KARACHI: On Thursday (15th Feb, 2024) Urduphones all over the globe marked the solemn occasion of the 155th death anniversary of the illustrious Urdu poet, Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib.
The last great poet of the Mughal era Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib – one of the greatest Ghazalgo poets in the history of Sub-Continent – was born in (Akbarabad) Agra on the 27th day of Dec 1796.
Ghalib wrote hundreds of Ghazals during his life which have since been interpreted and crooned in many different ways.
Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib is considered as one of the most popular and influential poets of the Urdu language.
His timeless poetry continues to inspire, enlighten, and evoke profound emotions, making him a revered figure in literary circles worldwide.
Though Mirza Ghalib departed from this world on this day in 1869, his legacy remains vibrant and enduring.
His words continue to echo through the corridors of time, touching the hearts and souls of countless admirers in India, Pakistan, and beyond.
Compilation of his letters known as Khutoot-e-Ghalib is also reckoned as a treasure by today’s scholars. Those letters were written in the era when correspondences were laden with extravagantly ornamented Persian words, Ghalib dared to pen the socio-political scenario of that epoch in the simplest language.
Reading his correspondences one feels as Ghalib used to write as if he was talking to someone in the non-formal language.
There are innumerable couplets that are used by millions of urduphones all over the world in their daily life. For instance the following couplet from one of his most famous Ghazals:
Hazaaron khwahishen aisi ke har khwahish pe dam nikle
Bohat niklay mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle!
ہزاروں خواہشیں ایسی کہ ہر خواہش پہ دم نکلے
بہت نکلے مرے ارمان لیکن پھر بھی کم نکلے
(Thousands of desires, each worth dying for…many of them I have realized…yet I yearn for more.
Then there are verses which his admirers reckon exhausts his status to those of prophets. For instance, the following couplets subtly explains the Omnipotence’s existence:
latāfat be-kasāfat jalva paidā kar nahīñ saktī:
chaman zañgār hai ā.īna-e-bād-e-bahārī kā
Ghalib died in 1869 in Delhi in the same house where he lived.
Newspakistan.tv