Eminent Urdu scholar Gopi Chand Narang passes away

New Delhi: Eminent Urdu scholar, linguist and literary critic Gopi Chand Narang has passed away in Charlotte, North Carolina after a brief illness. He was 91.  

Leading Urdu scholar Professor is survived by his wife, Manorma Narang, and his sons Arun Narang and Tarun Narang, and grandchildren.

Born in 1930, in a small town of Dukki in Baluchistan—located between Pak-Afghan border—Gopi Chand, after partition, moved to Karol Bagh in Delhi and started living in a peon’s house while trying to find some work to survive. 

After some time he took admission in the Masters in Urdu program at the University of Delhi under Professor Khwaja Ahmad Farooqui and earned his doctoral degree in Urdu literature from Delhi University in 1958. 

Professor Narang took an academic position at St. Stephens College in Delhi, which proved to be a segue to a permanent place in the Urdu Department of Delhi University in 1959.  

The renowned scholar has been awarded numerous awards and honors— including Padma Bhushan in 2004, Sahitya Akademi and Ghalib Awards in 1995, and the President of Pakistan's Sitara-e Imtiaz Award in 2012.

He was the president of ‘Sahitya Akademi’ which is dedicated to the promotion of Indian literature in the 24 languages of India.

Narang worked extensively on explaining and analysing the works of Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir and later Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Firaq Gorakhpuri beyond thematic and typical writings. 

He penned about 60 books in his career and made every attempt to keep the language beyond communalism. 

The legendary linguist was also a scholar of Sanskrit and Persian. 

Several Urdu periodicals have published special issues honoring Professor Narang's life and contributions to literature over the years. 

Many prominent media outlets, including Doordarshan and the BBC, have produced rare recordings and films about his work and achievements. Hundreds of books and dissertations have been published in which he is praised and evaluated critically. 

Gopichand Narang has also written books in Hindi and English.