Ghalib
Ghalib (غاؔلِب), born Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan on 27th December 1797, more than 200 years ago in Agra is a poet of great repute in Urdu and Persian literature. He is most popular and needs no introduction among Indians and Pakistanis as well as the diaspora.
Mirza Ghalib started writing poetry at the age of 11 and used his pen names Asad (meaning “lion”) and later Ghalib (meaning “dominant”). Most notably, he wrote in both Urdu and Persian. His Persian Divan is at least five times longer than his Urdu but his fame rests on his poetry in Urdu.
Ghalib’s best poems were written in three forms: ghazal (lyric), masnavi (moralistic or mystical parable), and qasidah (panegyric)
Before Ghalib, letter writing in Urdu was extremely ornamental. The poet, who was also a gifted letter writer, made the style more conversational and simple.
His verses mostly about love and life are often characterised by sadness, the result of a tragic life. Orphaned at an early age and married at a tender age of 13 to Umrao Begum, he lost all seven of his children in their infancy.
Ghalib moved to Delhi after his marriage where he spent the rest of over 50 years his life. His love for Delhi is well known.
“Ik roz apni rooh se poocha, ki Dilli kya hai, to yun jawab main keh gaye, yeh duniya mano jism hai aur Dilli uski jaan.”
I once asked my soul, ‘What is Delhi?’ It replied: ‘Consider the world as the body and Delhi its soul’
It is believed that Ghalib completed most of his best works 6 years after he moved to Delhi at the age of 19. His poetry was enormously popular in the city.
“Jis shayar ki ghazal baalakhaane mein domni aur sadak par faqeer gaaye, use kaun maat kar sakta hai?
Who can beat a poet whose ghazals are sung by courtesans in salons and faqirs on the streets?
At that time the Mughal Empire was on the tip of decline and the British Empire on the rise. He would time and again write about the destruction of the famed bazaars of Mughal Delhi as well as havelis and mansions. He witnessed the First War of Independence in 1857, a turning point both for Delhi and Ghalib. In Dastanbu (1858), his Persian diary, he records the revolt in great detail. He had lost his younger brother and many friends in its aftermath.
After the revolt, when the British were rounding up Muslims connected with the Mughal empire, Ghalib was arrested and brought before the presiding officer of the forces.
When he asked Ghalib if he was Muslim, he replied: “Ji, aadha Musalman hoon (I’m only a half-Muslim).”
The colonel asked: “What do you mean?”
He replied: “Sharaab peeta hoon, sooar ka gosht nahin khata (I consume alcohol, but don’t eat pork.)”
Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II, who himself was a poet and friendly with Ghalib, gave him the title of “Dabir-ul-Mulk”, followed by the title of “Najm-ud-daula”, which included him into the nobility of Delhi. ‘Mirza Nosha’ is another title Ghalib received from the Emperor, thus adding Mirza to his name.
Bahadur Shah Zafar II appointed Ghalib as his tutor for poetry in 1854 and later to his eldest son Prince Fakhr-ud Din Mirza. During this time, Ghalib was also appointed by the Emperor as the royal historian of the Mughal court.
Once, Ghalib visited the Red Fort soon after the month of Ramzan.
The emperor asked him: “Mirza, kitney rozey rakhe? (Mirza, how many days did you fast?)”
Ghalib quipped: “Bas huzoor, ek nahin rakha. (My Lord! I didn’t fast for a day).”
Ghalib never worked for a livelihood. Being a member of declining Mughal nobility, Ghalib depended on either royal patronage, or the generosity of friends. Following the fall of the Mughal Empire, Ghalib could never get his full pension restored.
Ghalib’s closest rival was the poet Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq. Another contemporary of Ghalib who was well-known as Momin, whose ghazals were known for their lyrical styles.
The famed figure in Urdu literature Altaf Hussain Hali, also known as Maulana Khawaja Hali, was a shagrid (student) of Ghalib. Hali went on to write a biography on Ghalib titled “Yaadgaar-e-Ghalib”.
