Ghalib was an Indian poet and letter writer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in Urdu and a prominent figure in the South Asian literature.[1] Writing during the final years of the Mughal Empire and the rise of British colonial rule, his poetry often addressed themes of love, loss, philosophy, the human condition, and socio-political disturbances with a depth and complexity that influenced the literary traditions of his time. His ghazals, noted for their intricate imagery and layered meanings, form a significant part of Urdu literature. Ghalib was the last poet of the Mughal era.[2][3]
Ghalib was born in Agra to a family with Central Asian–Turkic roots that had entered North India in the Mughal period and served in military and administrative posts.[4]
His paternal line traced to migrants from Samarqand (modern-day Uzbekistan); his grandfather Mirza Quqan (Kokan) Beg Khan is recorded in standard timelines of Ghalib's life as having settled in North India in the eighteenth century. The household languages included Persian and Urdu. On his maternal side, Ghalib's mother Izzat-un-Nisa Begum came from a Kashmiri family settled in Agra, Delhi.[4]
Ghalib's father, Mirza Abdullah Beg Khan, served as a soldier and held service under Asaf-ud-Daula, the nawab of Awadh, and later under the Nizam of Hyderabad. He was killed in 1803 at Alwar, an event that left Ghalib fatherless at about five years.[5]
After Abdullah Beg's death, guardianship of the family passed to Ghalib's uncle, Mirza Nasrullah Beg Khan, who had briefly allied with the British commander General Gerard Lake during the Second Anglo-Maratha War and was rewarded with revenue rights. These arrangements proved short-lived; the rights were later withdrawn, and Nasrullah Beg himself died in 1806, once again leaving Ghalib without guardianship.[5]
In the aftermath, a government pension originally fixed at ₹10,000 was divided among relatives, and Ghalib's personal share was reduced to around ₹1,500 a year. The combination of repeated bereavements and declining financial support shaped the poet's early circumstances and is frequently noted in scholarly accounts of his later outlook and writing.[5]
Specialist reference works and academic studies (e.g., Encyclopaedia of Islam, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi; Britannica; and the Columbia-based "A Desertful of Roses" project) broadly agree on this outline of ancestry and early family circumstances, though details of the family's earlier Central Asian genealogy are treated cautiously in the literature.[5][6]
Education
Ghalib's early education is not widely documented, and only limited details about his schooling are known. He initially studied Persian under Maulvi Mohammad Muazzam, a prominent scholar in Agra. In 1811, he began studying with Mulla Abdus Samad, a visiting scholar from Iran, whom Ghalib invited to stay with his family to improve his Persian. Samad tutored him for approximately two years, first in Agra and later, it is believed, in Delhi. By the age of fourteen, Ghalib had already begun composing poetry in Urdu.[7]
Marriage
At 13, Ghalib married on 7th of Rajab 1225 hijri (1810 CE) Umrao Begum,[7] niece of the first Nawab of Loharu and Firozpur Jhirka,[8] and the daughter of Nawab Ilahi Bakhsh Ma'ruf, a poet with mystical inclinations and a member of a family that had served the Mughal court in Delhi. Umrao Begum was approximately 11 years at the time. Following his marriage, Ghalib left Agra and relocated to Delhi, where he lived for the remainder of his life. In a letter, Ghalib described his marriage as a form of imprisonment, the first being life itself.[9] During the early years, he frequently changed residences but eventually settled in the Ballimaran area, renting a house from Hakeem Mahmud. He appears never to have owned property in Delhi, living primarily in rented accommodations.[7]
He and Umrao Begum had seven children, all of whom died in infancy, each surviving no longer than fifteen months, making the presence of loss a persistent part of his life.[10]
Ghalib faced financial constraints due to his father-in-law's unworldly disposition and the influence of a powerful wealthy relative, Nawab Ahmad Bakhsh Khan, which left him dependent on rented accommodations. Despite these challenges, his marriage and domestic life influenced his writings, particularly in his considerations on love, loss, and the human condition.[5]
Imprisonment
During his time in Delhi, Ghalib frequently faced financial difficulties, partly due to debts incurred during a journey to Calcutta and his continued reliance on borrowed funds. He enjoyed playing chausar, a game considered gambling under contemporary laws.[11]
The appointment of a new kotwal, Faizul Hasan Khan, who reportedly disfavored Ghalib, intensified legal and social pressures. Over time, creditors sought repayment, leading to a lawsuit in 1837 for ₹5,000. Accounts suggest that a friend settled the sum on Ghalib's behalf, but the poet remained in debt. Subsequent enforcement actions included fines and property raids, particularly in 1841 and 1847, with the latter resulting in imprisonment and additional penalties.[11]
Ghalib challenged the charges, asserting that the authorities had acted unjustly, but his appeal was unsuccessful. Intervention by Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in his favor did not prevent the sentence. Ultimately, he was released after serving part of his term, following medical advice from the British civil surgeon Dr. Ross, who had been petitioned by fellow poet Momin Khan Momin.[11][11]
رنج سے خُوگر ہوا انسان تو مِٹ جاتا ہے رنج مشکِلیں مُجھ پر پڑیں اتنی کہ آسان ہو گئیں۔
A person who becomes accustomed to sorrow is eventually freed from it; So many difficulties befell me that they eventually became easy to bear.
