Meer Taqi Meer: The Poet Of Melancholy

Mir Taqi Meer (1723 -1810), famous Urdu poet was born in Agra. “Mir” was his pen name.He is remembered as as Khudā-e Sukhan (God of Poetry). Meer Taqi Meer was branded as a shayar of pain and melancholy, as his popular shers are those that depict misery. Someone said that Meer’s Shayari is ‘aah’ (expression of pain).Meer cannot smile and write in jest, it’s easier for him to get frustrated and being abusive. The pains and hardships of his life are mirrored as melancholy in his Ghazals.

His grandfather migrated from hijaz (Saudi Arabia) to Hyderabad. Finally settled in Agra. His father ‘Muhammad Ali’ was a Sufi faqir. His father died while the poet was in his teens. 

A disciple of his farther gave five hundred rupee which came handy to settle the debt and perform his cremation ceremony. Meer inherited his father’s poverty and his mysticism. He left Agra for Delhi a few years after his father's death, in search of financial help.

Meer Taqi Meer---The Poet

This was the time of rule of Moghal emperor Muhammad Shah. Meer managed to get close to one of the courtiers ‘Amir-Ul-Umraa Shams-ud-Daula’ and this proximity got him a patronage of rupee 1 per day. With this salary he came back to Agra.

While in Agra, a beauty enchanted the young shayar. Her name and provenance is still shrouded into mystery but what is certain is that love was from both the sides. And as rightly said that love and enmity cannot be hidden.

(‘Ishq aur Mushq chupaaye nahin chupte’)

 People started noticing the love affair. Meer was a Sayyed (a direct descended of Prophet) and being a member of such a high clan he was not to fall in love to lesser clan lady. His love affair brought dishonor to him. 

Mir lived much of his life in Moghal Delhi. Kuchha Chelan, in Old Delhi at that time. Providence didn’t allow Meer to have financial stability and peace of mind, not yet. Hardly a year had passed, when Nadir Shah plundered Delhi and Meer’s employer, Shams-ud-Daula, was killed in the raid and Meer was pushed back into penury. Once again Meer was forced to leave Agra.These were the most painful times of Meer’s life.

Hardship and broken relationships impacted Meer and he became mentally ill. During nights he would see a beautiful apparition. He would not be able to sleep. As the day approached the apparition would disappear making Meer behave like a madman. He started chasing people with stone in his hand. His condition became so worse that he had to be kept in chains. 

He would tear his clothes and would be vituperative. Khan-e-Aarzu (Maternal uncle of Meer's step brother ) advised him that it is better to tear shers than clothes and be poetic. What khan-e-Aarzu might have advised in jest Meer took seriously? Many critics agree that some of the best couplets of Meer were composed in those days of insanity. Various medication and supplications were tried. Gradually he started improving and his condition became normal.  

Where Delhi was declining, Lucknow was on rise or at least it seemed so. Meer Taqi Meer igrated to Lucknow in 1782-83 in the reign of Asif-ud-daula. Meer met Asif-ud -Daula during a game of cock fight. The rest of his life he spent in Lucknow without worrying about money.  He found peace and stability in Lucknow.

Mir's relationships with his patron gradually grew strained, and he eventually severed his connections with the court. In his last years Mir was very isolated. His health failed, and the untimely deaths of his daughter, son and wife caused him great distress.

His complete works, Kulliaat, consist of six Diwans containing 13,585 couplets, comprising all kinds of poetic forms: ghazal, masnavi, qasida, rubai, mustezaad, satire, etc. Mir's literary reputation is anchored on the ghazals in his Kulliyat-e-Mir, much of them on themes of love. His masnavi Mu'amlat-e-Ishq (The Stages of Love) is one of the greatest known love poems in Urdu literature.

Meer: The “poet of melancholy” died, on 21 September 1810 in Lucknow. The marker of his burial place was removed in modern times when a railway was built over his grave.

Written and posted by Engr Maqbool Akram: with help of Materials available on net and Wikipedia

Mirza Ghalib:Five Penetrating Ghazals close to my

Here are the five famous Ghazals of legendary poet Mirza Ghalib, which are close to my heart. These Ghazals have a penetrating effect on hearts. Ghalib the famous Urdu and Persian Poet was born ob 27^th December 1797 in Kala Mahal Mohalla of Agra: The City of love, The City of Taj Mahal. His real name was Mirza Asad-ul-lah Baig Khan. “Ghalib” was his poetical surname. Ghalib’s father, Mirza Abdullah Baig Khan, worked for the Nawab of Luck now and later for the Nizam of Hyderabad. Ghalib lost his father, when he was just five years old.

