O P Sharma
The top Urdu poet of Indian sub-continent, Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797-1869) still regales with his charming poetic compositions, specially the ghazals. His emotion-charged poetry has been mesmerizing millions of Urdu and Persian knowing people across the globe.The people in Jammu and Kashmir, with Urdu as an official language, have keen interest in the poetry of Mirza Ghalib
He used his pen-names of Ghalib (dominant) and Asad (means lion). Mirza Ghalib in one of his famous couplet spoke high of his own self and wrote in Urdu, which inter-alia means as follows:
“There are other poets in the world with eloquence.
But the style of Ghalib they say is unique.”
Indeed, Ghalib was really most popular as he touched the tender human hearts with feelings of love, emotions and life’s experiences in simple and lucid style. His writings, in poetry or prose, in apt language and distinct style at once appeal the readers.
Ghalib was born in Agra on December 27, 1797. His father died when Ghalib was just five and so he spent most of his childhood with his maternal grand-parents. He received education in Persian, Arabic, Urdu, logic and philosophy and started writing in Urdu, Persian at a very young age. Unlike his ancestors, Ghalib decided to live by the pen rather than the sword. Since the Mughal royal court was in Delhi, he shifted there to seek the patronage of Emperor Bahadhur Shah Zafar, himself a poet of some caliber.
At the age of thirteen, Ghalib married Umrao Begum. 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 which can end only when life itself ends, is a recurring theme in his poetry. One of his couplets puts it in a nutshell. “The prison of life and the bondage of grief are one and the same. Before the onset of death, how can man expect to be free of grief?”
Ghalib was a non-conformist and though he revered Allah and the Prophet, he never said his five daily prayers, never fasted during Ramzan, nor went on pilgrimage to Mecca. He patronized houses of pleasure, consorted with courtesans and was inordinately fond of liquor
Throughout his life, Ghalib lived a hand-to-mouth existence, ever short of cash, ever living on credit. Mirza Ghalib’s poetry reflects the journey from nothingness to a totally human affirmation. Although known in the poetic circles as a “Phakkar”, “Khasta” poet, most of his gazals revolve around three fundamental questions: What is the nature of universe and man’s place in it? What is God? What is Love?
Note the philosophical theme in his following poetic composition:
“When there was nothing, God was there,
If there was none, even then he would have been there.
My entity has drowned me if I were not,
I wonder, what would have been?
During his lifetime the Mughals were eclipsed and displaced by the British and finally deposed but his several ghazals have been interpreted and sung in many different ways by different people. Ghalib is considered to be one of the most popular and influential poets of the Urdu language not only in India and Pakistan but also amongst diaspora communities around the world.
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. Literary
Although Ghalib himself was far prouder of his poetic achievements in Persian, he is today more famous for his Urdu ghazals. Numerous elucidations of Ghalib’s ghazal compilations have been written by Urdu scholars. His work is considered to be his paramount contribution to Urdu poetry and literature.
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 letter “talk” by using words and sentences as if he were conversing with the reader.
(Mirza Ghalib’s tomb in Nizamuddin area Delhi)
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.
The Cinema has paid a tribute to the legendary poet through notable films like Mirza Ghalib (1954) in India as also Pak production Mirza Ghalib during 1961 and the music remains memorable in both the countries to this day. Gulzar produced a TV serial, Mirza Ghalib (1988), telecast on DD National that was immensely successful in India. It may be remembered that Ghalib must be the only poet who had biggest number of stage portrayals.
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 Ghalib exhibition.
(Starline Syndicate Service)
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