Mirza Ghalib

Culture and Media Project

By

Gaurav Meena
Roll No. 00005020

Under the Guidance of

Prof. Sharmila
&
Prof. Sudha Vasan
 Table of contents
1. Introduction to Ghalib .................................................................- 2 -
1.1 Biographical Information ..................................................................- 2 -
1.2 Major Works......................................................................................- 3 -
1.3 Critical Reception ..............................................................................- 3 -
2. Couplets/verse from Ghalib.........................................................- 4 -
2.1. Love ..................................................................................................- 5 -
2.2. Alcoholic ..........................................................................................- 9 -
2.3 Self Admiring ..................................................................................- 10 -
2.4 defying religion/social moral...........................................................- 13 -
2.5 political changes ..............................................................................- 17 -
3. Conclusion ...................................................................................- 21 -
References .......................................................................................- 22 -

-1-
Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan -- known to posterity as Ghalib, Takhallus(pen name), he
adopted in the tradition of all classical Urdu poets. Literal meaning of ‘Ghalib’ is
Excelling, Likely, Often, Overcoming, Overpowering, Most Probably, Predominant,
Triumphant, Victorious, Winner. In his early age, many of his verses has been written
as Asad as his earlier pen name, which means Lion, and was taken from his own
name, Asadullah, Lion of God.

1. Introduction to Ghalib
Ghalib is regarded as the most important Urdu-language poet of the nineteenth
century. Praised in particular for his artful use of the short lyric form known as the
ghazal, he also wrote poetry in other forms, numerous volumes of letters, and a
compelling account of the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, an attempt by natives of India to
overthrow British colonial rule.

1.1 Biographical Information

Ghalib was born into an aristocratic Muslim family in Agra, of parents with Turkish
aristocratic ancestry, probably on December 27th, 1797. As to the precise date,
Imtiyaz Ali Arshi has conjectured, on the basis of Ghalib's horoscope, that the poet
might have been born a month later, in January 1798.
Orphaned at age five, he was reared with his brother and sister by maternal
relatives. Ghalib started writing poetry in both Urdu and Persian as a child. At age
thirteen, he married and moved to his wife's home in Delhi, where, except for
occasional travel, he resided the rest of his life. In Delhi he made the acquaintance of
several prominent and influential poets and wrote both occasional and lyric poetry for
patrons at the Mughal court. In 1827, Ghalib made a business trip to Calcutta and met
a number of writers and scholars in that city and in Lucknow, gaining him admittance
to the literary world outside of Delhi. While in Calcutta, Ghalib observed the material
prosperity of British civilization and attributed this wealth to English academic and
legal innovations. Thereafter, Ghalib began to challenge Indian institutions,
especially the practice of educating Muslims in an Indianized dialect of Persian that
varied from the traditional Persian in both vocabulary and grammar; Ghalib argued
that Indians should write Persian as native speakers wrote it, and he presented his
ideas at a symposium held by the university at Calcutta. Ghalib's audience strongly
criticized the unfamiliar style of Persian he was espousing, which prompted Ghalib to
condemn his opponents in Calcutta newspapers. His challenge to Indian tradition and
his outspokenness provoked animosity among many of Ghalib's colleagues and
involved him in a lifelong controversy. However, the quarrel also brought Ghalib
greater attention and the resulting correspondence with other scholars established his
reputation as both an innovative writer and an uncompromising scholar.

-2-
1.2 Major Works

In 1841, Ghalib published his collected Urdu poems, Divan-i-Ghalib. His next book
did not appear until 1849, when he produced Panj ahang, a kind of handbook on the
writing of letters and poetry interspersed with samples of his own work; throughout
the next decade, he published only sporadically. In 1857, Ghalib was forced to
reassess his great admiration for Western culture when the British rulers of India
responded to the Sepoy Rebellion with violence, martial law, and the forced exile of
Delhi's Muslim and Hindu populations.
Eighteen months after the start of the fighting, he published Dastanbu, his
memoirs of the suffering brought on by the conflict, and sent copies to various British
officials, including Queen Victoria, both to plead for moderation in the treatment of
Indians and to establish his own innocence in the rebellion. At this time, motivated by
the realization that most of his unpublished manuscripts had been destroyed when the
rebels and British alike looted the libraries of Delhi, Ghalib attempted to gather his
remaining ghazals into expanded editions of his Divan.
In the loneliness caused by the deaths and exile of many of his friends, Ghalib
began to write several letters a day for solace; many of these were collected for
publication. Despite rapidly failing health in his later years, Ghalib helped edit some
of these collections and critiqued poems sent to him by poets all over India. He died
on February 15th, 1869.