Mirza Ghalib

After his father's death, he was taken care of by his uncle Nasr- Ul-lah Beg Khan, but  v soon he too died he too died. Ghalib henceforth lived with the rich parents of his mother.

At a very young age of 13 Ghalib was married to Umrao Begum Daughter of Nawab Ilahi Bakhsh Khan of Loharu' (younger brother of the first Nawab of Loharu, Nawab Mirza Ahmad Baksh Khan). She was a God fearing, very reserved and unparalleled personality against Ghalib. They had seven children but unfortunately none of them survived. This pain has found its way into his poetry. In a letter he described his marriage as a second confinement of life.

After marriage he moved to Delhi and finally settled in a rented house in Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, in old Delhi .He last breathed on February 15, 1869. That house has now been turned into 'Ghalib Memorial' and houses a permanent exhibition on him.

He lived a careless and undisciplined life. Played chess and dice, borrowed books, drew loan, drank incessantly, violated norms, and got punished by imprisonment but continued with his manners. He never worked for livelihood.

Ghalib had a defamatory affair with a courtesan, a fan of his poetry. An FIR was also registered against him in a Police station in Delhi regarding this affair with that woman.  

After the demise of Court Poet Sheikh Ibrahim Zauq who had the privilege of counselling the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar on his poetry, he was appointed as his mentor, as well as a historian of the Mughal court, which brought him some financial security and the appellation of Najm-ud-daulah, Dabeer-u-lmulk, and Nizam Jung, as well as the title of Mirza Nausha. He was not given due respect and importance, fame came much later. Today he is the most written and most read Poet.

Ghalib was a unique individual, who wrote the finest kind of poetry in Urdu and Persian.

His poetries did not only depicted his failed loved and its agony but also the philosophy of life and world and the mysticism.He stated himself during his lifetime that he would be recognized for his contributions by the later generations, and he could not be more accurate on this one.

The collection of Mirza Ghalib poetry is classified as “Dewan –e-Ghalib”. The Persian collection of Mirza Ghalib titled as “Kuliyat-e-Ghalib Farsi”. His beautifully Ghazals are sung by some of the many renowned ghazal maestros like Talat Mahmood, Jagjit Singh, Mehdi Hassan, Abida Parveen, Asha Bhosle, Ghulam Ali, Lata Mangeshkar, and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and many more...

 Mirza Ghalib’s Ghazal did not only depicted his failed loved and its agony but also the philosophy of life and world and the mysticism.He stated himself during his lifetime that he would be recognized for his contributions by the later generations, and he could not be more accurate on this one. Now Ghalib is most read and written all over world.

(1)      

(1)      Phir  mujhe  deeda-e-tar  yaad  aaya
      Phir  mujhe  deeda-e-tar  yaad  aaya
       Dill,  jigar  tishna -e- phariyad   aaya

Dam liya   tha  na  qayamat  ne hanoz

Phir  tera  waqt -e- safar yaad aaya.

Zindagi   yun  bhi  bhi  guzar  hi  jaati

Kyun   tera  raahguzar  yaaad  aaya

Phir  tere  kooche  ko jaataa  hai  khayaal

Dil -e- gumgashta   magar  yaad  aaya

Koi  veerani  si  veerani  hai

 dasht  ko  dekh  ke ghar  yaad  aaya

Maine  majnu  pe  ladakpan  mein 'Asad

Sang  uthaya  tha, ki sar  yaad  aaya.

फिर मुझे दीदा-ए-तर याद आया

 फिर मुझे दीदा-ए-तर याद आया
दिल जिगर तश्ना-ए-फ़रियाद आया

दम लिया था न क़यामत ने हनोज़ 
फिर तेरा वक़्त-ए-सफ़र याद आया

सादगी हाये तमन्ना यानी
फिर वो नैइरंग-ए-नज़र याद आया

ज़िन्दगी यूँ भी गुज़र ही जाती
क्यों तेरा राहगुज़र याद आया

फिर तेरे कूचे को जाता है ख़्याल

 दिल-ए-ग़ुमगश्ता मगर याद आया

कोई वीरानी-सी-वीरानी है
दश्त को देख के घर याद आया

मैंने मजनूँ पे लड़कपन में 'असद'
संग उठाया था के सर याद आया

Hazaron khwahishen aisi ke har khwaish pe dam nikle

Hazaron  khwahishen  aisi  ke har  khwaish  pe dam nikle
bahut  nikle  mere  arman  lekin  phir  bhi  kam  nikle

Dare  kyun  mera  qatil  kya  rahega  usaki  gardan  par
wo  khun jo  chashm-e-tar  se  umr  bhar  yun dam-ba-dam nikle

Nikalna  khuld  se  adam  ka  sunte  aye hain  lekin
bahut  be-abaru  hokar  tere  kuche  se  ham  nikle

