44 Facts About Malik Ram

Malik Ram Baveja was a renowned Urdu, Persian and Arabic scholar from India.

Malik Ram received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his monumental work Tazkirah-e-Muasireen.

An internationally acclaimed authority on Mirza Ghalib, the Urdu and Persian poet, Malik Ram was one of the leading Urdu writers and critics of his time.

Malik Ram published about eighty works in his lifetime, including those he had edited.

Malik Ram's works are in Urdu, Persian, Arabic and English, but predominantly in Urdu, and cover literary, religious and historical subjects.

Malik Ram was concurrently the de facto editor of the Lahore weekly Arya Gazette.

Malik Ram took advantage of his foreign postings and assignments to travel to many countries in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, whenever time permitted, to view or study oriental texts and manuscripts lodged in their archives, libraries and museums.

Malik Ram himself remained a prolific writer until he died.

Malik Ram died, aged 86, on 16 April 1993 in New Delhi.

Malik Ram devoted much of his life to the study of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, the Urdu poet, known universally as Ghalib.

Malik Ram was fascinated by Urdu literature in general and Mirza Ghalib in particular.

The consensus in the academic world is that Malik Ram would have left his mark on Urdu literature with just this one work.

Malik Ram was working on a sixth edition when he died.

Malik Ram was awarded the 1984 Urdu prize for this work by the Urdu Academy in Delhi.

Malik Ram was instrumental in organising the Ghalib centenary celebrations in 1969.

Malik Ram wrote two special articles in English on this occasion which were published by the Press Information Bureau of the Government of India and released to the international press.

In 1965, having retired from government service, Malik Ram took up permanent residence in New Delhi and joined the Sahitya Akademi where, in three years, he edited the collected works of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad comprising his letters, speeches and literary works as well as his translation of the Quran into Urdu in four volumes.

Malik Ram had started his own literary career studying Mirza Ghalib in depth.

Malik Ram accorded the same attention in his twilight years to Maulana Azad's works in Urdu and Arabic.

Malik Ram is regarded as an authority on the Maulana as well and his book "Kuch Maulana Azad ke bare mein" on the life and works of Maulana Azad, first published in 1989, is required reading for research students in this field.

In January 1967, Malik Ram founded the quarterly Urdu literary review "Tahreer" of which he was the editor until it ceased publication in 1978.

Malik Ram actively supported and guided a body of young Urdu scholars and writers and encouraged them to produce original research material, and all "Tahreer" publications carried the "Ilmi Majlis" imprint.

Malik Ram had funded the publication of the journal himself and there was no one around who was prepared to take his 'hobby' further.

Malik Ram did not overlook the then living Urdu writers.

Malik Ram produced six analytical biographical works on prominent contemporary poets and writers.

The memoir opens with an account of his fictional meeting with Mirza Ghalib, the only piece of fiction Malik Ram ever published, based on his lifelong 'association' with the poet, as he says in the preface.

Malik Ram compiled and published six felicitation volumes dedicated to distinguished contemporary literary figures and educationalists.

Malik Ram's stay there aroused his interest in Babylonian civilisation and culture, in particular the laws of Hammurabi, the sixth Babylonian king.

Malik Ram was fascinated by the Code of Hammurabi and pursued the subject avidly, even after leaving Iraq.

Malik Ram maintained that Hammurabi is one of the all-time great figures in world history, who should be given more attention, time and space in the modern world, in educational institutions and by the media.

Malik Ram was a noted scholar of Islamic culture and literature.

Malik Ram spent almost two decades in the Middle East, where he travelled extensively and mastered Arabic.

Malik Ram wrote numerous articles on Islamic literature, mores and traditions.

Malik Ram delivered a series of lectures on 'A woman's place in Islam' at 'Religious Affairs' seminars organised by the Alexandria YMCA.

Malik Ram was a regular participant in the activities of the Indian chapter of the International PEN founded in Bombay by Sophia Wadia, who had earlier been a founder member of the International PEN, the literary organisation for poets, playwrights, editors, essayists and novelists.

Malik Ram was only twelve years old when he attracted the notice of one of his teachers who put him in charge of the school library.

Malik Ram was a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Malik Ram was always deeply involved in the activities of the two leading Ghalib institutions in New Delhi: the Ghalib Institute and the Ghalib Academy.

The Academy was founded in 1969 by Hakim Abdul Hameed, the founder of Jamia Hamdard, and Malik Ram played a significant role in its affairs, formally or behind the scenes, from its inauguration until he died.

Malik Ram's work shows that research is an adventure of the same soul among the lost or undisclosed aspects of both the masters and masterpieces.

Malik Ram, an internationally-known authority on Ghalib, is a versatile man of letters.

Malik Ram is, at the same time, an essayist, a biographer, a memoir-writer, a literary critic, a research scholar as an authority on Islamic literature and culture.

Some writers, who had known Malik Ram personally, added hitherto unpublished information about him in both journals.

Malik Ram received his first ever literary prize, a wrist-watch, for his essay in Urdu on 'Religion and Reason' which he wrote for a literary competition in 1925 in his student days.