ON GHALIB’S DEATH ANNIVRSARY

 

 

ON GHALIB’S DEATH ANNIVRSARY

Mirza Asadullah Khan (Najmuddaula, Dabbirul  Mulk, Nawab) was the greatest Urdu and Persian poet during the Mughal period. ‘Ghalib’ was his poetic name. Initially, it was Asad (Lion) which he abandoned when he came to know that it was also  the nom de plume  of a poetaster.          

          Mirza Asadullah Khan was born in Agra on 27^th December 1797. He died in Delhi on 15^th February 1869 , which was the saddest day for his friends and admirers. Among others his pupil Altaf Hussain Hali wrote a most touching elegy. Dr. Mohammad Iqbal’s elegy on Ghalib points out his unparallel greatness and compares it to that of the German poet philosopher Goethe( 1749-1832). As a world poet, Ghalib is often compared to Shakespeare. Like Shakespeare he is being endlessly translated and re-interpreted in many languages.      

          Ghalib belonged to a distinguished Seljuqid Turks tribe whose lineage extended back to the mythical king Faridun of Turksitan. In an ancestral verse, Ghalib says: “I come of the Aibak tribe of the Turks whose perfection is comparable to the full  moon in every respect. My ancestors who were substantial yeomen have always been ranked among the nobles of Samarkand”.

          Ghalib was not  merely the court poet of Bahadur Shah Zafar (1837-1857) but also his tutor in poetry. He had many pupils some of whom were in the ruling class. Yet his  whole life was full of recurrent sorrows and sufferings. As a father, he had seven children all of whom died before the age of 15 months. His adopted son Arif, too died young. His sources of income did not match his aristocratic living style, so he was always shot of money and had to depend upon money lenders. Throughout his life he lived in an uncomfortable  rented house. In critical times, most of  his pupils, friends, kinsfolk and admirers lent no helping hand. Even his personal reputation suffered a big jolt when he was arrested , imprisoned and fined for   accommodating chess gamblers at his home.

His heart bled profusely at the destruction  of Delhi and the slaughter of so many people  during the 1857 Seopy revolt. His verses on this bloody event say: “ Every soldier of the English Amy is out to do as he likes. Chandni Chowk has been converted into a place of execution and my house, well, that is a veritable hell. Every particle of dust in the streets of Delhi is  thirsty for the blood of the Muslims.”

          According to the history of those times, Ghalib lost many friends and relations, and those who escaped bullets and bayonet, slipped away to unknown destinations.  His brother Mirza Yusuf, died during these days, when he had nothing for the shrouds  and none to dig his gave. Ghalib was left alone in midst of ruins to suffer more at every turn of the year

          What sustained Ghalib during his innumerable sufferings and sorrows was his keen sense of humour. In a letter to Nawab Yusuf Ali Khan, he says:  “Heaven threw me several times into the whirlpool of grief, but could not change of my nature. “ Regarding Ghalib’s  nature, his pupil and biographer records in Yadgar-e-Ghalib, he was  extremely polite, and humble and generous. His house was always crowded by his friends and admirers, who gathered there to enjoy his pleasant jokes and repartees. He knew the way of putting things which could easily excite laughter. This keen sense of humour was his safety valve, and so was his habit of regular drinking.  As he puts in one of his verses, he did not drink for pleasure but to become unconscious of his sufferings.

          Besides composing poetry, Ghalib wrote a number of letters which have historical importance. Speaking about them,  Dr.Fazl Mahmud Asiri, Reader in Islamic Culture, Visvabharati says there are certain peculiarities in  these letters which make them worthy of so much admiration. The first is that these letters or notes are without any formal headings or title. Their abrupt opening to the actual purpose spared the addressee of unnecessary strain as it provided him with an unusual pleasure. Written In  the moments of great anxiety with natural feeling, these letters went straight to the heart of the receiver. Its new form of a dialogue which he called as “half meeting with the friend” was quite a novelty.                   

          In the introduction to his book Punj Ahang, drew up the following rules which a letter write should observe. The form of  the letter should be conversational. Ideas expressed should be easy to understand. A proper order for expressing  important matters should be kept in mind. There should be no confusion in the expression of ideas. Difficult words and far-fetched similes should be avoided. The tone of every letter should be according to the rank of the addressee. Each expression  should be as brief as possible. There should be no repetition. The taste and knowledge of  the addressee should never be lost sight of.

          As the above-mentioned rules were the need of the hour,  they  became a turning point in the history of letter writing and Urdu prose.

          In conclusion, here is an English version of an Urdu letter which almost  sums up the life history of Ghalib:

          “Listen ! There are two worlds. One is  the world of spirit, the other this material world. The Lord of both these worlds is He, who Himself asks this question. “For whom is the Lordship this day?” and  then answers himself, “For  the sternly Just God” ! Although it is the rule that  the guilty ones of this material world are punished for their sins in  the world of spirit, it has also happened this way that a sinner of the world of spirit is sent to this world for punishment. Consequently, on 27 December 1797, a warrant of arrest was issued for me. (He was born). For thirteen years I remained in the lock-up. (The years of boyhood and tutelage). On 1810 I was condemned to life-imprisonment. (He was married).A fetter was put round my feet and Delhi was selected as my prison house. The practice of poetry and prose was to be my labour, after some years I managed an escape (He visited Lucknow, Benares and Calcutta). At last, I was apprehended in Calcutta and put back in the same prison. When they found this prisoner to be slippery, they put two had-cuffs on me (Adoption of his t wo grandsons-in-law). Now you see my ankles bruised by  the fetters and my hands cut by hand-cuffs. The hard labour became harder and I became exhausted. Last year I got rid of the fetters and ran hand-cuffed out of the prison (Left his wife behind in Delhi and went with the two children to Rampur at the invitation of the Nawab of Rampur). I went to Meerut, and to Rampur via Moradabad. I had stayed there for some days less than two months when I was again captured. Now I have resolved that I shall not attempt another escape. And how am I to manage the escape? I have no strength left in me to run anywhere. God knows when the orders of release are passed (When releases him from the bondage of life).I have a weak sort of a hope  that this may happen in the last moth of this year. At least normally after release people go back to their homes. I, too, after salvation , shall go to the World of Spirit. Blessed will be the day when I leave the prison-house (and) I go to my own town from this desolate valley.”

(Courtesy : GHALIB, a Critical Introduction by Sayyid Fayyaz Mahmud, University Of The Punjab, Lahore, 1969).  

                             It is evident from this letter that Ghalib had faith in the Almighty, and before he took the last breath in this world , the words on his lips were :

                             The last breath is on its way ; Now, O friends, God is the helper.

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15^th February 2021                                                     G.R.Kanwal