1.3 Critical Reception

Although Ghalib wrote in several genres, his ghazals have generally been the best
received of his works. Ghazals usually consist of five to twelve couplets linked by
common meters and rhyme schemes, but not necessarily by subject matter or tone.
They were common in both Urdu and Persian, although Persian poetry generally
brought greater prestige. As a young man, Ghalib preferred to compose in Persian
until he noticed a growing taste for Urdu verse among Delhi poets. From the 1820s
onward, he composed increasingly in Urdu and now is remembered chiefly for his
Urdu writings. Critics remark that Ghalib expanded the range of themes of the ghazal
genre and utilized conventional Persian and Urdu poetic devices in new ways. He
broke more strongly with established literary practice in his letters. Educated Indian
Muslims usually wrote letters, as they did poetry, in Persian rather than in Urdu, while
Ghalib wrote increasingly in Urdu. Moreover, in either language, letter writers
customarily employed rhyming sentences and addressed their correspondents with
flattering epithets. In place of such formality, Ghalib substituted colloquial language
and nicknames or terms of endearment like "brother." His letters proved so popular
that they were adopted as models by subsequent writers of Urdu.
Highly regarded for his contributions to the development of Urdu poetry,
Ghalib was virtually unknown outside of Urdu-speaking communities for decades
following his death. His work, however, came to the attention of Western readers as a
result of the efforts of Indian and Pakistani scholars in the 1960s, and the centenary of
his death in 1969 was marked by several volumes of English translations of his
poems, with critical notes and biographical essays. Recent scholars have focused in
particular on his handling of ghazal stylistic conventions and his contribution to the
development of Urdu literature, and they agree that his extraordinary skill as a lyric
poet makes him one of the most prominent figures in nineteenth-century Indian
literature.

-3-
2. Couplets/verse from Ghalib
न था कु छ तो ख़ुदा था , कु छ न होता तो ख़ुदा होता ,
डु बोया मुझ को होने ने , न होता म , तो क्या होता ?

"When there was nothing, there was God

If nothing had been, God would have been
My very being has been my downfall
If I hadn't been, what would it have mattered?"

These were the words of a poet who had been dubbed 'Godless' by the Islamic
establishment of his time. Yet his Urdu (and Persian) verse shows a constant
preoccupation with God and his creation, oscillating between joyful ecstasy and
hopeless despair. Biblical and Koranic figures appear frequently in his writings and in
typical mystical love poetry tradition, his themes cover every minute nuance of the
lover's aching heart: the agonies of unity and separation from the Beloved, the futility
of human glory and the hopeless predicament of a loving soul trapped within the
limitations of a human body.
Ghalib is the best known and the most widely read Indo-Persian poet of his
time. His many well-known ghazals have been sung and recorded by numerous
performers in India as well as in Pakistan. Since Urdu poetry relies heavily on oral
tradition and rhythmic recitation, catch-phrases from various Urdu poets have made
their way into everyday Urdu speech in a way which is unparalleled in any other
language. This is particularly true with regard to Ghalib's poetry where his use of the
Urdu language, drawing heavily on its classical Persian parent tradition, is almost
unmatched by any other Urdu poet.
Ghalib's attitude of philosophical doubt, rooted in his own experience, was
mistaken by superficial readers for atheism. In so far as God is about love, it could be
argued that Ghalib was closer to the truth in terms of the real nature of the relationship
between the Creator and the created. Ghalib states this boldly in terms of a
philosophical truth.

Had nothing been, then the following would have been the case;
1. It would not have mattered, as there would have been no distinction between
being and non-being. It is only the act of creation that has brought about the
duality of Creator and created.
2. The Creator would still have been.
3. The created would have existed within the Creator, man would have lived in God.
4. Man would have been God.

Few things that I would like to extract from his verses :

1. He was the "Godless" Lover, in a typical Sufi fashion.
2. He always denied the division of people as religion and language.
3. He had far-sight for the political changes, that were taking place in that era.
4. Never accepted ‘the true Muslim’ as been defined by the society of that time.
5. He defined a good notion of खुद-परस्ती (as self) and खुदा-परस्ती (as god).
6. He used his verse with great humor in objection towards society and religion.

-4-
2.1. Love

For Ghalib, in a typical Sufi fashion, love creates a condition in which life and death
become indistinguishable: When you live for love you die, and only when you die,
you really live:
मोहब्बत म नह है फ़कर् ज़ीने और मरने का ,
उसी को देख कर जीते है , िक िजस कािफ़र पर दम िनकले ।

”Love knows no difference between life and death

I live only when I see that infidel for whom I'm dying.”

In Ghalib's poetry, love can only ever be true if it is unconditional. If you lose your
heart to someone, then it is also necessary to lose your voice, so that you lose the
ability to complain about nonreciprocal love:

िकसी को दे के िदल कोई , नवा-संज-ए-फ़ु ग़ां क्यूं हो ,

न हो जब िदल ही सीने म , तो िफर मुंह म ज़बां क्यूं हो ।

“Having given the heart to someone,

why would someone be a song-singer of lamentation?
if/when there would not even be a heart in the breast/chest,
why then would there be a tongue in the mouth?”

Further more on the same Ghazal, an another thought that comes in another verse
totally advising not to fall in love.

वफ़ा कै सी कहां का `इशक़ , जब सर फोड़ना ठहरा ,

तो िफर ऐ संग-िदल , तेरा ही संग-ए-आसतां क्यूं हो ।

“What kind of faithfulness? what sort of passion? when head-smashing has been
then, oh stone-hearted one, why would it be your doorsill-stone?”

Ghalib also said love to be considered as a continuous immense source of pain/grief

कम जानते थे हम भी ग़म-ए-`इशक़ को पर अब ,
देखा तो कम हुए पे ग़म-ए-रोज़गार था ।

“We too knew little of the grief of passion, but now

looked, then on becoming less, was the grief of {livelihood / the whole world}”

Now look at what he said for lover as beloved one become soften to him:

-5-
 यह िफ़तना आदमी की ख़ाना-वीरानी को क्या कम है ,
हुए तुम दोस्त िजस के दुश्मन उस का आसमां क्यूं हो ।

“To lay waste a man's house, is this affliction/mischief insufficient?

he whose friend you became-- why would the sky be his enemy?”

