Mirza Rafi Sauda
Encyclopedia
Mirza Muhammad Rafi 'Sauda' (1713–1781) (Urdu: مرزا محمد رفیع سودا ) was one of the best known poets of 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 in 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...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He is known for 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
and Urdu Qasida
Qasida
The qaṣīdaᵗ , in Arabic: قصيدة, plural qasā'id, قــصــائـد; in Persian: قصیده , is a form of lyric poetry that originated in preIslamic Arabia...

s
.

Early life

His birth year has not been confirmed and in some publications, it is listed as A.H. 1125 [1713-14]. He was born and bought up in Delhi. Sauda, was a shia in personal life.

He inhabited Shahjahanabad (i.e. Old Delhi
Old Delhi
Old Delhi , walled city of Delhi, India, was founded as Shahjahanabad by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in 1639. It remained the capital of the Mughals until the end of the Mughal dynasty....

), during the reign of Muhammad Shah
Muhammad Shah
Muhammad Shah also known as Roshan Akhtar, was a Mughal emperor of India between 1719 and 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar Jahan Shah, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. Ascending the throne at 17 with the help of the Sayyid Brothers, he later got rid of them with the help of Nizam-ul-Mulk Chin...

, 1150 A.H. i.e. 1739 A.D.

Ustads and shagirds

Sulaimān Qulī Ḳhān 'Vidād' was his first Ustad
Ustad
Ustad is an Arabized Persian word is a honorific title for a Muslim man in South Asia. The title precedes the name and is usually used for well regarded teachers and artists, most often musicians. It is applied and used via informal social agreement. It is abbreviated as ut. or ud.-References:*...

(teacher of Urdu poetry) and Shāh Ḥātim too, in the introduction to his volume in which he provides a list of his pupils has recorded Mirzā's name. King Shah Alam was Shagird (student of Urdu poetry) of 'Sauda' and gave him his poetry for correction.

He was a contemporary of Dard
Dard
-People:* Khwaja Mir Dard, 18th century Urdu poet.* Dard Hunter, born William Joseph Hunter , an American authority on printing, paper, and papermaking—especially by hand....

 and Mir
Mir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...

.

Movement from Delhi

At the age of sixty or sixty six, he left Delhi and came to Farrukhabad
Farrukhabad
Farrukhābād , is one of the important cities of Central Doab Region in the State of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The city was founded in 1717 by Mohammed Bangash who named it after the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar. Farrukhabad is situated on the bank of sacred river Ganges.-Demographics: India...

(with Nawab Bangash), and lived there from 1757 to about 1770 In A.H. 1185 [1771-72] he moved to court of Nawab of Awadh
Nawab of Awadh
The Nawab of Awadh is the title of rulers who governed the state of Awadh in India in the 18th and 19th century. The Nawabs of Awadh originated form Persia-Establishment:...

 (then in Faizabad
Faizabad
City of Faizabad , previous capital of Awadh, is the headquarters of Faizabad District and a municipal board in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, situated on the banks of river Ghaghra . Faizabad has a twin city of Ayodhya, which is considered to be the birthplace of Rama...

) and remained ther till his death. When Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

became state capital, he came there with Nawab Shujauddaula. He was also Ustad
Ustad
Ustad is an Arabized Persian word is a honorific title for a Muslim man in South Asia. The title precedes the name and is usually used for well regarded teachers and artists, most often musicians. It is applied and used via informal social agreement. It is abbreviated as ut. or ud.-References:*...

of Shujauddaulla. Nawab Āṣif ud-Daulah gave him tiltle of Malkushshu'ara and annual pension of Rupees Six Thounsand.

He died in at the age of almost 70 years, in A.H. 1195 [1780-81], in Lucknow.

Works

He is recognized as a great qasidah poet, perhaps the greatest in Urdu. He was a major 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...

 poet too. The soundest rock on which Sauda’s reputation rests today are his satires.

At first he always used to compose verses in Persian then on his ustad Ḳhān-e Ārzū's advice he started composing in Urdu.
Kulliyat
Kulliyat
Kulliyat is a collection of the poetry of any one poet.Kulliyat is one of the principal collection forms of Urdu poetry. Literally a kullyat means complete collection of poems, but often applied to any collection containing poems of various kinds....

of Sauda was compiled by Ḥakīm Sayyid Aṣlaḥ ud-Dīn Ḳhān he wrote an introduction for it. Later in 1872 it was literally translated by Major Henry Court, Captain, Bengal Cavalry List of Sauda's work from his Kulliyat are:
  1. Masnavi dar hajv-e hakim ghaus,
  2. Masnavi dar hajv-e amir-a daulatmand bakhil,
  3. Masnavi dar ta'rif-e shikar,
  4. Masnavi dar hajv-e pil rajah nripat singh,
  5. Masnavi dar hajv-e sidi faulad khan kotval-e shahjahanabad,
  6. Masnavi dar hajv-e fidvi mutavatan-e panjab kih darasal baqal bachchah bud,
  7. Masnavi dar hajv-e chipak mirza faizu,
  8. Qissah-e darvesh kih iradah-e ziyarat-e ka'bah kardah bud,
  9. Mukhammas-e shahr ashob,
  10. Qasidah dar madh-e navab vazir imad ul-mulk

Some famous ashaar (more than one sher) of 'Sauda'

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

External links

1.Professor Nasim Ahmad's Books (a). Diwane-e-Ghazaliyat-e-Sauda and (b).Mutallaqate Sauda
www.bhu.ac.in/urdu/NaseemAhmad.html
2. Vinay Prajapati 'Nazar' Wordpress Blog तख़लीक़-ए-नज़र - Expanding day by day.
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