Asadullah Beg Khan, popularly known by his pen name ‘Ghalib’, was born in Agra in December 1797 and had a Turko-Persian ancestry which he was very proud of. He was the second of three children, the eldest was a sister and the youngest was a brother. His father Mirza Abdullah Beg died when Ghalib was only five years old. Their uncle Nasarullah Beg Khan took up the burden of bringing up his brother’s children, but he too died a few years later. Then his mother brought him to Agra, where he received his early education from Sheikh Muazzam, an eminent teacher at Agra in those days. There were hints of his extraordinary intellect at a very early age. He wrote his first poem before he was in his teens and had completed a book of verses before he was twenty. Legend has it that a poem written by an eleven-year-old Ghalib was read to the great Mir Taqi Mir of Lucknow, who praised it. He was still very young when he came in contact with a Parsi scholar of Persian, who had been given the name of Abdul Samad on his conversion to Islam.

This was the foundation of Mirza Asadullah Khan’s taste for Persian literature, which proved of such value to him throughout his life. From there on, we see a strong influence of Persian culture on Ghalib, who idealized everything Persian and took pride in being the foremost Persian scholar of his day. For a number of years, he even considered it as undignified to write in Urdu. Little did he know that in India his name would be remembered by posterity and would achieve undying fame through his Urdu writings and not through the Persian writings on which he prided himself.

Soon he shifted to Delhi from Agra and started living independently. Ghalib had for long concentrated on Persian ghazals but the popularity which the Urdu ghazals were beginning to command, attracted him towards Urdu also. His later Urdu ghazals combine the purity of language along with dignity in thought and the rare beauty of expression.

The method most commonly practised by writers of ghazal, in the beginning, is to think of a number of rhyming words for the Qafias (rhyme) and then to think of suitable ideas in which to use those words. But in Ghalib’s ghazal, words follow thought which is why some of his ghazals are incomplete, maybe because he couldn’t think further. Another feature of his poetry is that thought contained in his verses is often expressed in a strikingly original manner. This can be seen in his ghazal on a very common theme of injuries caused by beloved to the lover, in which his expression is unique. He says

“Nazar lage na kahin unke dast-o-bazu ko

Yeh log kyun mere zakhmi-i-jigar ko dekhte hain”

(Do not let people stare at the injuries inside my chest,

 Lest the pretty and strong arm of my beloved one may catch an evil eye)

Ghalib’s verses are also full of deep philosophic truths expressed with remarkable facility, in philosophic language. He says, for instance:

“Hai gaib-e-gaib jissko samajhte hain hum shahud

Hain khwaab mein hanoz jo jage hain khwaab mein”

(It is the absence of absence, which we call manifestation,

Those who have awakened in a dream are still dreaming)

Though he devoted the greater part of his literary intelligence to the writing of ghazals, which was the principal kind of literary production in demand at that time, yet his high soaring thoughts felt the bondage of restrictions, which the ghazal imposes on those who write it. He very rightly observes:

“Baqadri shauq nahi sehne tangna-i-ghazal

Kuchh aur chahiye wusaat mere bayaan ke liye”

(The narrow dimensions of the ghazal are not in accordance with the extent of my desire to express myself.

A wider expanse is necessary for expressing my thoughts)

Ghalib did not write anything beyond the then conventional lines. It’s just that his compositions in the form of Qasidas and Marsiyas are much finer when compared to other poets of his time. Both, Qasidas as well as Marsiyas are written in Persian and also in Urdu, whereas the Masnawis are only written in Persian. Ghalib’s biographer, Hali claims that ‘Abr-e-Gauhar Bar’ is the best of Ghalib’s Masnawis. What makes these compositions unique is that they portray Ghalib’s great sense of connecting verses on a particular subject. 

We do not get to read about his married life in his writings. But some historians claim that it was neither a happy nor an unhappy one. In his letters to his friends, he talks about various ailments which he is suffering in the latter days of his life. To forget all his sorrows, Ghalib begins drinking wine, for which he is seen apologetic throughout his writings.

For the longest time Mirza Ghalib’s ‘Diwan’, written in Urdu was not available in a well-translated edition. The ‘Yaadgaar-e-Ghalib’ of Hali quotes the finest verses of the ‘Diwan’ along with explanatory notes to bring out their beauty and significance. 

One should try to read Ghalib’s compositions in original to actually enjoy the essence of his poetry.

The entire world mourned when this great poet passed away. It is said that for a year, Delhi Urdu papers kept publishing the poems written by his admirers expressing grief and great loss of the literary world. Even today, he is admired by poets and his poems are still read with the same enthusiasm and awe.