We almost have it already in English as a nice punchy insult-- 'With friends like you,
who needs enemies?'

He defines love as a beautiful but dangerous affair to be taken

मौज-ए-सराब-ए-दशत-ए-वफ़ा का न पूछ हाल ,

हर ज़ररा िमसाल-ए-जौहर-ए-तेग़ आबदार था ।

“Don't ask about the state of the wave of the mirage of the desert of faithfulness
every sand-grain was {glittering/water-bearing} like the temper of a sword.”

‘असद’ हम वह जुनूं-जौलां गदा-ए बे-सर-ओ-पा ह ,

िक है सर-पन्जा-ए िमज़हगान-ए-आहू पुशत-ख़ार अपना ।

“Asad, we are such a madness-moving head-and-foot-less beggar

that the head-claws of the deer's eyelashes is our back-scratcher.”

The poet chose to present this as an individual verse, not part of a ghazal. The first
line is an in-your-face paradox: I am such a madly swift-moving, helpless-- literally,
'headless and footless'-- beggar. The oral poetics of mushairah presentation then
require a delay, and several repetitions of the first line.

When (after suspense and curiosity have built up) the second line finally resolves the
situation, even the knower of ghazal convention must stop and think a minute before
both sides of the coin become properly unified. I am so madly fast a runner that I
outrun even the deer, who races along behind me, breathing down my neck but unable
to overtake me; thus I feel his eyelashes on my back. At the same time, I am so
helpless, so hapless, so headless-and-footless a beggar that I am like the famous
Majnun in the wilderness; the animals sympathize with me in my solitude and
suffering. Since I am too weak to move, the deer comforts me by coming up to me
and rubbing its nose on my body, and scratching my aching back with its eyelashes.

The impossibility of both these conditions existing at once, and the flagrant delight of
the assertion that they do, is part of the exuberance and metaphysical wit of the
Ghalibian ghazal. It is also an accurate representation of the heights and depths of
passion. To be a lover is to be both hyperactive and helpless, both omnipotent and
undone. The verse 'proves' its point with a perfect claim that works both ways.

However even after defining the love in such a great passion but still on useless side,
Ghalib’s love more likely to be defined by the famous verse that has been used in
movies repeatedly. A common man (Indian) usually do not understand that much

-6-
from the Urdu or Persian so they generally remember still easy one on the languages.
More often when been asked “who is Ghalib” answer would probably come through
the popular verses.
हैफ़ उस चार िगरह कपड़े की िक़समत ‘ग़ािलब’ ,
िजस की िक़समत म हो `आिशक़ का गरे बां होना ।

“Woe upon the dividing/destiny of that four measures of cloth, Ghalib

in the destiny/dividing of which it would be, to be a lover's collar”

`इश्क ने ‘ग़ािलब’ िनकम्मा कर िदया ,

वरना हम भी आदमी थे काम के ।

“Passion, Ghalib, made us useless/worthless

otherwise, we too were a person of use/capability/desire/passion”

From this verse it necessarily emerges that passion doesn't leave any man fit for
use/work.

बुलबुल के कारोबार पे ह ख़नदहा-ए गुल ,

कहते ह िजस को `इशक़ , ख़लल है िदमाग़ का ।

“At the doings of the Nightingale are the smiles of the rose
what they call passion is a defect of the mind”

‘असद’ खुशी से मेरे हाथ पांव फू ल गए ,

कहा जो उस ने ज़रा मेरे पांव दाब तो दे ।

“Asad. my hands and feet swelled/expanded with happiness

when she said, 'just please press my feet a bit”

उन के देखे से जो आ जाती है मुंह पर रौनक़ ,

वह समझते ह िक बीमार का हाल अच्छा है ।

“From seeing her, the radiance that comes upon the face--
she considers that the sick person's condition is good”

`इश्क पर ज़ोर नह है ये वो आितश ‘ग़ािलब’ ,

िक लगाए न लगे , और बुझाए न बने ।

“There's no control/power over passion this is that fire, Ghalib

that having been lit, would not catch fire; and having been extinguished,
would not become [successfully extinguished]”

-7-
 [Ghalib Writing to Mihr in June 1860:] Listen, my friend, among poets Firdausi, and
among faqirs Hasan Basri, and among lovers Majnun-- these three men, in their three
arts, are the heads and chiefs. The excellence of a poet is that he should become
Firdausi. The limit for a faqir is that he should rival Hasan Basri. The token of a lover
is that he should have a destiny like that of Majnun. Laila had died before his eyes.
Your beloved died before your eyes or rather, you have gone beyond him, because
Laila died in her own house, and your beloved died in your house. My friend, these
Mughal types [मुग़ल-बचचे] are a disaster the one whom they're dying for, they end up
killing. I too am a Mughal type. In my whole life I too have killed one very cruel
dancing girl [एक बड़ी िसतम-पेशा डोमनी को म ने भी मार रखा है]. May the Lord have
mercy on them both, and you and me as well, who have suffered the wound of a
friend’s death. This happened forty or forty-two years ago. Nowadays I've abandoned
that path; I've become a mere stranger to that [lover's] art. But even now sometimes I
remember those coquetries. In my whole life, I won't forget her death. I know what
must be passing through your heart. Be patient, and now abandon the turmoil of
worldly [मजाज़ी] passion.

