Ghalib

Clothes of Mirza Ghalib, at Ghalib Museum, New Delhi

A special commemorative cover of Ghalib released in India.

The statue of Mirza Ghalib in Ghalib ki Haveli.

Mirza Ghalib was born in Kala Mahal, Agra[5] into a family of Mughals who moved to Samarkand (in modern-day Uzbekistan) after the downfall of the Seljuk kings. His paternal grandfather, Mirza Qoqan Baig, was a Seljuq Turk, and a descendant of Sultan Berkyaruq[6] who had immigrated to India from Samarkand during the reign of Ahmad Shah (1748–54).[7] He worked in Lahore, Delhi and Jaipur, was awarded the sub-district of Pahasu (Bulandshahr, UP) and finally settled in Agra, UP, India. He had four sons and three daughters.[8]

Mirza Abdullah Baig (Ghalib's father) married Izzat-ut-Nisa Begum, an ethnic Kashmiri,[9] and then lived at the house of his father-in-law, Ghalib's grandfather. He was employed first by the Nawab of Lucknow and then the Nizam of Hyderabad, Deccan. He died in a battle in 1803 in Alwar and was buried at Rajgarh (Alwar, Rajasthan),[10] when Ghalib was a little over 5 years old. He was then raised by his Uncle Mirza Nasrullah Baig Khan, but in 1806, Nasrullah fell off an elephant and died from related injuries.[11]

In 1810, at the age of thirteen, Ghalib married Umrao Begum, daughter of Nawab Ilahi Bakhsh (brother of the Nawab of Ferozepur Jhirka and Loharu).[12] He soon moved to Delhi, along with his younger brother, Mirza Yousuf, who had developed schizophrenia at a young age and later died in Delhi during the chaos of 1857.[10] None of his seven children survived beyond infancy. After his marriage, he settled in Delhi. In one of his letters, he describes his marriage as the second imprisonment after the initial confinement that was life itself. The idea that life is one continuous painful struggle that can end only when life itself ends, is a recurring theme in his poetry. One of his couplets puts it in a nutshell:[13]

There are conflicting reports regarding his relationship with his wife. She was considered to be pious, conservative, and God-fearing.[14]

In 1850, Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar bestowed upon Mirza Ghalib the title of Dabir-ul-Mulk (Persian: دبیر الملک, lit. 'secretary of state'). The Emperor also added to it the additional title of Najm-ud-daula (Persian: نجم الدولہ, lit. 'star of the state').[1] The conferment of these titles was symbolic of Mirza Ghalib's incorporation into the nobility of Delhi. He also received the title of Mirza Nosha (Persian: مرزا نوشہ) from the Emperor, thus enabling him to add Mirza to his name. He was also an important courtier of the royal court of the Emperor. As the Emperor was himself a poet, Mirza Ghalib was appointed as his poet tutor in 1854. He was also appointed as a tutor of Prince Fakhr-ud Din Mirza, eldest son of Bahadur Shah II, (d. 10 July 1856). He was also appointed by the Emperor as the royal historian of the Mughal Court.[1]

Being a member of declining Mughal nobility and old landed aristocracy, he never worked for a livelihood, lived on either royal patronage of Mughal Emperors, credit, or the generosity of his friends. His fame came to him posthumously. He had himself remarked during his lifetime that he would be recognized by later generations. After the decline of the Mughal Empire and the rise of the British Raj, despite his many attempts, Ghalib could never get the full pension restored.[1]

Ghalib started composing poetry at the age of 11. His first language was Urdu, but Persian and Turkish were also spoken at home. He received an education in Persian and Arabic at a young age. During Ghalib's period, the words "Hindi" and Urdu" were synonyms (see Hindi–Urdu controversy). Ghalib wrote in Perso-Arabic script which is used to write modern Urdu, but often called his language "Hindi"; one of his works was titled Ode-e-Hindi (Urdu: عود هندی, lit. 'Perfume of Hindi').[15]

When Ghalib was 14 years old a newly converted Muslim tourist from Iran (Abdus Samad, originally named Hormuzd, a Zoroastrian) came to Agra.[16] He stayed at Ghalib's home for two years and taught him Persian, Arabic, philosophy, and logic.[17]

Ghalib poem in Nastaliq

Although Ghalib valued Persian over Urdu,[18] his fame rests on his writings in Urdu. Numerous commentaries on Ghalib's ghazal compilations have been written by Urdu scholars. The first such elucidation or Sharh was written by Ali Haider Nazm Tabatabai of Hyderabad during the rule of the last Nizam of Hyderabad. Before Ghalib, the ghazal was primarily an expression of anguished love; but Ghalib expressed philosophy, the travails, and mysteries of life and wrote ghazals on many other subjects, vastly expanding the scope of the ghazal.

