Karamat Ali Karamat

Karamat received the 2004 Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for his Urdu translation, Lafzon Kā Ākāsh.

• Honorific Prefix — Doctor, Professor • Name — Karamat Ali Karamat • Native Name — کرامت علی کرامت • Birth Name — Karamat Ali • Born — 23 September 1936 • Birthplace — Odia Bazar, Cuttack, Orissa Province, British India • Died — 5 August 2022 • Place of death — Cuttack, Odisha, India • Parents — Rahmat Ali Rahmat (father) • Occupation — Poet, literary critic, writer, translator, and mathematician • Citizenship — British India India • Education — B.Sc M.Sc Ph.D • Alma Mater — Ravenshaw Collegiate School Ravenshaw College Sambalpur University • Notable Works — * Aab e Khizar • Lafzon Ka Aakāsh • Izāfi Tanqīd • Awards — Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for Urdu (2004) • Years Active — 1953–2022 • Doctoral Advisor — Mahendra Nath Mishra • Thesis Title — Some Properties of Random Equations • Thesis Url — http: hdl.handle.net/10603/187450 • Thesis Year — 1978 • Fields — Probability theory

Karamat was born in Odia Bazar, Cuttack, on 23 September 1936, to Rahmat Ali Rahmat (1891–1963) and Wazeerun Nisa. Karamat's father was a year ahead of Subhas Chandra Bose (1897–1945) at Ravenshaw Collegiate School, and Bose and Rahmat placed first in their respective classes. Rahmat was a mathematician, an intellectual, and an Urdu poet. Karamat learned to read the Quran, basic Urdu, and Persian from Muhammad Kāzim Sūngravi. He also learned Persian from his father, learned science and Odia literature from tutor Jadumani Rath, and developed a command of mathematics (particularly geometry). After finishing his primary education, Karamat completed his ninth standard at Khallikot Collegiate School in Berhampur and passed his 10th standard (matriculation) in the first division of Ravenshaw Collegiate School in Cuttack in 1952. In 1954, he passed the intermediate examination in the first division at Ravenshaw College in Cuttack. Karamat received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Ravenshaw College in 1956 and 1958, respectively, and received a gold medal in addition to his master's degree. In 1978, he began doctoral studies at Sambalpur University under the supervision of Mahendra Nath Mishra. Karamat's thesis on probability theory in mathematics was entitled "Some Properties of Random Equations", and he received his Ph.D. on 13 November 1982. American mathematician Albert Turner Bharucha-Reid included Karamat's research formulas from his thesis in his own book, Random Polynomials.

Karamat joined the Odisha Educational Service as a lecturer in mathematics on 8 September 1958, and was a lecturer at S. K. C. G. College, Paralakhemundi. On 13 July 1959, he became a permanent lecturer in the department of mathematics at Ravenshaw College in Cuttack for a year. Karamat was a lecturer at S. K. C. G. College, Paralakhemundi, from 1961 to 1963, and lectured at Science College, Angul, from 1963 to 1966. He returned to Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, in 1966 as a lecturer and remained there until 1969. From 1969 to 1979, Karamat was a reader and chaired the department of mathematics at Sundargarh College in Sundargarh. He was a reader at Khallikote College in Berhampur from 10 July to 10 November 1979. Karamat was then appointed principal of Kendrapara College, remaining there until 1980. He was a reader at Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar College in Bhubaneswar from February 1981 to May 1982 and at Shailabala Women's College in Cuttack from June to October 1982. From October 1982 to 1986, Karamat was vice principal of Ravenshaw College. He was a professor and headed the mathematics department at Khallikote Autonomous College in Berhampur from February 1986 to 1989, and he was principal of the college until 1990. Karamat was appointed president of the Bhubaneswar Service Selection Board in 1990 and retired from government service on 30 June 1995.

Karamat married Zubaida Ali, the second daughter of Abdur Rafiq Khan of Talpatak, Jagatsinghpur district, on 23 May 1959. They had one son, Qutub Kāmran, and three daughters: Sanobar Sultāna, Durr-e-Shehwār, and Rafī'a Rabāb. They also had five grandsons: Sārim Ali, Āsim Ali, Khurshīd Ālam, Adeeb Salmān, and Naqeeb Salmān, and three granddaughters: Saltanat Jahān, Pārsa Ambarīn, and Ramīza Faizi. In January 2005, he and Zubaida made Hajj. Zubaida died on 26 January 2020.

Karamat translated works by Odia poets and novelists into Urdu to bring the languages closer together. In addition to translating the Odia poems of Sitakant Mahapatra, he translated Shabdara Ākāsha (Mahapatra's poetry collection) into Urdu and received the Sahitya Academy Translation Prize (2004) from Gopi Chand Narang for Lafzon Ka Ākash in 2005. Karamat's other translations included poetry and fiction by Bidhu Bhusan Das, Sachi Routray, Chintamani Behera, Ramakanta Rath, Sourindra Barik, Brahmotri Mohanty, Pratibha Satpathy, Niranjan Padhi, Laxmi Narayan Mahapatra, Surendra Mohanty, Manoj Das, Gopinath Mohanty and Ramachandra Behera. Shamsur Rahman Faruqi said, "My indefatigable friend Karamat Ali Karamat, in addition to being a fine Urdu poet and critic, is also a tireless translator. He has done much to make Odia writers known to Urdu readers."

Karamat died on 5 August 2022 in Cuttack, while his funeral prayer was performed at Qadam Rasool, Dargah Bazar, Cuttack on 6 August and he was buried in the cemetery of Qadam Rasool.