7, 2011, in Bhopal at the age of 80.