In keeping with the conventions of the classical ghazal, in most of Ghalib's verses, the identity and the gender of the beloved are indeterminate. The critic/poet/writer Shamsur Rahman Faruqui explains[19] that the convention of having the "idea" of a lover or beloved instead of an actual lover/beloved freed the poet-protagonist-lover from the demands of realism. Love poetry in Urdu from the last quarter of the seventeenth century onwards consists mostly of "poems about love" and not "love poems" in the Western sense of the term.

The first complete English translation of Ghalib's ghazals was Love Sonnets of Ghalib, written by Sarfaraz K. Niazi[20] and published by Rupa & Co in India and Ferozsons in Pakistan. It contains complete Roman transliteration, explication, and an extensive lexicon.[21]

Letters

A page from Ghalib's letters( in his hand)

Mirza Ghalib was a gifted letter writer.[23] Not only Urdu poetry but prose is indebted to Mirza Ghalib. His letters gave foundation to easy and popular Urdu. Before Ghalib, letter writing in Urdu was highly ornamental. He made his letters "talk" by using words and sentences as if he were conversing with the reader. According to Ghalib:

ہزار کوس سے بہ زبانِ قلم باتیں کرو ہجر میں وصال کے مزے لیا کرو

From a thousand miles, talk with the tongue of the pen,  and enjoy the joy of meeting even when you are separated.

His letters were very informal; sometimes he would just write the name of the person and start the letter. He was very humorous and wrote very interesting letters. In one letter he wrote, "Main koshish karta hoon ke koi aisi baat likhoon jo padhe khush ho jaaye'" (I want to write lines such that whoever reads them would enjoy them). Some scholars say that Ghalib would have the same place in Urdu literature based on his letters only. They have been translated into English by Ralph Russell in The Oxford Ghalib.

Ghalib was a chronicler of a turbulent period. One by one, Ghalib saw the bazaars – Khas Bazaar, Urdu Bazaar, Kharam-ka Bazaar, disappear, and whole mohallas (localities) and katras (lanes) vanish. The havelis (mansions) of his friends were razed to the ground. Ghalib wrote that Delhi had become a desert. Water was scarce. Delhi was "a military camp". It was the end of the feudal elite to which Ghalib had belonged. He wrote:

ہے موجزن اک قلزم خوں کاش یہی ہو آتا ہے ابھی دیکھیے کیا کیا مرے آگے

An ocean of blood churns around me - Alas! Was this all? The future will show what more remains for me to see."[24]

1855, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan finished his scholarly, well-researched, and illustrated edition of Abul Fazl's Ai’n-e Akbari.[27][28] Having finished the work to his satisfaction, and believing that Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was a person who would appreciate his labors, he approached the great Ghalib to write a taqriz (in the convention of the times, a laudatory foreword) for it. Ghalib obliged, but what he produced was a short Persian poem castigating the Ai’n-e Akbari and, by implication, the imperial, sumptuous, literate and learned Mughal culture of which it was a product.[29] The least that could be said against it was that the book had little value even as an antique document. Ghalib practically reprimanded Khan for wasting his talents and time on dead things.[30] Worse, he highly praised the "sahibs of England" who at that time held all the keys to all the a’ins in this world.[31]

The poem was unexpected, but it came at a time when Khan's thought and feelings were already inclining toward change. Ghalib seemed to be acutely aware of a European[English]-sponsored change in world polity, especially Indian polity. Syed Ahmed Khan might well have been piqued at Ghalib's admonitions, but he would also have realized that Ghalib's reading of the situation, though not nuanced enough, was basically accurate. Khan may also have felt that he, being better informed about the English and the outside world, should have himself seen the change that now seemed to be just around the corner.[29] Sir Khan never again wrote a word in praise of the Ai’n-e Akbari and in fact gave up[32] taking an active interest in history and archaeology and became a social reformer.

