Mirza Ghalib: Life, Poetry and Famous Ghazals
- Language
- Urdu
About this novel
Mirza Ghalib (مرزا غالب), born Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan, is the most celebrated poet of the Urdu language. More than 150 years after his death, his couplets are quoted in everyday conversation, sung by the greatest singers of South Asia and studied in every Urdu classroom.
In this guide
Life
Ghalib was born in Agra in 1797 into a family of Turkish descent and moved to Delhi as a young man, where he spent the rest of his life. He wrote first under the pen name Asad and later Ghalib (“dominant”).
He became connected to the court of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, who gave him the titles Dabir-ul-Mulk and Najm-ud-Daula; he served as the court’s poetry tutor and royal historian. Yet for much of his life he struggled with money and fought a long battle over his family pension.
Ghalib lived through the uprising of 1857 and saw the destruction of the Delhi he loved and the fall of the Mughal court. He died in Delhi in 1869 and is buried near the dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya. His house in Delhi’s Ballimaran is now a museum.
His poetry
Ghalib wrote in both Persian and Urdu. His Persian work is much larger, but his fame rests on his Urdu ghazals, collected in his Diwan. He took the ghazal beyond the traditional subject of unhappy love and used it to explore philosophy, faith, doubt, fate and the human condition, often with irony and wit.
Famous ghazals and lines
Some of Ghalib’s best-known opening lines:
- Hazaron khwahishen aisi ke har khwahish pe dam nikle – “A thousand desires, each one worth dying for”.
- Dil-e-nadan tujhe hua kya hai, akhir is dard ki dawa kya hai – “O foolish heart, what has happened to you? What is the cure for this pain?”
- Koi ummeed bar nahin aati, koi soorat nazar nahin aati – “No hope is fulfilled, no way out can be seen”.
- Yeh na thi hamari qismat ke visal-e-yaar hota – “It was not my fate to be united with the beloved”.
His letters
Ghalib’s letters (khutoot) are as famous as his poetry. He wrote to friends in a relaxed, conversational style, as if talking to them face to face, and in doing so helped shape simple, modern Urdu prose. They are also a moving record of Delhi before and after 1857.
Legacy
Ghalib’s ghazals have been sung by many great singers and have appeared in films and television series about his life. He is often called the greatest poet of the Urdu language.
Frequently asked questions
What was Mirza Ghalib’s real name? Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan.
When and where was Ghalib born? In Agra, in 1797.
Where is Ghalib buried? In Delhi, near the dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya.
Read more guides in our Urdu Classics section, including Mirat-ul-Uroos, Umrao Jaan Ada and Kafan.
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