[Ghalib Writing to Mihr in June 1860:] I don't like these ideas. I'm sixty-five years
old. For fifty years I've strolled around the world of color and scent. In my early
youth, an accomplished master [मुिशद-ए-कािमल] gave me this advice: 'I don't seek
asceticism and abstinence. I don't forbid immorality and licentiousness. Drink, eat,
take your pleasure; but remember this: become a sugar-fly, not a honey-fly.' So my
practice has been according to this advice. He should grieve for the death of another,
who will not die himself. What's this tear-shedding, whence this elegy-reciting? Give
thanks for freedom! Don't grieve. And if you're happy with your captivity, then so
what if there's no 'Munna Jaan'-- there's always a 'Chunna Jaan'! When I form a
picture of Paradise, and reflect that if I am granted mercy, and am given a palace in
Paradise and a Houri-- life in perpetuity, and with the very same excellent woman--
then this picture terrifies me, and my heart is in my mouth. Alas-- that Houri will
grow tiresome! Why shouldn't I feel anxious? That same emerald palace, and that
same branch of the Tuba tree; and-- may the evil eye be far from us!-- that same one
Houri! Brother, come to your senses, and attach your heart somewhere else.

“Take a new woman each returning spring,

For last year's almanac's a useless thing.”

-8-
2.2. Alcoholic

क़तरा-ए-मह बसिक हैरत से नफ़स-परवर हुआ ,

ख़तत-ए-जाम-ए-मह सरासर िरशता-ए-गौहर हुआ ।

“the drop of wine became, out of amazement, so breath-holding/life-preserving

the line on the wineglass became entirely a string of pearls.”

मसिजद के ज़ेर-ए-सायह ख़राबात चािहये ,

भ पास आंख िक़बलह-ए-हाजात चािहये ।

“under the shade/shelter/protection of the mosque, a wine-house is needed

near the brow an eye, supplier/Qiblah of necessities, is needed”

He has composed a joke on the Preacher: oh Supplier of Necessities, there definitely

ought to be a wine-house next door to the mosque, the way near the eyebrow there's
an eye. In this verse the meaning also emerges that between the mosque and the wine-
house is the relationship of eyebrow and eye-- and the eye is of a higher rank than the
eyebrow.

मै से ग़रज़ िनशात है िकस रू-िसयाह को ,

इक गूनह बे-खुदी मुझे िदन रात चािहये ।

“From wine, joy is the purpose of which {disgraced / black-faced} one?

I need one sort/color of selfless-ness, night and day”

By drinking wine, my intention is not that I would obtain joy and delight, but rather I
drink wine so that I would forget grief and sorrow. Night and day, I need some small
selfless-ness. those who seek joy in wine are not 'disgraced', but are simply naive
remnants of an earlier, more hopeful generation.

िपला दे औक से साक़ी जो हम से नफ़रत है ,

िपयाला गर नह देता न दे , शराब तो दे ।

“Serve us drink, Cupbearer, from [our] cupped hands, if you hate/despise us

if you don't give us a glass, then don't give it-- but give us wine!”

He says, it's clear that we are a Muslim. If you think that your glass would become
polluted, then don't give it to us. We are a seeker of wine. Serve us from cupped
hands. The verse is rakish [िरन्द], but what a fine one he's composed!

-9-
2.3 Self Admiring

है और भी दुिनया म सुखनवर बहुत अच्छे ,

कहते ह िक ‘गािलब’ का है अन्दाज़-ए-बयां और ।
[sukhanwar = poet, Andaz-e-bayaan = way of speech]

Which essentially says that Ghaib is very special. Further more :

होगा कोई ऐसा भी की गािलब को ना जाने ,

शायर तो अच्छा है पर बदनाम बहुत है ।

Last one was said in his early days in Darbaar of mughal-empror of that time Zafar.

देखो मुझे जो दीदा-ए-इबर्त िनगाह हो ,

मेरी सुनो जो गोश-ए-नसीहत िनयोश है ।

“See me if you have an eye/want/hunger for advice/knowledge.

Listen to me because You have an ear for good advice/knowledge.”

In 1842 the English government decided to reorganize the affairs of Delhi College.
Thomason Sahib, who for a number of years had been Lieutenant Governor of the
Northwestern Province, was Secretary at that time. He came to Delhi to interview the
teachers. And just as there was a teacher of Arabic at one hundred rupees a month, he
wished for there to be such a teacher of Persian also. People told him the names of
some accomplished ones. Mirza's name too was among these. Mirza Sahib came, as
he had been invited to do. Announcement was made to the Sahib. Mirza Sahib came
out of his palanquin, and stayed there waiting for the Secretary Sahib to come,
according to long custom, and receive him. When neither the one went in, nor the
other came out, and quite some time passed, then the Secretary Sahib asked his
doorkeeper about it. That man came out again and asked, 'Why don’t you come in?'
Mirza Sahib said, 'The Sahib has not come out to receive me. How can I go in?' The
doorkeeper again went and reported.

The Sahib came outside and said, 'When you come to the governor’s court in your
capacity as a nobleman, then you will receive the customary honor. But at the present
time you have come for employment. You are not entitled to this honor.' Mirza Sahib
said, 'I consider government service a reason for additional honor, not something in
which I would lose my ancestral honor also!' The Sahib said, 'I am bound by
regulations.' Mirza Sahib took his leave and came away.

When asked an explanation for the above by a friend he replied :

बनदगी म भी वह आज़ादह-ओ-ख़वुद-ब ह िक हम
उलटे िफर आए दर-ए क`ब अगर वा न हुआ

- 10 -
 “Even/also in servitude we are so free and self-regarding that we
turned and came back if the door of the Ka'bah did not open.”

