Urdu Poetry Starting With Noon
Occupying a place of pride in the world of literature, Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, who wrote under the pen name 'Ghalib' is one of the most quotable Urdu poets whose sher or couplets relate with almost all situations of life. Born on December 27, 1797 in Agra's Kala Mahal, Ghalib belonged to a family descending from Aibak Turks who moved to Samarkand (modern-day Uzbekistan) 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 long be memorised, narrated and cherished generations after generations. During the last 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 being made an important courtier of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II, Ghalib had proclaimed that he would gain fame only after his death and rightly so. The fame and glory that evaded him during his lifetime has now turned his poems and writings immortal as they act as the best 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 love or are highly popular for holding relevance even today:
1. Ishq ne 'ġhālib' nikammā kar diyā
varna ham bhī aadmī the kaam ke
Translation: Ghalib, a worthless person, this love has made of me
Otherwise a man of substance I once used 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 love there is no difference '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 control, this is that fire roused
It cannot 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's just a heart, no stony shard; why shouldn't it fill with pain
I will cry a thousand times, why should someone complain?
8. Aah ko chāhiye ik umr asar hote tak
kaun jiitā hai tirī zulf ke sar hote tak
Translation: A prayer needs a lifetime, an answer to obtain
Who can live until the time that you decide to deign
9. Ishq se tabī.at ne ziist kā mazā paayā
dard kī davā paa.ī dard-e-be-davā paayā
Translation: My being did, from love's domain, the joy of life procure
Obtained such cure for life's travails, which itself had no cure
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 once could laugh at my heart's own plight
12. Ham ne maanā ki taġhāful na karoge lekin
ḳhaak ho jā.eñge ham tum ko ḳhabar hote tak
Translation: Agreed, you won't ignore me, I know but then again
Into dust will I be turned, your audience till I gain
13. Merī qismat meñ ġham gar itnā thā
dil bhī yā-rab ka.ī diye hote
Translation: If so much pain my fate ordained
I, many hearts should have obtained
14. Dard minnat-kash-e-davā na huā
maiñ na achchhā huā burā na huā
Translation: My pain did not seek favors from any opiate
I don't mind the fact 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 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 those 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 need for patience, desires are a strain
As long 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 love, bolder I became, once openly I cried
I was washed so thoroughly 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, tough ratiocination and his innovations in technique and diction. He died in his rented accommodation in Old Delhi's Ballimaran which was declared a heritage site by the Archaeological Survey of India.
This haveli, now known as Ghalib ki Haveli, was a gift to Mirza Ghalib by a physician or 'hakim' who was smitten by his work. It was this house that witnessed the poet pen his Urdu and Persian 'diwans' and after his death in 1869, the hakim would sit there every evening, refusing anyone to enter the building.
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 form or painted to house the memorial museum. Ghalib's sculpture, books and other housing objects related to him also adorn the large columned-compound of the haveli.
Irrespective of your literary interests, you cannot be in Delhi and afford to miss the essence of 19th century Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib who was buried in Nizamuddin. Exuding the lifestyle and architecture of the Mughal era, which was on a decline then, Ghalib ki haveli or Ghalib's mansion is a must-visit for all poetry lovers and travel enthusiasts.
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Urdu Poetry Starting With Noon
Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/more-lifestyle/mirza-ghalib-223rd-birth-anniversary-20-couplets-by-the-mughal-era-urdu-poet-that-capture-the-pathos-of-love/story-CYMEbh4HkR6JKR5AgX0KCJ.html