Lifestyle
During his lifetime, Ghalib was known for his unconventional lifestyle, which included an addiction of alcoholic beverages, particularly imported spirits such as Old Tomwhisky, obtained through British contacts. His consumption of alcohol was at odds with the prevailing religious and social norms of 19th-century Delhi, yet it was a prominent aspect of his personal life.[12] He reportedly consumed alcohol regularly and noted in his personal writings a reliance on it, acknowledging that he found it difficult to sleep without his customary intake.[10] These habits, combined with the loss of his infant children, the mental illness and eventual death of his brother Yusuf, and financial difficulties, including the unfair allocation of family pensions, contributed to his alcohol addiction.[5]
His personal beliefs and lifestyle were often unconventional. Known for his wit and urbane satire, he frequently challenged religious orthodoxy and social norms. He was critical of rigid prescriptions concerning fasting and prayers, and he described himself humorously as "half Muslim" during the 1857 rebellion, referring to his consumption of wine but abstention from pork.[12]
Ghalib's lifestyle also influenced his relationship with his community. While he achieved considerable fame within literary circles, some members of the devout Muslim community viewed him with disapproval, partly due to his drinking habits and irregular attendance at the mosque near his residence in Ballimaran, Delhi.[12]
In later years, his writings indicate an engagement with mystical thought. In a letter to his close friend Hargopal Tufta, he expressed a perspective that placed divine consciousness above physical achievements, fame, and classical scholarship.[13]
Mughal influence
When Bahadur Shah II was declared emperor of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Ghalib recited a Persian versified sikka (coin-poem) before him, describing the emperor as striking new coins from "the gold of the sun and the silver of the moon". On 13 July 1857, after Agra was taken by the rebels, he composed a qasida in honour of the emperor, and another in August of the same year. After the British regained control, Ghalib compiled his observations in a Persian prose work titled Dastanbū ("bouquet"), covering the period from 11 May 1857 to 1 July 1858. In this text, he described the destruction of Delhi and expressed disapproval of the uprising and the violence committed by the rebels. The work also contains praise of British military conduct and administration.[14]
In 1852, during the wedding celebrations of Crown Prince Mirza Jawan Bakht, Ghalib was commissioned by Empress Zeenat Mahal to compose a sehra (prothalamion). He complied with the request, but one of the couplets included a claim that no other poet could produce a comparable composition. This was perceived as provocative, and Emperor Bahadur instructed the court poet Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq to compose a sehra in reply.
The episode led to a dispute between Ghalib and Zauq, and Ghalib was asked to submit an apology. In his verses of apology, Ghalib stated that his family's honour derived from military service rather than poetry and reiterated his preference for writing in Persian over Urdu. Some couplets were interpreted as indirectly diminishing Zauq's poetic stature, though the tone of the apology was outwardly conciliatory.[15]
Following Zauq's death in 1854, Ghalib was appointed as the emperor's poetry tutor and was subsequently made tutor to the heir apparent, Prince Fakhr-ud-Din Mirza. Around the same period, he was also given the position of royal historian of the Mughal court. Later in 1850, the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II conferred upon Ghalib the honorific titles "Dabir-ul-Mulk" and "Najm-ud-Daula". The emperor also granted him the title "Mirza Nosha", from which the poet adopted the name Mirza Ghalib.[16]
Western influence
Ghalib's interactions with the British were generally amicable, though they were occasionally strained by tension, particularly during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and in specific personal disputes. One well-known incident involved an English wine merchant, Macpherson, in Chandni Chowk, from whom Ghalib purchased wine on credit. When the merchant sought legal recourse to recover the debt, it was reportedly paid by a local qazi who admired Ghalib's poetry. Despite such episodes, Ghalib maintained relationships with several English contemporaries, including Sir John Frazer and Sir William Rattigan, then vice-chancellor of Panjab University. He expressed an interest in Western knowledge, institutions, and innovations such as the steam engine, railways, and postal services, and also wished to learn the English language. His correspondence demonstrated the introduction of English vocabulary into Urdu during his lifetime, and a British physician was engaged for his medical care during serious illness.[13]