Though as a controversy, it’s also been said that Ghalib didn’t accepted as he knew
it’s a favor from his friend ‘Mufti sahib’.

Here is an expression of his disgrace and alienation, that people consider him a
spectacle:
थी ख़बर गरम िक ग़ािलब के उड़गे पुरज़े
देखने हम भी गये थे पह तमाशा न हुआ

“There was a hot rumor/report that Ghalib would be torn to pieces

we too went to see, but the/a show/spectacle did not take place.”

That is, even we are peerless in something. So he (Ghalib) is unique :

दरखुर-ए क़हर-ओ-ग़ज़ब जब कोई हम-सा न हुआ

िफर ग़लत क्या है िक हम-सा कोई पैदा न हुआ

“When no one was as suitable for wrath and torment as we

then what a mistake it is, that no one like us was born!

The tone of rueful pride appropriate to every one of these meanings makes it a
marvel of a verse-- both funny and grim. Further more to silent his critiques he said:

न सताइश की तमनना न िसले की परवा

गर नह ह िमरे आशार म मानी न सही

“Neither a longing for praise, nor a care for reward

if there's no meaning in my verses, then so be it.”

Above one is associated with the instance that: One time Maulvi Abd ul-Qadir
Rampuri, who was a great jester by temperament, and who had for some time been
connected with the Fort of Delhi [=the Court], said to Mirza [Ghalib], 'I don’t
understand one of your Urdu verses'. And at that moment he composed two lines of
verse and recited them before Mirza:

पहले तो रोग़न-ए-गुल भस के अंडे से िनकाल

िफर दवा िजतनी है कु ल भस के अंडे से िनकाल

“First take the essence of the rose

out of the eggs of buffaloes
And other drugs are there; take those
out of the eggs of buffaloes.”

- 11 -
Hearing this, Mirzaa was quite astonished, and said, ‘Far be it from me—this is not
my verse!’ Maulvi ‘Abd ul-Qadir said, keeping up the joke, ‘I myself have seen it in
your divan! And if there’s a divan here, I can show it to you right now.’ Finally Mirza
realized that in this guise the Maulvi was objecting to his work, and was insisting that
there were verses like this in his divan.

Mirza has alluded to this kind of nit-picking here and there in his Urdu and Persian
divans. In Urdu, at one place he says: {175,6}. The opening-verse of another ghazal
is:

गर ख़ामोशी से फ़ायदा-इख़फ़ा-ए-हाल है ,
खुश हूं िक मेरी बात समझनी मुहाल है ।

“If through silence is the advantage of concealment of the situation

I'm happy/fortunate, that to understand my words/utterance is impossible/absurd.”

Ghalib was a self-adorer

आते ह ग़ैब से ये मज़ाम ख़याल म ,
ग़ािलब सरीर-ए-ख़ामा नवा-ए-सरोश है ।

“These themes come into the mind from the 'hidden'

Ghalib, the scratching of the pen is the voice of an angel.”

Since my ideas come from a realm of mystery, and angels come from a realm of
mystery too, the two must surely be connected

यह मसाइल-ए-तसववुफ़ यह तेरा बयान ग़ािलब

तुझे हम वली समझते जो न बादा-खार होता

“These problems of mysticism! this discourse of yours, Ghalib!

we would consider you a saint-- if you weren't a wine-drinker.”

Both these things are among Mirza Sahib's specialties: one, style of speech,
and the other, a mood of mysticism

- 12 -
2.4 defying religion/social moral

Understanding Ghalib requires that one understands not only the literal meaning of a
verse, but also the allusions that occur in them. Ghalib wrote from within the Muslim
tradition and it is therefore necessary to understand that tradition, the religious
concepts, references to aspects of the Muslim way of life and so on. Russell explains
some of these and illustrates the usage in some sheyrs.

Ghalib himself, however was hardly a 'good' Muslim. For one, he drank wine, as is
famously known. He did not keep fasts or say his prayers or go on pilgrimage. In this
he follows other Urdu poets who stand on the verge of transgression or beyond.

जानता हूं सवाब-ए ता`अत-ओ-ज़ुहद

पर तबीयत इधर नह आती
काबे िकस मुंह से जाओगे ग़ािलब
शरम तुम को मगर नह आती

“I know the religious merit of obedience and piety

but my temperament doesn't incline this way
with what 'face' will you go to the Ka'bah, Ghalib?
but/perhaps shame does not come to you.”

He says, I know that piety and worship are religious merit, and I'm well aware of the
excellence of both these things. But my temperament is not inclined in that direction--
what can be done? The meaning is that until God Most High gives grace, man cannot
do any virtuous action.

To illustrate Ghalib's lack of self-pity and his lively sense of humor, quotes from one
of his letters to Majruh:
“Mir Mahdi, you’ve forgotten my habits. In the auspicious month of Ramazan,
have I ever missed the late night prayer at the Jama Masjid? How could I have stayed
in Rampur during this month? The Navab Sahib [of Rampur] didn’t want me to leave,
and kept dissuading me at great length. He kept tempting me with the mangoes of the
rainy season. But my friend, I came away in such a manner that I reached here on the
night of the new moon. Sunday was the first day of the holy month. Since that day,
every morning I go to the mosque of Hamid 'Ali Khan and hear Maulvi Ja'far 'Ali
Sahib reciting the Qur'an. At night, I go to the Jam› Masjid and offer the late-night
prayer. Sometimes when I feel like it, at the time of the breaking of the fast I go to
Mahtab Garden-- I break my fast, and drink the cool air. Bravo, bravo! -- in what a
good way my life passes! Now listen to the true state of affairs. I had taken the boys
with me. There they gave me no peace. I was afraid that if I sent them alone, and, God
forbid, some accident happened on the road, the reproach would remain for my whole
life. For this reason, I came away quickly.”

