Occupying a spot of pride in the planet of literature, Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, who wrote below the pen name ‘Ghalib’ is a single of the most quotable Urdu poets whose sher or couplets relate with just about all scenarios of life. Born on December 27, 1797 in Agra’s Kala Mahal, Ghalib belonged to a family members descending from Aibak Turks who moved to Samarkand (modern day-day Uzbekistan) right after the downfall of Seljuk kings.
He came to Delhi as a married 13-year-old boy and left behind a treasure of quotes that will lengthy be memorised, narrated and cherished generations right after generations. During the final years of the Mughal Empire, Ghalib was a prominent Urdu and Persian poet who was appointed as the poet tutor of Bahadur Shah Zafar II and of Prince Fakhr-ud Din Mirza, eldest son of Bahadur Shah II.
Despite getting created an essential courtier of the final Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II, Ghalib had proclaimed that he would acquire fame only right after his death and rightly so. The fame and glory that evaded him in the course of his lifetime has now turned his poems and writings immortal as they act as the finest life coach.
On Mirza Ghalib’s 223rd birth anniversary, here’s remembering the legendary Urdu poet and the epitome of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb with these 20 couplets that capture the pathos of appreciate or are very common for holding relevance even today:
1. Ishq ne ‘ġhālib’ nikammā kar diyā
varna ham bhī aadmī the kaam ke
Translation: Ghalib, a worthless particular person, this appreciate has created of me
Otherwise a man of substance I as soon as applied to be
2. Mohabbat meñ nahīñ hai farq jiine aur marne kā
usī ko dekh kar jiite haiñ jis kāfir pe dam nikle
Translation: In appreciate there is no distinction ‘tween life and death do know
The very one for whom I die, life too does bestow
3. Hazāroñ ḳhvāhisheñ aisī ki har ḳhvāhish pe dam nikle
bahut nikle mire armān lekin phir bhī kam nikle
Translation: I have a thousand yearnings, each one afflicts me so
Many were fulfilled for sure, not enough although
4. Ye na thī hamārī qismat ki visāl-e-yār hotā
agar aur jiite rahte yahī intizār hotā
Translation: That my love be consummated, fate did not ordain
Living longer had I waited, would have been in vain
5. Ishq par zor nahīñ hai ye vo ātish ‘ġhālib’
ki lagā.e na lage aur bujhā.e na bane
Translation: Love is not in one’s handle, this is that fire roused
It can not be willed to ignite, nor can it be doused
6. Na thā kuchh to ḳhudā thā kuchh na hotā to ḳhudā hotā
Duboyā mujh ko hone ne na hotā maiñ to kyā hotā
Translation: In nothingness God was there, if naught he would persist
Existence has sunk me, what loss, if I did’nt exist
7. Dil hī to hai na sañg-o-ḳhisht dard se bhar na aa.e kyuuñ
ro.eñge ham hazār baar koī hameñ satā.e kyuuñ
Translation: it is just a heart, no stony shard why shouldn’t it fill with discomfort
I will cry a thousand instances, why must somebody complain?
8. Aah ko chāhiye ik umr asar hote tak
kaun jiitā hai tirī zulf ke sar hote tak
Translation: A prayer desires a lifetime, an answer to receive
Who can reside till the time that you choose to deign
9. Ishq se tabī.at ne ziist kā mazā paayā
dard kī davā paa.ī dard-e-be-davā paayā
Translation: My getting did, from love’s domain, the joy of life procure
Obtained such remedy for life’s travails, which itself had no remedy
10. Ham ko un se vafā kī hai ummīd
jo nahīñ jānte vafā kyā hai
Translation: From her I hope for constancy
Who knows it not, to my dismay
11. Aage aatī thī hāl-e-dil pe hañsī
ab kisī baat par nahīñ aatī
Translation: Nothing now could even make me smile,
I as soon as could laugh at my heart’s personal plight
12. Ham ne maanā ki taġhāful na karoge lekin
ḳhaak ho jā.eñge ham tum ko ḳhabar hote tak
Translation: Agreed, you will not ignore me, I know but then once again
Into dust will I be turned, your audience till I acquire
13. Merī qismat meñ ġham gar itnā thā
dil bhī yā-rab ka.ī diye hote
Translation: If so significantly discomfort my fate ordained
I, a lot of hearts must have obtained
14. Dard minnat-kash-e-davā na huā
maiñ na achchhā huā burā na huā
Translation: My discomfort did not seek favors from any opiate
I do not thoughts the truth that I did not recuperate
15. Kitne shīrīñ haiñ tere lab ki raqīb
gāliyāñ khā ke be-mazā na huā
Translation: How sweet are your honeyed lips, that even even though my foe
Was abused by you, is not, in an unhappy state
16. Jī DhūñDtā hai phir vahī fursat ki raat din
baiThe raheñ tasavvur-e-jānāñ kiye hue
Translation: Again this heart seeks these days of leisure as of yore
Sitting just enmeshed in thoughts of my paramour
17. āshiqī sabr-talab aur tamannā betāb
dil kā kyā rañg karūñ ḳhūn-e-jigar hote tak
Translation: Love has a have to have for patience, desires are a strain
As lengthy my ache persists, how shall my heart sustain
18. Rone se aur ishq meñ be-bāk ho ga.e
dho.e ga.e ham itne ki bas paak ho ga.e
Translation: In appreciate, bolder I became, as soon as openly I cried
I was washed so completely that I got sanctified
19. āshiq huuñ pa māshūq-farebī hai mirā kaam
majnūñ ko burā kahtī hai lailā mire aage
Translation: Though a lover I seduce my loved ones craftily
Laila speaks ill of Majnuu.n when in front of me
20. Jaan dī dī huī usī kī thī
haq to yuuñ hai ki haq adā na huā
Translation: Though I gave my life for Him, ‘twas His in any case
To speak the truth I couldn’t repay my dues to Him to date
(Couplets and translations credit: Rekhta org.)
Mirza Ghalib’s poetry and prose are distinguished for his sparkling wit, hard ratiocination and his innovations in method and diction. He died in his rented accommodation in Old Delhi’s Ballimaran which was declared a heritage web page by the Archaeological Survey of India.
This haveli, now identified as Ghalib ki Haveli, was a present to Mirza Ghalib by a doctor or ‘hakim’ who was smitten by his work. It was this property that witnessed the poet pen his Urdu and Persian ‘diwans’ and right after his death in 1869, the hakim would sit there every single evening, refusing any individual to enter the developing.
Located in the Gali Qasim Jan of Ballimaran, Old Delhi, the haveli’s walls are smeared with life-size portraits of the legendary poet and his couplets preserved in hand-written kind or painted to property the memorial museum. Ghalib’s sculpture, books and other housing objects connected to him also adorn the substantial columned-compound of the haveli.
Irrespective of your literary interests, you can not be in Delhi and afford to miss the essence of 19th century Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib who was buried in Nizamuddin. Exuding the way of life and architecture of the Mughal era, which was on a decline then, Ghalib ki haveli or Ghalib’s mansion is a must-take a look at for all poetry lovers and travel enthusiasts.
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