By Aaliyia Malik
रेख़्ते के तुम्हीं उस्ताद नहीं हो 'ग़ालिब'
कहते हैं अगले ज़माने में कोई 'मीर' भी था
(You are not the lone scholar of Rekhta (Urdu language), Ghalib
They say that in olden days there was a ‘Mir’ too)
- मिर्ज़ा ग़ालिब
It is not very common for a poet to praise another contemporary rival poet. It is not every day you find a poet shaping a language and composing verses while the others wrote in Persian. It is rare to find a writer fall in love with a city. It is rare to find a love so deep that it lives with the city and dies along.
One lesser known gem of the Mughal period was Mir Muhammad Taqi Mir. A principal poet of the Delhi school of Urdu Ghazal, his pen name was Mir. Much of his poetry is an ode to what he learnt from his father, a religious man whose emphasis was on the importance of love and compassion.
Mir spent a considerable time of his life in Mughal India. He lived in Kuccha Chelan in Old Delhi. He was patronised one after the other under rulers such as Itimad-ud-Daula II, Javed Khan, Raja Nagar Mahal, Imad-ul-Mulk, Raja Jugal Kishore and Raja Nagar Mal. But he himself broke many ties on issues of self respect and is own principles on which he did not compromise at all. For this very reason he was often called arrogant.
However, after Ahmad Shah Abdali sacked Delhi every year starting from 1748, he eventually moved to the court of Asad – ud- Daulah in Lucknow on his invitation.
Mir and his Dilli
Mir moved away from his beloved city, but the city could never escape his heart. The city always called out to him, its streets his home and its fate, a tale his heavy and painful being kept recalling. As he arrived in Lucknow, he had to attend a Mushaira. Unaware of the city of Nawabs he reached the gathering in a rather modest outfit. However, nothing could hide his pain and love for Delhi. He began by saying:
Kya bood-o-baash poochho ho, poorab ke saakino ?
Hum ko ghareeb jaan ke, hans hans pukaar ke
Dilli jo ek sheher tha, aalam mein intekhaab
Rehte thay muntakhab hi jahaan rozgaar ke
Us ko falak ne loot ke veeraan kar diya
Hum rehne waale hain usi ujde dayaar ke
(What whereabouts do you ask of me, O people of the East ?
Considering me an alien and laughing at me
Delhi, that was a city unique on the globe
Where lived only the chosen of the time
Destiny has looted it and made it deserted
I belong to that very wrecked city)
Mir couldn’t bear his city being looted and destroyed and soon went into seclusion. Once Mir was called by some gentlemen for a Mushaira to which he refused by saying that they would not understand his poetry. But they reverted and said that they understood the poetry of Anvari and Khaqani so why not him? Mir, quickly retorted and said that to understand his poetry, they should know the language spoken at the steps of Jama Masjid of Delhi and have the knowledge which they didn’t.
He soon broke his ties with Asaf – ud – Daula too, but the Nawab kept sending him stipend, which was then continued by Nawab Sa’adat Ali Khan. But Mir still refused to accept the money and asked the Nawab to give it to charity. Without money his misery increased and so did his longing for his city.
Kharaaba Dilli ka vo chand behtar Lucknow se tha
Vahin maiyn kaash mar jaata, sara seema na aata yahaan
(The deserted Delhi was far better than Lucknow
Wish I had died there itself and had not come running here)
Mir’s poetry had pain, longing for his city, his home and an unfulfilled love. He was a man of tradition. He found it difficult to live in a place where people did not value their traditions, which were very essential for him.
Rasm uth gayi duniya se ik baar murawwat ki
Kya log zameen par hain, kaisa ye samaa’n aaya ?
(Once the tradition of decency disappeared from the world
What kind of people are there on earth, what scenario is this ?)
Kya zamaana tha vo jo guzra Mir
Hamdigar log chaah karte thay
(What an age was it that has gone by, Mir
People used to love each other)
Mir is the first Urdu poet whose complete works were typeset and printed. The voluminous “Koolliyati Meer Tyqee” was published in 1811 as a major literary project sponsored by the Fort William College in Calcutta. Mir’s Urdu poetry is spread over six diwans. Till his fifth diwan composed in an advanced age, his ghazals make it clear that Mir hoped to find refuge in a more cultured and agreeable place than Lucknow. By the time the last diwan was penned down, he became more dejected than ever. He didn’t have the strength to criticise, he lost his wife, daughter and son, his friends and lost all will to live.
On September 21, 1810, Mir died in Lucknow at the age of 88. He was buried in the graveyard of Bheem Ka Akhaara located north of what is today called the City Station. His grave remained undiscovered until half a century ago. To this day it is difficult to spot his grave, but Mir somehow wanted such a life after he has died. As he wrote:
Baad marne ke meri qabr pe aaya vo ‘Mir’
Yaad aayi merey Eesa ko dawa merey baad
(O Mir, he came to my grave after I died
My Messiah remembered my cure after I had gone)
Mir is no more today, but he lives. He is present in every corner of Delhi, every step of Jama Masjid, every street that he every set his foot on. He lies dead in Lucknow, but his soul is still in his city, his home, his Delhi.
Hey
Beautifully written
I can feel longing of Mir by reading this article.
Thanks for sharing this valuable information.