From the first of Ramazan to this point, it is all tongue in cheek. Because all
the things in these phrases are ones from which Mirza would run a mile. And this

- 13 -
letter was written after the Rebellion [of 1857]. At that time, in Delhi these things had
become mere dreams and fantasies.

[in 1857 Ghalib wrote:] Listen, Sahib! That person who feels an ardor for some
pursuit, and he would without hindrance pass his life in it-- the name of this is 'luxury'
[`ऐश]. Your turning your attention toward poetry, is a proof of your refinement of
spirit and elegance of temperament. And brother! This poetry that you scatter around,
I too have a name and fame in it. In this art my condition now is that the path of
poetry-composition, and my previously composed verses-- I've forgotten all of it. But
indeed, one and a half verses of my Hindi poetry-- that is, one closing-verse and one
line-- are still in my memory. Sometimes when my heart begins to sink completely,
then five or ten times this closing verse comes to my lips:

िज़दगी अपनी जब इस शक्ल से गुज़री ग़ािलब

हम भी क्या याद करगे िक ख़ुदा रखते थे

“When our life passed {'in this shape' / wretchedly}, Ghalib

will even we remember that I once possessed the God?”
इस शक्ल से is an idiom of which the meaning is, in a bad state.

After the Rebellion [of 1857], when his pension had been cut off and he hadn't
received permission to attend the [British] darbar, Pandid Moti Lal...came to visit.
There was some talk of the pension. Mirza Sahib said, 'In my whole life, if there's any
day when I haven't drunk wine, then I'm an infidel [एक िदन शराब न पी हो तो कािफ़र];
and if I've done the prayer one time, then I'm a sinner [एक दफ़ा नमाज़ पढ़ी हो तो गुनह-
गार]. So I don't know how the Government has counted me among the rebel
Muslims!'
Further more he says :

िमलती है ख़ू-ए-यार से नार इलितहाब म ,

कािफ़र हूं गर न िमलती हो राहत `अज़ाब म ।

“(hell)fire approaches/resembles the beloved’s temperament in heat

[I] am an infidel if [I] wouldn’t find comfort in torment.”

To provide an excellent critique against people who are greedy for paradise
and keep asking to pray for god and keep ‘Roja’ :

हम को मालूम है ज त की हक़ीक़त लेिकन ,

िदल के खुश रखने को ग़ािलब ये खयाल अच्छा है ।

“We know the reality/truth of Paradise, but

to keep the heart happy, Ghalib, this idea is good.”

- 14 -
 वह चीज़ िजस के िलये हम को हो िबिहश्त `अज़ीज़ ,
िसवा-ए-बादा-ए गुलफ़ाम-ए मुश्क-बू क्या है ।

“That thing for which Paradise would be precious to us

besides/beyond rose-colored, musk-scented wine-- what is it?”

That is, wine is beyond all the blessings of Paradise. That is also a good example of
his love towards wine. And again not being interested for haven, one also find
naughtiness in his writings, he makes fun of every thing and everybody including
himself:
िजस म लाख बरस की हूर ह ,
ऐसी ज त का क्या करे कोई ।
“When the women are million years old
what one will do with that paradise.”

And even he also denied to believe that god lives in temple/mosque:

मिस्जद म बैठ कर पीने दे ‘गािलब‘ ,

वरना ऐसी जगह बता , जहां खुदा ना हो ।

Ghalib wrote much that ridiculed and often put to serious cross-examination many of
the religious and Islamic concepts. One of his somewhat cryptic posers is:

ना था कु छ तो खुदा था , ना होगा कु छ तो खुदा होगा ,

डु बोया मुझको होने ने , ना होता म , तो क्या होता ?

Regarding the references to idol- worship and Hinduism in Ghalib’s poetry, Russell
observes that Hinduism was the nearest religion outside Islam known to Ghalib. He
points out that the practices of Hinduism afford a vivid symbol of the worship of God
through the worship of beauty. "The idol is the symbol of the irresistibly beautiful
mistress you 'idolise' and adore... All these concepts make 'Hinduism'- that is,
Hinduism as a symbol rather than actual Hinduism- the expression of one of the
mystics' key beliefs."

Like most Muslims of his time and class, Ghalib almost invariably lived beyond his
means, though these were never really substantial. Once, he was summoned to be
physically present at court. The presiding judge asked Ghalib if he had anything to
say in his defense. Ghalib replied:
उधार की पीते थे और सोचते थे की ,
रं ग लावेगी हमारी फ़ाकां-मस्ती एक िदन ।
“Indeed I drank on credit but also knew for sure,
my spend-thrift poverty one day, my ruin would procure”

- 15 -
The judge smiled, decided the suit against Ghalib, but paid the money due from his
pocket. This was, however, a rare instance of official magnanimity.

An another instant that describes humor in Ghalib’s verse and religious denial, that
right after 1857, all Muslims of Delhi were to present in Red-Fort in front of a British
officer to identify the rebellions. When asked to him that are you Muslim, he replied
“मुसलमान तो हूं पर आधा , शराब पीता हूं पर सूअर नह खाता । “
On this statement officer laughed a lot and decided to leave him as he can’t be the
rebellion.