Bharam  khul  jaye  zalim  tere  qamat  ki  darazi  ka
agar  is  turra-e-purapech-o-kham  ka  pech-o-kham  nikle

Magar  likhwaye  koi  us  ko  khat  to hamase  likhawaye
hui  subah  aur  ghar  se  kan  par  rakh kar  qalam  nikle

Muhabbat  mein nahi  hai  farq  jine aur  marne  ka
usi  ko  dekh  kar jite  hain jis  kafir pe dam  nikle

zara  kar  jor  sine  par  ki  tir-e-pursitam  nikle
jo wo  nikle  to dil nikle  jo dil  nikle  to dam nikle

Khuda  ke waste  parda  na  kabe  se utha  zalim

kahin  aisa na ho yan  bhi   wahi kafir sanam  nikle

Kahan  maikhane  ka darwaza 'ghalib' aur  kahan  waiz
par  itna  jante  hain kal  wo  jata  tha ke  ham  nikle

हज़ारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी के हर ख्वाहिश पे दम निकले

हज़ारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी के हर ख्वाहिश पे दम निकल

बहुत निकले मेरे अरमान लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले

डरे क्यूँ मेरा क़ातिल क्या रहेगा उसकी गरदन पर
वो ख़ूँ जो चश्म ए तर से उम्र भर यूँ दमबदम निकले

निकलना ख़ुल्द से आदम का सुनते आए हैं लेकिन
बहुत बेआबरू होकर तेरे कूंचे से हम निकले

भरम खुल जाए ज़ालिम तेरे क़ामत की दराज़ी का
अगर उस तुररा ए पुरपेचोख़म का पेचोख़म निकले

मगर लिखवाए कोई उसको ख़त तो हम से लिखवाए
हुई सुबह और घर से कान पर रखकर क़लम निकले


मोहब्बत में नहीं है फ़र्क़ जीने और मरने का
उसी को देख के जीते हैं जिस काफ़िर पे दम निकले

ख़ुदा के वास्ते पर्दा ना काबे से उठा ज़ालिम,

कहीं ऐसा ना हो यां भी वही काफिर सनम निकले । 

 कहाँ मैख़ाने का दरवाज़ा ग़ालिब और कहाँ वाइज़

पर इतना जानते हैं कल वो जाता था के हम निकले

(3) Ye na thi hamari qismat ke visal-e-yar hota

Ye na thi hamari qismat ke visal-e-yar hota

agar aur jite rehte yahi intazar hota

tere wade par jiye hum to ye jan jhooth jana

ke khushi se mar na jate agar aitabar hota

teri nazuki se jana ki bandha tha ahdboda

kabhi tu na tod sakata agar ustavar hota

koi mere dil se puche tere tir-e-nimakash ko

ye khalish kahan se hoti jo jigar ke par hota

ye kahan ke dosti hai ke bane hain dost naseh

koi charasaz hota, koi gamgusar hota

rag-e-sang se tapakata wo lahu ki phir na thamata

jise gham samajh rahe ho ye agar sharar hota

gham agarche jangusil hai, pe kahan bachen ke dil hai

gam-e-ishq gar na hota, gam-e-rozagar hota

kahun kis se main ke kya hai, shab-e-gam buri bala hai

mujhe kya bura tha marana agar ek bar hota

hue mar ke hum jo rusava, hue kyon na garq-e-dariya

na kabhi janaza uthata, na kaheen mazar hota

use kon dekh sakata ki yagana hai wo yakta

jo dui ke bu bhi hoti to kaheen do char hota

ye masail-e-tasavvuf, ye tera bayan ‘ghalib’

tujhe hum wali samajhate, jo na badakhvar hota

ये न थी हमारी क़िस्मत के विसाल-ए-यार होता 

ये न थी हमारी क़िस्मत के विसाल-ए-यार होता
अगर और जीते रहते यही इन्तज़ार होता 

तेरे वादे पर जिये हम तो ये जान झूठ जाना
कि ख़ुशी से मर न जाते अगर ऐतबार होता 

तेरी नाज़ुकी से जाना कि बंधा था अ़हद बोदा
कभी तू न तोड़ सकता अगर उस्तुवार होता 

कोई मेरे दिल से पूछे तेरे तीर-ए-नीमकश को
ये ख़लिश कहाँ से होती जो जिगर के पार होता 

ये कहां की दोस्ती है कि बने हैं दोस्त नासेह
कोई चारासाज़ होता, कोई ग़मगुसार होता 

 रग-ए-संग से टपकता वो लहू कि फिर न थमता
जिसे ग़म समझ रहे हो ये अगर शरार होता 

 ग़म अगर्चे जां-गुसिल है, पर कहां बचे कि दिल है
ग़म-ए-इश्क़ गर न होता, ग़म-ए-रोज़गार होता 

