Mirza Ghalib’s 213th birth anniversary

Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, penname Ghalib was born in Agra on 27 December 1797. He was very famous in his poetry. He started poetry writing in the age of 11. Ghalib’s first language was Urdu but Turkish and Persian were also spoken at home. Ghalib was considered as greatest Urdu poet in the history of the language.

In 1850, Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II revived upon Mirza Ghalib the title of Dabeer-ul-Mulk. Ghalib today remains popular among Urdu speakers not only in India and Pakistan but also around the world. He was far prouder of his poetic achievements in Persian, and today he’s more famous for his Urdu ghazals.

Ghalib’s poetry reflects voyage from nothingness to a totally human affirmation. His unique style of poetry likes in all over the world and still from past to present era his poetry reads and sings in the form of ghazals.       

Ghalib was liberal Sufi Muslim, encouraging people to look beyond the letter of the law and towards its true essence. He was died on 15 February 1869. After his death, he’s still alive in the hearts of Urdu lovers. His 213^th birthday anniversary was celebrated on 27 December 2010.

Great Urdu Poet- Mirza Ghalib

The Urdu language would not have developed like this if it were not for the presence of one great man. The name of this great man is Mirza Asad Ullah Beg Ghalib. Mirza Asad Ullah Beg Ghalib is one of the most popular Urdu poets.

Mirza Asad Ullah Beg Ghalib is responsible for the development of the Urdu language. Mirza Asad Ullah Beg Ghalib was an expert Persian linguist too. In fact, he wrote a book in the Persian language, which had the account of the behavior of the Muslims with the British, which the British liked very much.

Anyhow, Mirza Asad Ullah Beg Ghalib included many words of Persian in the Urdu language. For this reason in his times, he became somewhat unpopular among his peers. His peers used to think that his work, especially the poetry is too cumbersome. The rulers also used to like Mirza Ghalib’s peers better than him. However, people realized the quality of Ghalib’s poetry after his death.

Ghalib added another dimension to the Urdu language in the form of letter writing. Before him, the Urdu letters used to be extremely formal. Ghalib introduced a very direct, interesting, and fun way to write letter to acquaintances, friends, and relatives in the Urdu language.

Collection forms of Urdu poetry

There are two principal collection forms of Urdu poetry 

1)    Diwan

Diwan is a collection of poems. The English usage of the phrase Diwan Poetry comes from the Arabic word Diwan, borrowed from Persian and means selected list or register. Diwan also borrowed into Armenian, Urdu and Turkish. In Persian, Turkish and other languages the meaning of Diwan is a collection of selected poems by a single author or complete body of work of a poet. For example, Diwan-e-Mir would be the collected works of Mir Taqi Mir.    

2)    Kulliyat

A complete collection of poems, but sometimes applied to any collection which containing various kinds of poems. Like Akbar Allahabadi published three kulliyats.

Kulliyat of few poets are:

• Kulliyat of Saadi, a Persian poet
• Kulliyat of Zakani, a Tajik-Persian writer
• Kulliyat of Hafez, a Tajik-Persian poet
• Kulliyat of Mir, an Indian Urdu poet
• Kulliyat of Anis, an Indian Urdu poet
• Kulliyat of Sauda, an Indian Urdu poet
• Kulliyat of Dagh, an Indian poet
• Kulliyat of Hasrat, an Indian Urdu poet
• Kulliyat of Manto, an Urdu writer
• Kulliyat of Kaifi, an Indian Urdu poet
• Akbar Allahabadi, an Indian Urdu poet from Allahabad
• Kulliyat of Iqbal, an Indian Urdu poet & philosopher having four collections, Bang-i-Dara; Bal-i-Jibreel; Armughan-i-Hijaz, and Zarb-i-Kaleem

Indian Urdu Writer—Deputy Nazir Ahmad (1830-1912)

Deputy Nazir Ahmad was a famous Urdu writer and also was pioneer of Urdu literature. His novels are today a basic part of the educational set of courses in the Indian sub-continent. Nazir Ahmad came from a renowned family of religious scholars, maulvis and muftis of Bijnor and Delhi. His father was a teacher in a small town near Bijnor. Deputy Nazir Ahmad studied at Delhi College from 1846 to 1853. He started his career as a teacher in Arabic, in 1854.

Deputy Nazir Ahmad was the pioneer of Urdu novel. He did a lot of work in Urdu literature, was prolific writer and published books in mixed genres.

• Mirat-al-Urus: It was regarded as the first novel of Urdu. After releasing in 1869 it was reprinted till 20 years totaling over 100,000 copies.

• Bina-tul-Nash: it was another great novel after Mirat-al-Urus by Deputy Nazir Ahmad.

• Taubat-un-Nasuh: Deputy Nazir Ahmad earned a good name in writing novels because his whole was full of teachings of moral values.

Fasaana-e-Mubtalaa, Ibn’ul Waqt, Ayyamah, Ruya-e-Sadiqah were another his famous Urdu work.

Urdu Doha

One of the most popular forms of poetry is Urdu Doha. It is infact an independent rhyming couplet in poetry. Doha not just written in Urdu language, also were written in Hindi as well. Many books have been written by famous poets and writers in which big stories have been penned in the form of Dohas. Among the most famous Dohas are those of Kabir, Tulsidas, Jamiluddin Aali, Rahim, Sarahpa, and Surdas.

Kabir’s Doha in Urdu was one of the most popular Dohas. Another famous person in Urdu Doha field is Rahim. His dohas are very simple and explain the morals of life in a straight forward way. Rahim has been written many famous Dohas, one of them is given:

“Rahiman Dekh Baden Ko, Laghu Na Deejiye Daari, Jahan Kaam Aawe sui, Kaha Kare Tarwari.”

In this Doha Rahim Says; don’t ignore the small things when you see big ones. Everything has its own use. A sword is of no use where a needle comes handy.