Mahjoor

Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad (August 1885 − 9 April 1952), known by his pen name as Mahjoor, was a poet of the Kashmir Valley. He is especially noted for introducing a new style into Kashmiri poetry and for expanding Kashmiri poetry into previously unexplored thematic realms. Mahjoor is recognized as father of Kashmiri poetry.

== Early life == Mahjoor was born in the village of Mitrigam (, ), Pulwama, from Srinagar. He got his pen name Mahjoor when he visited Punjab and started writing poetry under the influence of great Urdu poet, Shibli Nomani. He followed in the academic footsteps of his father, who was a scholar of Persian language. He received the primary education from the Maktab of Aashiq Trali (a renowned poet) in Tral. After passing the middle school examination from Nusrat-ul-Islam School, Srinagar, he went to Punjab where he came in contact with Urdu poets like Bismil Amritsari and Moulana Shibli Nomani. He returned to Srinagar in 1908 and started writing in Persian and then in Urdu. Determined to write in his native language, Mahjoor used the simple diction of traditional folk storytellers in his writing.