Mir Taqi Mir
Encyclopedia
Khuda-e-sukhan Mir Taqi Mir (Urdu
: ) (born 1723 - died September 21, 1810), whose real name was Muhammad Taqi (Urdu
: ) and takhallus
(pen name) was Mir (Urdu
: ) (sometimes also spelt as Meer Taqi Meer), was the leading Urdu poet
of the 18th century, and one of the pioneers who gave shape to the Urdu
language itself. He was one of the principal poets of the Delhi
School of the Urdu ghazal
and remains arguably the foremost name in Urdu poetry often remembered as Khuda-e-sukhan (god of poetry).
, India (then called Akbarabad), ruled by the Mughals at the time. He left for Delhi, at the age of 11, following his father's death. His philosophy of life was formed primarily by his father, whose emphasis on the importance of love and the value of compassion remained with him throughout his life and imbued his poetry. At Delhi, he finished his education and joined a group of nobility as a courtier-poet. He lived much of his life in Mughal Delhi. Kuchha Chelan, located in famous grain market Khari Baoli, in Old Delhi was his address at that time. However, after Ahmad Shah Abdali's sack of Delhi each year starting 1748, he eventually moved to the court of Asaf-ud-Daulah in Lucknow
, at the king's invitation. Distressed to witness the plundering of his beloved Delhi, he gave vent to his feelings through some of his couplets.
کیا بود و باش پوچھے ہو پورب کے ساکنو
ہم کو غریب جان کے ہنس ہنس پکار کے
دلّی جو ایک شہر تھا عالم میں انتخاب
رہتے تھے منتخب ہی جہاں روزگار کے
جس کو فلک نے لوٹ کے ویران کر دیا
ہم رہنے والے ہیں اسی اجڑے دیار کے
Mir migrated to Lucknow in 1782 and remained there for the remainder of his life. He died, of a purgative overdose, on Friday, 21 September 1810. The marker of his burial place was removed in modern times when a railway was built over his grave.
Mir's literary reputation is anchored on his ghazal
s. Mir lived at a time when Urdu language and poetry was at a formative stage - and Mir's instinctive aesthetic sense helped him strike a balance between the indigenous expression and new enrichment coming in from Persian imagery and idiom, to constitute the new elite language known as Rekhta or Hindui. Basing his language on his native Hindustani, he leavened it with a sprinkling of Persian diction and phraseology, and created a poetic language at once simple, natural and elegant, which was to guide generations of future poets.
After his move to Lucknow, his beloved daughter died, followed by his son (either Mir Faiz Ali or Mir Kallu Arsh), and then his wife. This, together with other earlier setbacks (including his traumatic stages in Delhi) lends a strong pathos to much of his writing - and indeed Mir is noted for his poetry of pathos and melancholy.
KUCHA CHELAN WHERE MEER LIVED MOST OF HIS LIFE IN DELHI IS NOT IN OR NEAR THE GRAIN MARKET OF KHARI BAOLI BUT BEHIND DARYA GANJ THAT WAS IN MEER'S TIME PROBABLY KNOWN AS AKBARABADI BAZAR.
KUCHA CHELAN IS POPULARLY BELIEVED TO BE A CORRUPTION OF THE ORIGINAL NAME OF THE LOCALITY KUCHA CHHEL AMEERAN (THE STREET OF THE 40 NOBLES)WHETHER THIS IS TRUE OR FALSE IS DIFFICULT O SAY BUT THE FACT REMAINS THAT KUCHA CHELAN WAS A LOCALITY WHERE MANY SCHOLARS AND ULEMA LIVED, MOMIN KHAN MOMIN A GREAT USTAD OF URDU POETRY AND A CONTEMPORARY OF GHALIB, LIVED JUST OUT SIDE KUCHA CHELAN, MULLA VAHIDI WHO LEFT FOR PAKISTAN AND MAULANA AHMAD SAEED WHO DID NOT, TWO VERY WELL KNOWN AND HIGHLY RESPECTED 20th CENTURY SCHOLARS AND WRITERS OF DELHI LIVED IN KUCHA CHELAN, SO THE TRADITION HAS A HISTORY.
. Mir Taqi Mir was often compared with the later day Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib
. Lovers of Urdu poetry often debate Mir's supremacy over Ghalib or vice versa. It may be noted that Ghalib himself acknowledged, through some of his couplets, that Mir was indeed a genius who deserved respect. Here are two couplets by Mirza Ghalib on this matter.
*Shaikh Imam Bakhsh Nasikh of Lucknow, a disciple of Mir.
At a higher spiritual level the subject Of Mir's poem in not a woman but God. Mir speaks of man's interaction with the Divine. What affect it has on man when God reveals Himself to man.