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  Mirza Ghalib's tomb near Chausath Khamba, Nizamuddin area Delhi
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  Inscription in Mirza Ghalib's Mausoleum
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  Tombstone of Mirza Ghalib
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  Front gate of Ghalib's Tomb compound

Ghalib placed a greater emphasis on seeking of God rather than ritualistic religious practices; although he followed Shia theology and had said many verses in praise of Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib.[33][34][35] Ghalib states:

Like many other Urdu poets, Ghalib was capable of writing profoundly religious poetry, yet was skeptical about some interpretations of the Islamic scriptures done by certain religious leaders.[36]^: 41 On the idea of paradise, he once wrote in his Persian masnavi (مثنوی) , "Abr-i-Guhar Baar" :

How canst Thou burn with a fire-mark in Hell a heart that finds no rest even in a garden? And, in Paradise, it is true that I shall drink at dawn the pure wine mentioned in the Quran, but where shall I find again the star of dawn I used to see on earth, and my crystal cup? Where in Paradise are the long walks of intoxicated friends in the night, or the drunken crowds shouting merrily? In that holy tavern, silent and still, how canst Thou introduce the sounds of the flute and the gay bustle of the taverns of this earth? Where shall I find, there, the intoxication of raining clouds? Where there is no autumn, how can spring exist? If the beautiful houries are eternally in one's heart, what of the sweet thought of them? Where will be the sadness of separation and the joy of union? How could we be thankful to an unknown beauty? What will be the pleasure of a sure fruition of love, without waiting? Where shall we find, there, a girl who flees away when we would kiss her? Where will be, there, one who betrays us with false oaths of love? The beauties of Paradise will obey us and their lips will never say anything bitter; they will give us pleasure, but with a heart forever closed to the desire for pleasure. Will there be in Paradise oglings, the pleasure of coquettish glances from afar? Where will it be, in Paradise, the dear window in a well-known wall?.

— Mirza Ghalib, In his Persian masnavi, Abr-i-Guhar baar [37]

He staunchly disdained the practices of certain Ulema, who in his poems represent narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy:[36]^: 41

In another verse directed towards certain maulavis (clerics), he criticized them for their ignorance and arrogant certitude: "Look deeper, it is you alone who cannot hear the music of his secrets".[36]^: 41 In his letters, Ghalib frequently contrasted the narrow legalism of the Ulema with "its pre-occupation with teaching the baniyas and the brats, and wallowing in the problems of menstruation and menstrual bleeding" and real spirituality for which you had to "study the works of the mystics and take into one's heart the essential truth of God's reality and his expression in all things".[36]^: 80

During the anti-British Rebellion in Delhi on 5 October 1857, three weeks after the British troops had entered through Kashmiri Gate, some soldiers climbed into Ghalib's neighbourhood and hauled him off to Colonel Brown (Urdu: کمانڈنگ آفیسر کرنل براؤن, romanized: Kamānḍing Āfīsar Karnal Brāūn)[38] for questioning.[36]^: 41 He appeared in front of the colonel wearing a Central Asian Turkic style headdress. The colonel, bemused at his appearance, inquired in broken Urdu, "Well? You Muslim?", to which Ghalib replied sardonically, "Half?" The colonel asked, "What does that mean?" In response, Ghalib said, "I drink wine, but I don't eat pork."[36]^: 41

In his poem Chiragh-i-Dair (Urdu: چراغ دیر, The Lamp of the Temple) which was composed during his trip to Benares during the spring of 1827, Ghalib mused about the land of Hindustan (India) and how Qiyamah (Doomsday) has failed to arrive, in spite of the numerous conflicts plaguing it.[41]

Said I one night to a pristine seer

(Who knew the secrets of whirling Time)
'Sir you well perceive,
That goodness and faith,
Fidelity and love
Have all departed from this sorry land.
Father and son are at each other's throat;
Brother fights brother.
Unity and Federation are undermined.
Despite these ominous signs
Why has not Doomsday come?
Why does not the Last Trumpet sound?

