Whether Mahjoor’s ideas qualify to be termed as ‘political’ ? The criticism that I had elevated the poet to philosophical and Hobbesian heights was also voiced in some cross sections of opinion.
Now, this section of theory and thought which is termed as ‘political’ is generally and almost habitually seemed to find its best expression in political institutions, governmental systems, statements of publicists, leaders and politicians of varying degrees, and more frequently in the theories of the systematic philosophers alone. Such generalisation, I agree, is not wholly devoid of truth. But here what I suggest (and also deem it to be the reply to the above-made queries and criticism) is that such generalisations must not necessarily adopt a presumptive and sweeping nature that would lead to the exclusion of wider segments of human beings and their behaviour. After all, Political Science essentially strives to study the human behaviour in regard to State, it’s institutional governmental, and political structure. The efforts to study and analyse the political behaviour and thought of these wider segments, besides the above mentioned few established categories will be highly desirable. Studies aimed at assessing the thought of such men who reflect something, what we may call ‘akin to politics’ in them, will not only facilitate flexibility of approach in such studies in particular but also lead to a further broadening of the scope of our discipline in general.
Approach
In mention of the approach to the present paper, two assertions may be made.
Firstly and essentially, my approach is based on the proposition discussed at length above.
Secondly, the purpose of the paper is not (as was not that of the dissertation) to prove that politics was essentially implicit in his writing or that his poetry was of political nature. Such an absolutizing statement will be contrary to fact. The underlying object of the paper is to show that some ideas close to the forms of certain basic political concepts are discoverable or discernable in his poetry. It is these forms I would like to point out specifically. The attempt would also be to trace the broad currents running in Mahjoor’s poetry in their relations to the then-existing social, economic, and political atmosphere in Kashmir.
The paper has been divided into two sections. The first would reflect his ideas on human nature, religion, God and humanitarianism. The second will reveal the secularistic and nationalistic elements in the poet. Here, the conditions out of which such tendencies grew will be mainly highlighted. His attitude towards revolution is also discussed briefly. Finally, on the basis of the preceding analysis, I have drawn some general inferences.