Dikhaai diye yun ke bekhud kiya
When I saw you God I lost all sense of self
Hamen aap se bhi juda kar chale
When You revealed yourself it separated me from myself
's famous novel Delhi: A Novel
gives very interesting details about the fictional life and adventures of the great poet. His fictional memoirs and confessions, especially those about his illicit relations with elite women, mainly with the wife of the aristocrat Rias Khan who employed him as tutor to teach his children, are not only very entertaining but also provide a lot of insight into his mind and heart.
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
: ) (born 1723 - died September 21, 1810), whose real name was Muhammad Taqi (Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
: ) and takhallus
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
(pen name) was Mir (Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
: ) (sometimes also spelt as Meer Taqi Meer), was the leading Urdu poet
Urdu poetry
Urdu poetry is a rich tradition of poetry and has many different types and forms. Borrowing much from the Persian language, it is today an important part of Pakistani and North Indian culture....
of the 18th century, and one of the pioneers who gave shape to the Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
language itself. He was one of the principal poets of the Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
School of the Urdu ghazal
Ghazal
The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
and remains arguably the foremost name in Urdu poetry often remembered as Khuda-e-sukhan (god of poetry).
Early life
Born in AgraAgra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
, India (then called Akbarabad), ruled by the Mughals at the time. He left for Delhi, at the age of 11, following his father's death. His philosophy of life was formed primarily by his father, whose emphasis on the importance of love and the value of compassion remained with him throughout his life and imbued his poetry. At Delhi, he finished his education and joined a group of nobility as a courtier-poet. He lived much of his life in Mughal Delhi. Kuchha Chelan, located in famous grain market Khari Baoli, in Old Delhi was his address at that time. However, after Ahmad Shah Abdali's sack of Delhi each year starting 1748, he eventually moved to the court of Asaf-ud-Daulah in Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
, at the king's invitation. Distressed to witness the plundering of his beloved Delhi, he gave vent to his feelings through some of his couplets.
کیا بود و باش پوچھے ہو پورب کے ساکنو
ہم کو غریب جان کے ہنس ہنس پکار کے
دلّی جو ایک شہر تھا عالم میں انتخاب
رہتے تھے منتخب ہی جہاں روزگار کے
جس کو فلک نے لوٹ کے ویران کر دیا
ہم رہنے والے ہیں اسی اجڑے دیار کے
Mir migrated to Lucknow in 1782 and remained there for the remainder of his life. He died, of a purgative overdose, on Friday, 21 September 1810. The marker of his burial place was removed in modern times when a railway was built over his grave.
Literary life
His complete works, Kulliaat, consist of six Diwans containing 13,585 couplets, comprising all kinds of poetic forms.Mir's literary reputation is anchored on his ghazal
Ghazal
The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
s. Mir lived at a time when Urdu language and poetry was at a formative stage - and Mir's instinctive aesthetic sense helped him strike a balance between the indigenous expression and new enrichment coming in from Persian imagery and idiom, to constitute the new elite language known as Rekhta or Hindui. Basing his language on his native Hindustani, he leavened it with a sprinkling of Persian diction and phraseology, and created a poetic language at once simple, natural and elegant, which was to guide generations of future poets.
After his move to Lucknow, his beloved daughter died, followed by his son (either Mir Faiz Ali or Mir Kallu Arsh), and then his wife. This, together with other earlier setbacks (including his traumatic stages in Delhi) lends a strong pathos to much of his writing - and indeed Mir is noted for his poetry of pathos and melancholy.
KUCHA CHELAN WHERE MEER LIVED MOST OF HIS LIFE IN DELHI IS NOT IN OR NEAR THE GRAIN MARKET OF KHARI BAOLI BUT BEHIND DARYA GANJ THAT WAS IN MEER'S TIME PROBABLY KNOWN AS AKBARABADI BAZAR.
KUCHA CHELAN IS POPULARLY BELIEVED TO BE A CORRUPTION OF THE ORIGINAL NAME OF THE LOCALITY KUCHA CHHEL AMEERAN (THE STREET OF THE 40 NOBLES)WHETHER THIS IS TRUE OR FALSE IS DIFFICULT O SAY BUT THE FACT REMAINS THAT KUCHA CHELAN WAS A LOCALITY WHERE MANY SCHOLARS AND ULEMA LIVED, MOMIN KHAN MOMIN A GREAT USTAD OF URDU POETRY AND A CONTEMPORARY OF GHALIB, LIVED JUST OUT SIDE KUCHA CHELAN, MULLA VAHIDI WHO LEFT FOR PAKISTAN AND MAULANA AHMAD SAEED WHO DID NOT, TWO VERY WELL KNOWN AND HIGHLY RESPECTED 20th CENTURY SCHOLARS AND WRITERS OF DELHI LIVED IN KUCHA CHELAN, SO THE TRADITION HAS A HISTORY.