 कहूँ किससे मैं कि क्या है, शब-ए-ग़म बुरी बला है
मुझे क्या बुरा था मरना? अगर एक बार होता 

 हुए मर के हम जो रुस्वा, हुए क्यों न ग़र्क़-ए-दरिया
न कभी जनाज़ा उठता, न कहीं मज़ार होता 

 उसे कौन देख सकता, कि यग़ाना है वो यकता
जो दुई की बू भी होती तो कहीं दो चार होता 

ये मसाइल-ए-तसव्वुफ़, ये तेरा बयान “ग़ालिब”! 

तुझे हम वली समझते, जो न बादाख़्वार होता

  Dil-e-naadaan tujhe huaa kya hai ?

Dil-e-naadaan tujhe huaa kya hai ?
Aakhir is dard kee dawa kya hai

Ham hain mushtaaq aur woh bazaar

Ya ilaahee ! Yeh maajra kya hai ?

Hamko unse wafa ki hai ummeed

Jo naheen jaante wafa kya hai

Main bhi muh me zabaan rakhataa hun

Kaash puchho ki mudda kyaa hai

Jab ki tujh bin naheen koyi maujood

Fir ye hangaama, ‘ei khuda ! Kya hai

Ye pari chehra log kaise hain

Gamaza-o-ishwa-o-ada kya hai

Shikan-e-zulf-e-ambari kyon hai

Nigah-e-chashm-e-surma sa kya hai

Sabz-o-gul kahaan se aaye hai

Abr kyaa chiz hai, havaa kyaa hai

Haan bhalaa kar, teraa bhalaa hogaa

Aur daravesh ki sadaa kyaa hai

Jaan tum par nisaar karta hoon

Main naheen jaanata duaa kya hai

Maine maanaa ki kuchh nahi “Ghalib”

Muft haath aaye, to buraa kyaa hai

दिल-ए-नादाँ तुझे हुआ क्या है

 दिल-ए-नादाँ तुझे हुआ क्या है
आख़िर इस दर्द की दवा क्या है

 हम हैं मुश्ताक़ और वो बेज़ार
या इलाही ये माजरा क्या है 

 हमको उनसे वफ़ा की है उम्मीद
जो नहीं जानते वफ़ा क्या है

मैं भी मुँह में ज़बान रखता हूँ
काश पूछो कि मुद्दआ क्या है

 जब कि तुझ बिन नहीं कोई मौजूद
फिर ये हंगामा, ऐ ख़ुदा क्या है

 ये परी चेहरा लोग कैसे हैं
ग़म्ज़ा-ओ-इश्वा-ओ-अदा क्या है

 शिकन-ए-ज़ुल्फ़-ए-अम्बरी क्यों है
निगह-ए-चश्म-ए-सुरमा क्या है

 सब्ज़ा-ओ-गुल कहाँ से आये हैं
अब्र क्या चीज़ है हवा क्या है

   हाँ भला कर तेरा भला होगा
 और दरवेश की सदा क्या है

  जान तुम पर निसार करता हूँ
मैं नहीं जानता दुआ क्या है

  मैंने माना कि कुछ नहीं 'ग़ालिब'
मुफ़्त हाथ आये तो बुरा क्या है 

    Nuktaachin hai, Gam-e-dil usko sunaaye na bane

  Nuktaachin hai, Gam-e-dil usko sunaaye na bane
  kyaa bane baat jahaan baat banaaye na bane

Gair phirataa hai liye yuu.N tere Kat ko ke agar
koi puuchhe ke ye kyaa hai to chhupaaye na bane

mai.n bulaataa to hun usako magar ai jazbaa-e-dil
us pe ban jaaye kuchh aisii ki bin aaye na bane

ishq par zor nahin hai ye vo aatish Ghalib
ki lagaaye na lage aur bujhaaye na bane

नुक्तचीं है, ग़म-ए-दिल उसको सुनाये न बने

नुक्तचीं है, ग़म-ए-दिल उसको सुनाये न बने
क्या बने बात जहाँ बात बनाये न बने

ग़ैर फिरता है लिये यूँ तेरे ख़त को के अगर
कोई पूछे के ये क्या है तो छुपाये न बने

मैं बुलाता तो हूँ उसको मगर ऐ जज़्बा-ए-दिल
उस पे बन जाये कुछ ऐसी कि बिन आये न बने

इश्क़ पर ज़ोर नहीं है ये वो आतिश ग़ालिब
कि लगाये न लगे और बुझाये न बने