- 16 -
2.5 political changes

Ghalib was aware that the milieu in which he grew up was in its twilight and was
being replaced by a more advanced civilization. At the same time, he saw the
emerging world from the framework of ‘medieval ways of thought and shared many
of the attitudes of his eighteenth century predecessors in poetry.’ Hence, the
conflicting pulls in the following sheyr:

ईमान मुझे रोके है , जो ख चे है मुझे कु

काबा मेरे पीछे है , किलसा मेरे आगे ।

“My faith restrains me while the lure of unbelief attracts me,

That way, the Kaaba, and this way, the Church before my eyes”

It was the spirit of transgression, of crossing the accepted norms of society that
excited Ghalib. "If you are to experience life to the full, you must not confine yourself
to actions approved by the virtuous", remarks Russell. This recalls to mind a Punjabi
Sufi couplet:
जो हद तपे सो औिलया , बेहद तपे सो पीर ,
जो हद-बेहद दोन तपे , उस नूं आखां फ़कीर ।

“The one who crosses all boundaries attains the exalted title Auliya,
the one who crosses non- boundaries becomes the Pir,
The one who crosses both boundaries as well as non- boundaries,
becomes a Fakir”

And Ghalib, of course, prided himself on being a fakir. He remarked:

बनाकर फ़कीर का हम भेस ‘गािलब’ ,

तमाशा-ए-अहल-ए-करम देखते ह ।

“Taking on the garb of a fakir, Ghalib

I watch the goings on of the world with a detached air”

For the first time when Ghalib was invited in the Emperor’s court, he recited a
Ghazal, which was more of Parsian than Urdu, and had a meaning against the
judgment of Badshaahat at that time.

नक्श फ़रयादी है िकस की शोख़ी-ए-तहरीर का ,

काग़ज़ी है पैरहन हर पैकर-ए-तसवीर का ।
आगही दाम-ए-शुनीदन िजस क़दर चाहे िबछाए ,
मु ा `अनक़ा है अपने `आलम-ए-तक़रीर का ।

- 17 -
 “About whose mischievousness of writing is the image/painting a plaintiff?
of paper is the robe of every figure of the picture
no matter to what extent intelligence might spread the net of hearing
the Anqa is the object/intention of its own world of speech.”
अनक़ा : the phoenix; hard to get or find; wonderful

[Ghalib Writing in 1865:] First listen to the meaning of the meaningless verses. As for
नक्श फ़रयादी : In Iran there is the custom that the seeker of justice [दाद-खाह], putting
on paper garments, goes before the ruler-- as in the case of lighting a torch in the day,
or carrying a blood-soaked cloth on a bamboo pole [to protest an injustice]. Thus the
poet reflects, of whose mischievousness of writing is the image a plaintiff? --since the
aspect of a picture is that its garment is of paper. That is to say, although existence
may be like that of pictures, merely notional [एतबार-ए-महज़], it is a cause of grief and
sorrow and suffering.
Though later one he released that it’s necessary for him to get his living from
emperor as favour :

ग़ािलब वज़ीफ़ा-खार हो दो शाह को दु`आ ,

वह िदन गए िक कहते थे नौकर नह हूं म ।

“Ghalib, you're a pension-{receiver/'eater'}, give blessings to the King!

those days are gone when you used to say, 'I am not a servant'”

ब म-ए शहंशाह म आशार का द तर खुला ,

रखयो या रब यह दर-ए गनजीना-ए गौहर खुला ।

“In the King's gathering a register of verses opened

keep, oh Lord, this door of a treasure of pearls opened.”

The lines that brought fame and acceptance in Darbaar to Ghalib were :

हर एक बात पे कहते हो तुम िक तू कया है ,

तुमह कहो िक ये अन्दाज़-ए गु तगूं क्या है ।
रग म दौड़ते िफरने के हम नह क़ायल ,
जब आंख से ही न टपका तो िफर लहू कया है ।

“At every utterance you say, 'what are you?!'

you yourself say-- what is this style of speech?
we are not convinced of [its] running and coursing through the veins
when it did/would not drip from the eye itself/alone, then-- it's not blood at all!”

And they say he [ Ghalib] wanted change, or to Be a Rebel.

- 18 -
It’s been illustrated in the serial (by Gulzar) as being recited in mushairaa when asked
to explain reason of the taunts that he [Ghalib] made for Ustaad Zauq, current tutor
the Badshah Zafar, at that time. Which indicate to accept changes. The lover's notion
of blood has nothing to do with any properties like circulation (and thus life-
sustaining-ness). He not only has no interest in such an idea; he actually finds it so
peculiar as to be unbelievable. His kind of blood isn't idly and foolishly 'running
around' all day in the veins, or circulating sensibly throughout the body in a
sustainable and sustaining way. His kind of blood runs in only one direction: out. The
only way the lover will consent to recognize blood, is to ask whether it can be used to
express passion, in the form of bloody tears. Rather than judging blood by its ability
to sustain life, he judges it by its ability (as a sign of extreme grief and physical
breakdown) both to evoke death, and to help bring it about.

Further more from the same serial there is an instance when talking about Hindu-
Muslim or Urdu-Hindi he specifies that languages should not cause to divide people.