Faith
What Mir was practicing was probably the Malamati or “Blameworthy” aspect of the Sufi tradition. Using this technique, a person ascribes to oneself an unconventional aspect of a person or society, and then plays out its results, either in action or in verse. He was a prolific writer. His complete works, Kulliaat, consist of 6 dewans, containing 13,585 couplets comprising all kinds of poetic forms: ghazal, masnavi, qasida, rubai, mustezaad, satire, etc.Mir vs Mirza Ghalib
Mir's famous contemporary, also an Urdu poet of no inconsiderable repute, was Mirza Rafi SaudaMirza Rafi Sauda
Mirza Muhammad Rafi 'Sauda was one of the best known poets of Urdu language in Delhi, India. He is known for his Ghazals and Urdu Qasidas.-Early life:...
. Mir Taqi Mir was often compared with the later day Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib
Mirza Ghalib
Dabir-ul-Mulk, Najm-ud-Daula Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan , pen-name Ghalib and Asad , was a classical Urdu and Persian poet from India during British colonial rule...
. Lovers of Urdu poetry often debate Mir's supremacy over Ghalib or vice versa. It may be noted that Ghalib himself acknowledged, through some of his couplets, that Mir was indeed a genius who deserved respect. Here are two couplets by Mirza Ghalib on this matter.
*Shaikh Imam Bakhsh Nasikh of Lucknow, a disciple of Mir.
Major works
- "Nukat-us-Shura" Description about Urdu poets of his time
- "Faiz-e-Mir" Collection of five stories about beggars, said to have been written for the education of his son Mir Faiz Ali.
- "Zikr-e-Mir" Autobiography written in Persian languagePersian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
. - "Kulliyat-e-Farsi" Collection of poems in Persian languagePersian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
- "Kulliyat-e-Mir" Collection of Urdu poetry consisting of six diwansDiwan (poetry)-Etymology:The English usage of the phrase Diwan Poetry comes from the Arabic word diwan , which is loaned from Persian means designated a list or register. The Persian word derived from the Persian dibir meaning writer or scribe...
(volumes).
Famous Couplets
Some of his impeccable couplets are:At a higher spiritual level the subject Of Mir's poem in not a woman but God. Mir speaks of man's interaction with the Divine. What affect it has on man when God reveals Himself to man.
Dikhaai diye yun ke bekhud kiya
When I saw you God I lost all sense of self
Hamen aap se bhi juda kar chale
When You revealed yourself it separated me from myself
Mir Taqi Mir in fiction
Khushwant SinghKhushwant Singh
Khushwant Singh is a prominent Indian novelist and journalist. Singh's weekly column, "With Malice towards One and All", carried by several Indian newspapers, is among the most widely-read columns in the country....
's famous novel Delhi: A Novel
Delhi: A Novel
Delhi: A Novel is a historical novel by Indian writer Khushwant Singh.-Text:The book moves backwards and forwards in time through the history of Delhi...
gives very interesting details about the fictional life and adventures of the great poet. His fictional memoirs and confessions, especially those about his illicit relations with elite women, mainly with the wife of the aristocrat Rias Khan who employed him as tutor to teach his children, are not only very entertaining but also provide a lot of insight into his mind and heart.
See also
- List of Urdu poets
- http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/24937-Meer-Taqi-Meer-hastee-apnee-Hubaab-kee-see-hai hastee apnee Hubaab kee see hai English Translation By Qazi Muhammad Ahkam
- GhazalGhazalThe ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
Further reading
- C. M. NaimC. M. NaimC. M. Naim is an American scholar of Urdu language and literature. He is currently professor emeritus at the University of Chicago....
. Zikr-i-Mir, The Autobiography of the Eighteenth Century Mughal Poet: Mir Muhammad Taqi Mir (1723–1810), Translated, annotated and with an introduction by C. M. NaimC. M. NaimC. M. Naim is an American scholar of Urdu language and literature. He is currently professor emeritus at the University of Chicago....
, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999. - Anna SuvorovaAnna SuvorovaAnna A. Suvorova is a Russian Orientalist and art critic. She is bilingual in Russian and Urdu.-Biography:Suvorova is the Head of the Department of Asian Literature at the Institute of Oriental Studies , Professor of Indo-Islamic culture at the Institute of Oriental and classical cultures Anna A....
. Masnavi: A Study of Urdu Romance. Karachi: OUP, 2000 (about love poems of Mir)
External links
- http://www.globalurduforum.org/authors/view/3706
- The Meer Pages
- Mir Taqi Mir at Kavita Kosh
- Dewaan-e-Meer (Online)
- A Garden of Kashmir: the Ghazals of Mir Taqi Mir (maintained by Frances W. Pritchett)
- http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/24937-Meer-Taqi-Meer-hastee-apnee-Hubaab-kee-see-hai
- http://www.scribd.com/doc/37093303/Zikr-e-Mir-in-Hindi Hindi translation of poets biography Zikr e Mir free pdf uploaded by Javed Hussen