Ghalib was fond of expensive liquor — wine, champagne, and Old Tom whiskey or rum. When he was told by his friends that the prayers of an alcoholic would not be accepted, he replied:
“Jis ke paas sharab ho, usey kis cheez ke liye dua karne ki zaroorat hai?
When a man has liquor, what else does he need to pray for?
Ghalib was also fond of chess, gambling, and mangoes. His household was managed by a manservant called Kallu, and a maid named Wafadar. Kallu had been trained to make a drink. “The spirit was supposed to be mixed with rosewater and poured into a bowl of clay called aabkhora. The aabkhora would then be covered and buried in earth or kept afloat in a pool of water for a couple of hours before it was time for Ghalib to have the drink.
He lived in Gali Qasim Jan, Ballimaran, Old Delhi for over 50 years. In all those years, it is said that Ghalib never bought a house of his own but lived on rent, moving whenever he got bored, but he never moved out of Gali Qasim Jan or its surroundings. His last residence has been converted into a musuem under the Archeological Society of India (ASI). The museum also houses a life size replica of the legendary poet.
His house was situated right under the shadow of a mosque. This prompted the couplet:
Masjid ke zere saaya ek ghar bana liya hai, ek banda-e-kameena hamsaya-e-khuda hai
Under the shadow of the mosque, I have made my house. A scoundrel is the neighbour of the God.
Following the death of Ghalib on February 15, 1869, the last great poet of the Mughal era was buried in Nizamuddin Basti, Hazrat Nizamuddin in the then family graveyard of the Nawab of Loharu. His wife, who died a year later on the same day as Ghalib (February 15), is buried next to him. The tomb is known as Mazar-e-Ghalib.
A few metres away is the dargah of the 13th century Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya, also in the dargah’s compound lies the tomb of Amir Khusrau, the 13th century Sufi musician and poet, whom Ghalib described as the greatest Persian poet. He, though, had wished not to have his tomb anywhere on the face of the earth:
Huye mar ke hum jo ruswa, huye kyun na gharq-e-dariya, na kabhi janazaa uthtaa, na kahin mazaar hotaa
As I was disgraced after death; why didn’t I drown in the sea?. There would never have been a funeral, nor a tomb anywhere.
Now let me present to you the most famous Sher(s) of Ghalib over the years.
ishq ne ‘ġhālib’ nikammā kar diyā
varna ham bhī aadmī the kaam ke
nikamma = worthless
Ghalib, a worthless person, this love has made of me
otherwise a man of substance I once used to be
un ke dekhe se jo aa jaatī hai muñh par raunaq
vo samajhte haiñ ki bīmār kā haal achchhā hai
raunaq = brightness/sparkle
mohabbat mein nahīn hai farq jine aur marne kā
usī ko dekh kar jite haiñ jis kāfir pe dam nikle
kafir = infidel/impious
In love there is no difference ‘tween life and death do know
The very one for whom I die, life too does bestow
ishrat-e-qatra hai dariyā mein fanā ho jaanā
dard kā had se guzarnā hai davā ho jaanā
ishrat-e-qatra = pleasure of a drop; fanā = destroy
ye na thī hamārī qismat ki visāl-e-yār hotā
agar aur jite rahte yahī intizār hotā
visāl-e-yār = meeting with a friend/lover
That my love be consummated, fate did not ordain
Living longer had I waited, would have been in vain
aah ko chāhiye ik umr asar hote tak
kaun jitā hai teri zulf ke sar hote tak
aah = a sigh; asar = to take effect; zulf = hair (over the ears and temples); sar = accomplish
A prayer needs a lifetime, an answer to obtain
who can live until the time that you decide to deign
ham ne maanā ki taġhāful na karoge lekin
ḳhaak ho jāeñge hum tum ko ḳhabar hote tak
taġhāful = neglect; khaak = dust
Agreed, you won’t ignore me, I know but then again
Into dust will I be turned, your audience till I gain
kaaba kis muñh se jāoge ‘ġhālib’
sharm tum ko magar nahīñ aatī
Ghalib,what face will you to the kaabaa take
when you are not ashamed and not contrite
ham ko unse vafā kī hai umeed
jo nahīñ jānte vafā kyā hai
vafa = loyalty
From her I hope for constancy
who knows it not, to my dismay
maut kā ek din muayyan hai
niind kyuuñ raat bhar nahīñ aatī
muayyan = fixed/definite
when for death a day has been ordained
what reason that I cannot sleep all night?
