MIRZA GHALIB

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CONTENTS
Mirza Ghalib................................................................................................. ...........................3
Early life and background............................................................................................... .........3
Poetry career................................................................................................................ ...........3
Ghalib’s Letters................................................................................................ .......................4
Ghalib’s Takhallus........................................................................................................... .........5
Personal life..................................................................................................................... ........6
Contemporaries and disciples..................................................................... ............................7

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MIRZA GHALIB
Dabeer-ul-Mulk, Najm-ud-daulah Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, pen-name Ghalib and (former
pen-name) Asad (27 December 1797— 15 February 1869), was a great classical Urdu and
Persian poet from South Asia during British colonial rule. During his lifetime the Mughals were
eclipsed and displaced by the British and finally deposed following the defeat of the Indian
rebellion of 1857, events that he wrote of. Most notably, he wrote several ghazals during his life,
which have since been interpreted and sung in many different ways by different people. He is
considered, in the Indian subcontinent, to be the most popular and influential poet of the Urdu
language. Ghalib today remains popular amongst Urdu speakers not only in India and Pakistan
but also amongst Diaspora communities around the world.

He never worked as such for a livelihood. He lived on either state patronage, credit or the
generosity of his friends. His fame came to him posthumously. He had himself remarked during
his lifetime that although his age had ignored his greatness, it would be recognized by later
generations. History has vindicated his claim. He also is arguably the most "written about" of all
Urdu poets.

EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND

Mirza Ghalib was born at Kala Mahal, in the city of Agra, to parents with Turkish aristocratic
ancestry. When he was only five years old, his father, Abdullah Baig Khan died in a battle while
working under Rao Raja Bakhtwar Singh of Alwar and his uncle Nasrullah Baig Khan took
charge of him. But he lost his uncle also at the tender age of eight. The death of his father and
uncle during his early youth left Ghalib with no male-dominant figures. He then moved to Delhi.
Ghalib's early education has always been a matter of confusion. There are no known records of
his formal education, although it was known that his circle of friends in Delhi had some of the
most intelligent minds of the time.

POETRY CAREER

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Although Ghalib wrote in Persian as well, he is more famous for his ghazals written in Urdu. It is
believed he wrote most of his popular ghazals by age nineteen. His ghazals, unlike those of Meer
Taqi Meer, contain highly Persianised Urdu, and are therefore not easily understood or
appreciated by a vast majority of people without some extra effort. Numerous elucidations of
Ghalib's collection of ghazals have therefore, 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. This, together with his
many masterpieces, will forever remain his paramount contribution to Urdu Poetry and
Literature.

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 beloved could be a beautiful woman, or a
beautiful boy, or even God. As the renowned critic/poet/writer Shamsur Rahman Faruqui
explains, since 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. Ghalib's poetry is a fine illustration
of this. Ghalib also excels in deeply introspective and philosophical verses.

The first complete English translation of Ghalib's love poems (ghazals) was written by Sarfaraz
K. Niazi and published by Rupa & Co in India and Ferozsons in Pakistan. The title of this book
is Love Sonnets of Ghalib and it contains complete roman transliteration, explication and an
extensive lexicon.

GHALIB’S LETTERS
Mirza Ghalib was a gifted letter writer. Not only Urdu poetry but the prose is also 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 him "sau kos se ba-zaban-e-qalam baatein kiya
karo aur hijr mein visaal ke maze liya karo" [ from hundred of miles talk with the tongue of the

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pen and enjoy the joy of meeting even when you are separated] His letters were very informal,
some times he would just write the name of the person and start the letter. He himself was very
humorous and also made his letter very interesting. He said "main koshish karta hoon keh koi
aisi baat likhoon jo parhay khoosh ho jaaye" [I want to write the lines that whoever reads those
should enjoy it] When the third wife of one of his friends died, he wrote... "Allah Allah aik woh
log hain jo teen teen dafah iss qaid say chhoot chu-kain hain aur aik hum hain keh aik ag-lay
pachas baras say jo phansi ka phanda ga-lay mein parha hai to nah phanda hi tut-ta hai nah dum
hi nikalta hai" [Allah Allah, there are some among us who have been freed from this prison three
times and I have for the past 50 years this rope around my neck; neither this rope breaks nor it
takes my life] Some scholar says that Ghalib would have the same place in Urdu literature if only
on the basis of his letters.They have been beautifully translated into English by Ralph Russell,
The Oxford Ghalib.

Ghalib is an invaluable chronicler of this turbulent period. The structure of Delhi crumbled as if
in an earthquake. One by one, Ghalib saw the bazaars – Khas Bazaar, Urdu Bazaar, Kharam-ka
Bazaar, disappear, whole mohallas (localities) and katras (lanes) vanished leaving not a trace
behind. The havelis (mansions) of his friends were razed to the ground. Ghalib wrote that Delhi
had become a desert. Water was scarce. Delhi was now “a military camp”. It was the end of the
feudal elite to which Ghalib had so consciously belonged. He wrote:

“An ocean of blood churns around me- Alas! Were these all!

The future will show

What more remains for me to see”.

GHALIB’S TAKHALLUS
His original Takhallus (pen-name) was Asad, drawn from his given name, Asadullah Khan. At
some point early in his poetic career he also decided to adopt the takhallus 'Ghalib' (meaning all
conquering, superior, most excellent).

Popular legend has it that he changed his nom de plume (pen name) to 'Ghalib' when he came
across this sher (couplet) by another poet who used the takhallus (pen name) 'Asad':

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Asad us jafaa par butoN say wafaa ki

Mire sher shabaash rahmat Khudaa ki

Asad worshipped idols after being betrayed.

My poems (thank you,)are, the mercy of GOD.

The legend says that upon hearing this couplet, Ghalib ruefully exclaimed, "Whoever authored
this couplet does indeed deserve the Lord's rahmat (mercy) (for having composed such a
deplorable specimen of Urdu poetry). If I use the takhallus Asad, then surely (people will
mistake this couplet to be mine and) there will be much la'anat (curse) on me!" And, saying so,
he changed his takhallus to 'Ghalib'.

However, this legend is little more than a figment of the legend-creator's imagination. Extensive
research performed by commentators and scholars of Ghalib's works, notably Imtiyaz Ali Arshi
and Kalidas Gupta Raza, has succeeded in identifying the chronology of Ghalib's published work
(sometimes down to the exact calendar day!). Although the takhallus 'Asad' appears more
infrequently in Ghalib's work than 'Ghalib', it appears that he did use both his noms de plume
interchangeably throughout his career and did not seem to prefer either one over the other.

PERSONAL LIFE
Around 1810, he was married into a family of Umrao Begum, daughter of Nawab Ilahi Bakhsh
Khan of Loharu' (younger brother of the first Nawab of Loharu, Nawab Mirza Ahmad Baksh
Khan [9], at the age of thirteen. He had seven children, none of whom survived (this pain has
found its echo in some of Ghalib's ghazals). There are conflicting reports regarding his
relationship with his wife. She was considered to be pious, conservative and God-fearing while
Ghalib was carefree, unconventional, and arguably, not very religious in the strict sense of the
word.

He died in Delhi on February 15, 1869.

The house where he lived in Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, in old Delhi, has
now been turned into 'Ghalib Memorial' and houses a permanent exhibition on him.

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CONTEMPORARIES AND DISCIPLES

Ghalib's closest rival was poet Zauq, tutor of Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the then emperor of India
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,
was also a famous contemporary of 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 life-long acquaintance.

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