MIRZA GHALIB
Mirza Asad Ullah Khan Ghalib is one of the greatest names in Urdu poetry. Dr. Iqbal paid this tribute to Mirza Ghalib who is mostly taken as a humorous poet but there is mostly a thought provoking message in depth of his wonderful poetry. (taken from the internet)
The greatness of an artist only increases when he freely and magnanimously acknowledges the work of another great. This tradition can be seen even in case of Ghalib himself: He on one hand is aware of his own unique position in the realm of ghazals, he also pays genuine tribute to his predecessor Meer. I have not yet read Meer widely enough to know if he has praised other poets, but cannot but notice his boastfulness which all agree only he rightly has the stature to say.
Meer says about himself: Sare aalam pe main hooN chhaya hua
Mustanad hai mera farmaya hua
[I (i.e. my work) engulfs the whole world. Whatever I have decreed is authentic.]
Those unfamiliar with the subtleties of Urdu talk will miss the point here. “Farmana”(which I translated as ‘decreed’ for lack of better word) is exclusively used for the second person and one can never be audacious enough to use it in first person. But for Meer every one agrees that he could, and also he knew he could and therefore did.
Ghalib too writes about his greatness himself but a little more modestly:
Hain aur bhi duniye meiN sukhanwar bahot ache
Kahte haiN ke Ghalib ka hai andaaz e bayaN aur
[there are many people who are very good at writing poems, but it is generally acknowledged that Ghalib commands a unique style of delivery]
Ghalib while acknowledging the greatness of Meer also in the same breath asserts that he too is a master.
Rekhte ke tumhi ustad nahin ho Ghalib
Kahte hain agle zamane mein koi Meer bhi tha
(You are not the only Ustad (master) of saying the ghazals, O Ghalib, People say that there was another in the past called Meer.)
There is probably no shayer who has not praised Ghalib in one way or other. One example is that of Jagan Nath Azad (see my post “JAGAN NATH AZAD KI NAZM, GHALIB PAR” in the category ‘Ghalib ki shan meiN)
Here I take pleasure in presenting praise of Ghalib by another poet, one of the greatest after Ghalib, Allama Iqbal
I will not attempt a translation of this marvellous work as it is simply beyond me. The truth is that I cannot claim to understand each and every sher above as they are laced with glorious mixture of terms from Farsi and from high Urdu. I would like to however submit English rendition of the first and the last few shers above: (To the best of my understanding and ability)
1: Fikre insaN par teri hasti se yeh roshan hua
hai pare murghe takhayyul ki rasaayi taa kuja
[The realm of human intellect came to realise, thanks to you (Ghalib) as what great heights can a bird of imagination fly to.]
last few shers:
Aye Jahan aabad, aye gahwaraye ilm o hunar
haiN sarapa nala e khaamosh tere baam o dar
Zarre zarre meiN tere khuabeedah haiN shams o qamar
yooN to posheedah haiN teri khaak meiN lakhoN guhar
Dafn tujh meiN koi fakhr e rozgaar ayesa bhi hai?
Tujh meiN pinhaN koi moti aabdaar aysa bhi hai?
[O Jahan Abaad (meaning Delhi), O you who is the centre of learning and art, your walls and your arches are in mourning silently (the loss of Ghalib)]
[Each and every speck of your soil has in it buried many suns and many moons,
and I admit that there are a host of valuable pearls hidden in you]
[(but tell me) is there any such great versatile artist buried in you (like Ghalib?)
Can you show any such brilliant pearl among those others buried in you?]