Who holds the reins of the Final Catastrophe?'.[42]

Cover Page of Ghalib's Qaat'i-e Burhaan

Ghalib held Persian in high regard, and his knowledge of the language was a point of pride for him.[43][44] He believed his compositions in Persian were superior to those in Urdu, and hoped readers would evaluate him by the former:[44]

See my Persian [poetry] so that you may see colorful pictures of many hues. Pass over my Urdu collection; it’s only a sketch.

The majority of Ghalib's poetic compositions in Persian were qasidahs dedicated to numerous patron rulers. Ghalib also created ghazals and mathnawis in Persian. His first published work in the language was a collection of poems titled May-ḵāna-ye ārzū, released in 1845. He also created prose works, such as Panj ahang, initially published in 1849. Mehr-e nīmrūz, published in 1855, was a history of the universe from its creation to the death of Mughal Emperor Humayun. Another such historical work was Dastanbu, an eyewitness account of the 1857 revolt and its aftermath. Ghalib's last significant work in Persian was Qaat'i-e Burhaan, a critique of Burhaan-e-Qaat'i, a controversial Persian dictionary.[43]

In 2010, Maulana Azad National Urdu University published a compilation of 11,337 poems by Ghalib titled "Kulliyat-e-Ghalib Farsi".[45][46] A few years before his death, Ghalib had written over 11,000 Persian poems in Persian while also writing over 1,700 Urdu poems.[47]

Ghalib's closest rival was poet Zauq, tutor of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the then Mughal emperor with his seat in Delhi. There are some amusing anecdotes of the competition between Ghalib and Zauq and exchange of jibes between them. However, there was mutual respect for each other's talent. Both also admired and acknowledged the supremacy of Meer Taqi Meer, a towering figure of 18th century Urdu Poetry. Another poet Momin, whose ghazals had a distinctly lyrical flavour,[48] was also a famous contemporary of Ghalib. One of the towering figures in Urdu literature Altaf Hussain Hali was a shagird (Urdu: شاگرد, lit. 'student') of Ghalib. Hali has also written a biography of Ghalib titled Yaadgaar-e-Ghalib.

Ghalib was not only a poet, he was also a prolific prose writer. His letters are a reflection of the political and social climate of the time. They also refer to many contemporaries like Mir Mehdi Majrooh, who himself was a good poet and Ghalib's lifelong acquaintance. The poems written by Ghalib were tough to understand. He sometimes made the sentence syntax so complex that people had difficulty in understanding them. Once, Hakeem Agha Jaan Aish aka Aish Dehlvi, a poet of Ghalib's era, read a couplet in a Mushaira mocking Ghalib:[49]

Ghalib felt bad for this and wrote:[50]

This style was the definition of his uniqueness

In prose Ghalib brought a revolution in Urdu literature by developing an easy, simple and beautiful way of writing. Before Ghalib Urdu was a complex language, Ghalib introduced a simple style of prose in Urdu which is like a conversation.[51]

Ghalib's grave

Ghalib was buried in Hazrat Nizamuddin near the tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya. The side view of Mazar-e-Ghalib is shown in the image.

Side view of Mazar-e-Ghalib

مزے جہان کے اپنی نظر میں خاک نہیں سواے خون جگر سو جگر میں خاک نہیں[52]

The happiness of the world is nothing for me for my heart is left with no feeling besides blood.

Unique Style of writing

Ghalib is often famous for his unique and peculiar style of poetry. For example, he says

کوئی ویرانی سی ویرانی ہے
koī vīrānī sī vīrānī hai
دشت کو دیکھ کے گھر یاد آیا
dasht ko dekh ke ghar yaad aayā

This couplet has two meanings. On one hand, he says that there is loneliness all over the place, which is quite scary and makes him want to return to his secure and cosy home. On the other hand, a second meaning can be taken from this: there is this loneliness which resembles my home. My home is also a deserted place just like this one. That duality is something which Ghalib thrives on.[53]

Ghalib ki Haveli, interior

He died in Delhi on 15 February 1869.[12][2] The house where he lived in Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, in Old Delhi known as the Ghalib ki Haveli is now a museum dedicated to him.[54][55]

Ghazal maestros like Jagjit Singh, Mehdi Hassan, Iqbal Bano, Abida Parveen, Farida Khanum, Tina Sani, Madam Noor Jehan, Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Begum Akhtar, Ghulam Ali, Lata Mangeshkar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan have sung his ghazals.[56]

Stage plays on Ghalib

Ghalib on a 1969 stamp of India

Ghalib's life is the subject of hundreds of plays regularly performed in Northern India and Pakistan. These plays are based on his life and his personal and professional relationships.

