21/09/2020
dikhā.ī diye yuuñ ki be-ḳhud kiyā
hameñ aap se bhī judā kar chale
دکھائی دیئے یوں کہ بے خود کیا
ہمیں آپ سے بھی جدا کر چلے
When I saw You (God) I lost all sense of self
I forgot my own identity
For those who remember the Smita Patil & the film Bazaar (1982), directed by Sagar Sarhadi, Lata Mangeshkar sang these verses to the unforgettable music of Khayyam. Interestingly, these verses are by Meer Taqi Meer!
Mir Muhammad Taqi Mir (February 1723 – 20 September 1810), also known as Mir Taqi Mir or Meer Taqi Meer, was an Urdu poet of the 18th century Mughal India, 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 is often remembered as one of the best poets of the Urdu language. His takhallus (pen name) was Mir. He spent the latter part of his life in the court of Asaf-ud-Daulah in Lucknow.
To hear a recital and explanation of his couplets, please see these 2 videos by Joy of Urdu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6IBD6Esd7A
https://www.facebook.com/joyofurdu/videos/2244978429049731/
The main source of information on Mir's life is his autobiography Zikr-e-Mir, which covers the period from his childhood to the beginning of his sojourn in Lucknow. However, it is said to conceal more than it reveals, with material that is undated or presented in no chronological sequence. Therefore, many of the 'true details' of Mir's life remain a matter of speculation.
Mir was born in Agra, India (then called Akbarabad and ruled by the Mughals) in August or February 1723. His grandfather had migrated from Hejaz to Hyderabad State, then to Akbarabad or Agra. His philosophy of life was formed primarily by his father, Mir Abdullah, a religious man with a large following, whose emphasis on the importance of love and the value of compassion remained with Mir throughout his life and imbued his poetry.
Mir's father died while the poet was in his teens. Mir left Agra for Delhi a few years after his father's death, to finish his education and also to find patrons who offered him financial support (Mir's many patrons and his relationship with them have been described by his translator C. M. Naim).
Some scholars consider two of Mir's masnavis (long narrative poems rhymed in couplets), Mu'amlat-e-ishq (The Stages of Love) and Khwab o Khyal-e Mir ("Mir's Vision"), written in the first person, as inspired by Mir's own early love affairs, but it is by no means clear how autobiographical these accounts of a poet's passionate love affair and descent into madness are. Especially, as Frances W. Pritchett points out, the austere portrait of Mir from these masnavis must be juxtaposed against the picture drawn by Andalib Shadani, whose inquiry suggests a very different poet, given to unabashed eroticism in his verse.
(Pritchett, Frances W. (1 September 1979). "Convention in the Classical Urdu Ghazal: The Case of Mir". Columbia.edu website)
Mir lived much of his life in Mughal Delhi. Kuchha Chelan, 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 ruler'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 stayed there for the remainder of his life. Though he was given a kind welcome by Asaf-ud-Daulah, he found that he was considered old-fashioned by the courtiers of Lucknow (Mir, in turn, was contemptuous of the new Lucknow poetry, dismissing the poet Jur'at's work as merely 'kissing and cuddling'). Mir's relationships with his patron gradually grew strained, and he eventually severed his connections with the court. In his last years Mir was very isolated. His health failed, and the untimely deaths of his daughter, son and wife caused him great distress.
He died of a purgative overdose on Friday, 21 September 1810. The marker of his burial place was removed in modern times when railway tracks were built over his grave.
Mir's famous contemporary, also an Urdu poet of no inconsiderable repute, was Mirza Rafi Sauda. 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.
Reekhta ke tum hī ustād nahīṅ ho ğhālib
Kehte haiṅ agle zamāne meṅ koī mīr bhī thā
You are not the only master of Rekhta, Ghalib
They say there used to be a Mir in the past
—Mirza Ghalib
Ghalib apna yeh aqeeda hai baqaul-e-Nasikh
Aap bey behrah hai jo muataqid-e-Mir nahi
Ghalib! It's my belief in the words of Nasikh[11]
He that vows not on Mir, is himself unlearned!
—Mirza Ghalib
Ghalib and Zauq were contemporary rivals but both of them believed the superiority of Mir and also acknowledged Mir's superiority in their poetry.
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