Mīrzā Asadullāh Khān Ghālib, who passed away on 15 February 1869, was
a preeminent Indian poet of his time writing in Persian, equally
renowned for poems, letters, and prose pieces in Urdu.
Born into an aristocratic family, Ghālib passed his
youth in luxury. Subsequently, he was granted a small pension by the British
government but had to struggle against penury and hardships. Recognition
finally came in 1850, when he was appointed poet laureate to the last
Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II.
Ghālib’s
best poems were written in three forms: ghazal (lyric), mas̄navī (moralistic
or mystical parable), and qaṣīdah (panegyric). His critics accused him of
writing in an obscure and ornamental style of Persian incomprehensible to the
masses. His verses affirm God’s omnipotence while questioning the misery of the
phenomenal world.
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