Starting from the Parsi Theatre and Hindustani Theatre days, the first phase of his stage portrayal culminated in Sheila Bhatia's production, written by Mehdi Saheb. Mohd Ayub performed this role so many times that many theatre-goers used to call him Ghalib. The Sheila Bhatia production celebrated his famous ghazals which used to be presented one after another. Ghalib's character lacked subtlety and he was shown philandering with the courtesan, Chaudvin, famously played by Punjabi singer Madan Bala Sandhu. Later Begum Abida Ahmed, wife of the late President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, supported many very costly productions. This was perhaps the golden period of plays celebrating Ghalib's life, including many other productions such as Surendra Verma's play which was performed by the National School of Drama. Qaid-e-Hayat (Imprisonment of Life, 1983), written by Surendra Verma, talks about the personal life of the poet Ghalib, including his financial hardships and his tragic love for Katiba, a woman calligraphist, who was working on his diwan. Over the years, it has been directed by numerous theatre directors, including Ram Gopal Bajaj in 1989, at the National School of Drama. This period also saw numerous college and university productions performed by students' groups. Writers whose scripts were popular during this period include Jameel Shaidai, Danish Iqbal and Devender Singh. Ghalib also inspired a chain of comedies. One such classic comedy is Ghalib in New Delhi which has been staged more than three hundred times by Dr. Sayeed Alam. Danish Iqbal's play Main Gaya Waqt Nahin Hoon and Sayeed's play Ghalib Ke Khutoot are still being performed at various Indian cities. The name of play 'Main Gaya Waqt Nahin Hoon' was later changed to 'Anti-National Ghalib',[60] which has had several successful shows in DelhiNCR. Now being produced under the banner of Aatrangi Pitaara Foundation.[61]

The late Sheila Bhatia began this trend on productions about Ghalib, in Delhi.[62]

Statue in Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi

Ghalib Statue at the Jamia Millia Islamia

A statue of Ghalib was inaugurated in early 2000 in Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. The status depicts Mirza Ghalib as a great Urdu poet. It is located inside the gate number seven of the university campus.[68]

Wall mural in Mumbai, India

Wall Mural of Mirza Ghalib at the junction of Mirza Ghalib Road in Nagpada, Mumbai, India, depicting the life and times of Ghalib and his impact on India

A wall mural (or relief) was inaugurated on 21 January 2019 at the Mirza Ghalib Road (formerly known as Clare Road) in the Nagpada Locality of Mumbai.[69] The mural measuring 10 ft. x 42 ft. depicts Ghalibs life and his works. It also depicts the impact that Ghalib had on poetry and art in India. The mural is located outside a Municipal Garden near the Madanpura Area of Mumbai, which was once a hub for art, literature, writers and poets.

• Ghalib Study Centre, Ibn Sina Academy
• Ghalib Academy, New Delhi
• Mirza Ghalib College, Gaya
• Ghalib Museum, New Delhi
• List of Persian poets and authors
• Persian language in the Indian subcontinent
• List of Urdu language poets
• Urdu poetry

• Tijarwi, Mohammad Mushtaq (2019). G̲h̲ālib aur Alvar (in Urdu). New Delhi: Ghalib Institute. OCLC 1132238536.
• Urdu letters of Mirza Asaduʼllāh Khan Galib, tr. by Daud Rahbar. SUNY Press, 1987. ISBN 0-88706-412-4.
• Rahman, Munibur (2000). "ḠĀLEB, Mīrzā ASAD-ALLĀH Khan". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. X, Fasc. 3. pp. 258–259.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mirza Ghalib.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Ghalib.

• Works by or about Ghalib at Internet Archive
• Works by Ghalib at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)