Poetry
Although primarily known as a poet, Ghalib is sometimes viewed as a philosopher for the themes and ideas expressed in his poetry.[15] He began composing poetry at a young age, writing his first Urdu ghazal at nine and his first Persian masnavi at eleven. He wrote extensively in both Urdu and Persian. Although he regarded his Persian poetry as superior and produced a substantial body of work in that language, his Urdu poetry is what secured his fame. His Persian works included ghazals, qasidas, rubaiyat, and letters, often exploring philosophical, metaphysical, and ethical themes. His Urdu ghazals frequently incorporate Persian idioms and metaphors. He is credited with elevating the ghazal to new expressive heights, combining intricate wordplay with conceptual depth.[13]
While some critics view him as a "poet of sorrow", others note the philosophical and often skeptical lens through which he observed life, emphasizing human experience over theological doctrine. His writing is characterized by dense metaphor, subtle irony, and a balance between emotional intensity and intellectual inquiry. His Persian poetry, though less recognized in modern century, was prominently viewed by contemporaries for its technical skill and thematic depth.[13]
Ghalib's work is widely read in the Indian subcontinent and among the Hindustani diaspora worldwide. In addition to poetry, his letters are regarded as an important development in Urdu prose, noted for their conversational tone and observations on personal grief and the political upheavals of 19th-century Delhi, particularly the aftermath of the 1857 uprising.[17][18]
Criticism
Ghalib's poetry has often been described as complex and challenging. His verses are densely allusive, heavily influenced by Persian models such as Bedil and Saib Tabrizi, and frequently employ intricate metaphors and neologisms. Even during his lifetime, critics and readers noted the difficulty of his ghazals, with some considering his style excessively abstruse.[19]
Of the approximately 4,200 Urdu verses attributed to Ghalib, only about 2,000 were included in his published dīvāns. The remaining 2,200, preserved in manuscripts, came to be known as his mustarad kalam (rejected or unselected verses).[20]
Scholars suggest that Ghalib's exclusions were neither arbitrary nor entirely systematic. Mehr Afshan Farooqi identifies several possible reasons such as avoidance of repetition in themes, images, or metaphors, verses lacking a clear structure of proposition and proof (dava and dalil), and excessive reliance on obscure or experimental vocabulary that risked compromising clarity.[20]
Philosophy
Views on religion
Ghalib was born into a Sunni Muslim family, though he expressed admiration for the Shia Imam Ali and initially adopted the pen name "Asad" ("lion"). Upon learning that the name was already in use by another poet, he later assumed the takhallus Ghalib ("the conqueror" or "the superior"). His literary formation was influenced by earlier masters of Indo-Persian and Urdu poetry, most notably Abdul-Qadir Bedil (1642–1720) and Mir Taqi Mir (1723–1810).[10]
Ghalib, according to The Indian Express, frequently employed his poetry to question prevailing religious orthodoxies. One of his well-known couplets states: "Hum ko maloom hai jannat ki haqeeqat lekin, dil ke khush rakhne ko Ghalib ye khayal acha hai" ("I am aware of the reality of paradise, yet the notion is a comforting one for the heart").[21]
He also presented an interpretation of tawḥīd (divine unity) in his poetry that resonates with the earlier teachings of Kabir. Identifying himself as a muwahhid (monotheist), he positioned the questioning of ritual practices as central to his personal conception of faith.[22]
Views on death
Death occupies a central and recurrent position in Ghalib's poetry, often functioning as more than a mere subject it emerges almost as a character in its own right.[23] Critics observe that Ghalib frequently employs a variety of metaphoric expressions to explore death, conveying themes like transition, surrender, return, and existential finality. Rather than presenting death simply as an end, his language often reframes it through notions such as a "final destination", "sleep", or "fulfillment", thereby softening its impact while imbuing it with philosophical depth.[10][24]
Death
Ghalib died on 15 February 1869 in his haveli, Ghalib ki Haveli at Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk. He was buried in Hazrat Nizamuddin, close to the tomb of the Sufi saintNizamuddin Auliya.[25][26] After his death in Delhi, institutions such as the Ghalib Academy and the Ghalib Memorial Museum in his former residence, Ghalib ki Haveli, were established in his memory. His works is widely studied in academic and cultural contexts, and his ghazals have been frequently adapted in music, literature, and popular culture.[27][28]
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