“ तेग िक िहन्दी अगर तलवार है , फ़ारसी पगडी की भी दस्तार है ;

नेवला रासू है , और ताउस मोर , कबक को िहन्दी म कहते ह चकौर ;
अस्प जब िहन्दी म घोडा नाम पाये , तािज़याना क्य ना कोडा नाम पाये ;
चाक को िहन्दी मे कहते ह कु आं , दूध को िहन्दी मे कह्ते है धुआं ;
आ ज़ुल और आरोह िक िहन्दी दरकार , मह शराब और पीने वाला मह-गुसार । “

As he said “ िहदी-उदूर् एक ही ज़ुबान है , िसफ़र् रस्म-ओ-खत का फ़कर् है । “

[रस्म-ओ-खत = way of writing]

For also denied that one religion is superior to another, as a humor he said :
“िपछले िदन एक बडे तज़ुबकार घोडे से मुलाकात हुई । कई मज़हब बदल चुका था वो ।
सबसे पहले एक करीम के पास था , उसके बाद एक चेलाराम ले गये , िफर एक राबटर् िमल गये ,
और आिखर म एक भंवरिसघ के हाथ चढ गया । बडी िशकायत करता था । िकसी मज़हब म पहले
से बरतरी नह देखी , िकसी ने हाथी ना बनाया , घोडे का घोडा ही रहा । “

An instance, about opening a new school for let Muslim learn Urdu:
“ उदुर् पे हर गोपाल तु ता और दया शंकर नसीम का उतना ही हक है िजतना िहन्दी पे
रसखान का । वािरस और फ़रीद के पन्जाबी को िज़ला बख्शी है , तो अमीर खुसरो ने अविध म भी
रस घोला है । ये तो बंटवारा है , मज़हब और ज़ुबान के नाम पर लोग को बांटा जा राहा है । “

And after this statement, he was refused to proceed with his pension, for what he
came to Calcutta by General Matkalf.

All the above quotes shows that he was very much aware of the English moves
towards dividing people in the name of languages and religion.

- 19 -
A verse that shows rebel against British, when Ghalib had made into imprisonment:

गर िकया नािसह ने हम को क़ै द अच्छा यूं सही ,

यह जुनून-ए `इशक़ के अन्दाज़ छू ट जावगे कया ।

“If the Advisor puts us in a cell, all right, so be it

will these styles of the madness of passion be let go?”

As he noted the serious and very prominent change in Indian politics that leads to post
1857 era, he wrote :

ज़ुलमत-कदे म मेरे शब-ए ग़म का जोश है ,

इक शमां है दलील-ए सहर सो खामोश है ।

“In my darkness-chamber there's the turmoil/ebullience of the night of grief

one candle is a proof/sign of the dawn-- so/thus it is extinguished/'silent'.”

[Ghalib writing in 1866] [The second line]-- this is an 'informative' [ख़बर]. The first
line-- this is an 'inceptive' [मुबत्दा]. शब-ए ग़म का जोश -- that is, darkness upon
darkness; the darkness, dense; the dawn, unborn-- as if it had never been created at all.
Indeed, there is one proof of the existence of the morning-- that is, an extinguished
candle, through this path: that a candle and a lamp are always extinguished at dawn.
The pleasure [लुत्फ] of this theme is that the thing that has been established as the
proof of the dawn, is itself one among the causes of darkness. Thus it's worth seeing--
the house in which a symbol of dawn is a strengthener of darkness, how dark that
house will be!

- 20 -
3. Conclusion
Though the work done by Ghalib is a lot more than what has been covered in this
document. Still with the verses, it’s clear that his love for the beloved ones and for
god are of the same kind. In fact, most of his Sheyrs can not be defined that whether
they are for the beloved one (woman) or for the god. Look at this one :

मत पूछ िक क्या हाल है मेरा तेरे पीछे ,

तू देख िक क्या रं ग है तेरा मेरे आगे ।

Main notion of Sufism is all over there, when he talks about love, whether it be for
God or the beloved one.

His idea about religion and language is very clear. He always denied the division of
either in context of each other. Somehow he had the fear (far-sight) that this division
will lead to great disaster, which he could see as a frame of Britishers who came as
merchants and started capturing India region by region..

He has been criticized for not having Roja and not going to Namaz, as a true Muslim
must do both.. He used to defend and define himself in very arrogant way which led a
long list of people, who disliked him. But his humor in his verse even against the
religion/emperor/society made all of them readable in that era too.

Ghalib was not a philosopher (other than love) but he questioned things around him in
society as well as religion. Actually, rather than doing the classification of right or
wrong, he preferred a way to question about what he did not like or what he did not
accept.

जब िक तुझ िबन नह कोई मौजूद ,

िफर ये हंगामा ऐ खुदा क्या है ।

“When there is no one besides you; then why is this pandemonium”

He is not saying anything about the existence of God, he just questioned that if God is
there then why the world is full of disturbance and chaos.

In the END :
हुई मु त िक गािलब मर गया पर याद आता है ,
वो हर एक बात पे कहना िक यूं होता तो क्या होता |

- 21 -
References

1. Biography : http://www.enotes.com/nineteenth-century-criticism/ghalib
2. verses : http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ghalib
3. The serial : “Mirza Ghalib” by Gulzar.
4. An article : “Mirza Ghalib: The ‘Godless’ Lover” by Byjameela Siddiqi
http://www.sufism.ru/eng/txts/a_godless.htm
5. The Famous Ghalib - Selected, Translated and Introduced By Ralph Russell

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