aage aatī thī hāl-e-dil pe hañsī
ab kisī baat par nahīñ aatī
aage = ahead/before; hal-e-dil= condition of the heart
nothing now could even make me smile,
I once could laugh at my heart’s own plight
marte haiñ aarzū mein marne kī
maut aatī hai par nahīñ aatī
aarzu = wish/desire
I die yearning as I hope for death
Death does come to me but then not quite
karne gaye the usse taġhāful kā ham gila
kī ek hī nigāh ki bas ḳhaak ho gaye
taghaful = neglect; gila = complaint; nigah = glance; khaak = dust
kahāñ mai-ḳhāne kā darvāza ‘ġhālib’ aur kahāñ vaaiz
par itnā jānte haiñ kal vo jaatā thā ki ham nikle
mai-khana = tavern/bar; vaaiz = preacher/priest
Wherefrom the ‘saintly’ priest, and where the tavern’s door
But as I entered he was leaving, this much I do know
kitne shīreen haiñ tere lab ki raqeeb
gāliyāñ khā ke be-mazā na huā
shireen = sweet; raqeeb = rival; be-maza = tasteless
how sweet are your honeyed lips, that even though my foe
was abused by you, is not, in an unhappy state
phir usī bevafā pe marte haiñ
phir vahī zindagī hamārī hai
bevafa = disloyal/unfaithful
dying for that faithless one again
my life, the same, does then remain
ham vahāñ haiñ jahāñ se ham ko bhī
kuchh hamārī ḳhabar nahīñ aatī
niiñd us kī hai dimāġh us kā hai rātein us kī haiñ
terī zulfein jis ke baazū par pareshāñ ho gayiñ
pareshan = worried/dispersed
aa hī jaatā vo raah par ‘ġhālib’
koī din aur bhī jiye hote
qaid-e-hayāt o band-e-ġham asel mein donu ek haiñ
maut se pehle aadmī ġham se najaat paye kyun
qaid-e-hayāt = prison of life; band-e-ġham = bondage of grief; najaat = liberation/salvation
prison of life and sorrow’s chains in truth are just the same
then relief from pain, ere death,why should man obtain
har ek baat pe kahte ho tum ki tū kyā hai
tumhīñ kaho ki ye andāz-e-guftugū kyā hai
andāz-e-guftugū = way of talking/conversation
at every turn you question me, asking what are you?’
tell me pray what manner of speech do you pursue?
maiñ bhī muñh meñ zabaan rakhtā hun
kaash pūchho ki mudda kyā hai
mudda = issue/matter/problem
I too am capable of speech
Just ask me what I want today
tere vade par jiye ham to ye jaan jhuuT jaanā
ki ḳhushī se mar na jaate agar eitibār hotā
eitibar = trust/belief
that your promise made me live, let that not deceive
happily my life I’d give, If I could but believe
ye masā.il-e-tasavvuf ye tirā bayān ‘ġhālib’
tujhe ham valī samajhte jo na bāda-ḳhvār hotā
masā.il-e-tasavvuf = problems of mysticism/sufism; bayan = statement/recitation/words; vali = saint; bada-khavar = drinker/alcoholic/drunkard
The complexities of Sufism and your interpretation Ghalib!
We would have considered you a saint, if you were but a drinker
dil-e-nādāñ tujhe huā kyā hai
āḳhir is dard kī davā kyā hai
nadan = simpleton/foolish/idiot
Oh my foolish heart, what ails you?
After all, what is the cure to this ailment?
