Mir Taqi Mir

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Khuda-e-Sukhan Mir Taqi Mir (Urdu: میر تقی میر) (born 1723 - died September 20, 1810), whose original name was Muhammad Taqi (Urdu: محمد تقی) and takhallus (pen name) was Mir (Urdu: میر) (sometimes also spelt as Meer Taqi Meer), was the leading Urdu poet of the eighteenth century, 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 remains arguably the foremost name in Urdu poetry often remembered as Khuda-e-Sukhan (god of poetry).
He was born in Agra, India (called "Akbarabad" at the time), which at the time was ruled by the Mughals, in 1723. He left for Delhi, at the age of 11, following his father's death. His philosophy of life was formed primarily from his father, whose emphasis on the importance of love and the value of compassion remained with him through his life and imbued his poetry. At Delhi, he finished his education and joined a group of nobility as a courtier-poet. He lived much of his life in Mughal Delhi. 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 king's invitation. Distressed to witness the plundering of his beloved Delhi, he gave vent to his feelings through some of his couplets. He remained in Lucknow for the remainder of his life. He died in Lucknow, of a purgative overdose, on 20 September 1810.





Mir's literary reputation is anchored on his ghazals. Mir lived at a time when Urdu language and poetry was at a formative stage - and Mir's instinctive aesthetic sense helped him strike a balance between the indigenous expression and new enrichment coming in from Persian imagery and idiom, to constitute the new elite language known as Rekhta or Hindui. Basing his language on his native Hindustani, he leavened it with a sprinkling of Persian diction and phraseology, and created a poetic language at once simple, natural and elegant, which was to guide generations of future poets.
After his move to Lucknow, his beloved daughter died, followed by his son, and then his wife. This, together with other earlier setbacks (including his traumatic stages in Delhi) lends a strong pathos to much of his writing - and indeed Mir is noted for his poetry of pathos and melancholy.
Another noted feature of his work is his pederastic poetry:
When I had some wealth, even then I spent it on boys--
And now that I wander as a mendicant, Mir, it is thanks to them.

Evil days have come to me through friendship with boys;
My father often used to warn of this day.
Was it a disaster that I gave my heart to boys?
In the city all, old and young, are discussing it.
'Andalib Shadani claims that If anyone undertakes a thorough inquiry into the works of Mir, without being influenced by the opinions of others, he will certainly arrive at the conclusion that Mir's poetic subject is 'the love of beardless youths,' and that Mir is absolutely unique in this quality. You will not find 'the lads of Delhi' in such abundance anywhere else.
Mir made no secret of his attachments, and wrote of his passing fancy for Attar Ka Launda — the son of a perfumer — and Memar Ka Larka — son of a mason.
While some historians have read into Mir's verse his own feelings and experiences, whether that be love for boys or love for women, others hold that "Such contradictory visions of Mir's life and times arise from the effort to extract from Mir's ghazals information that they simply do not contain."





Muu.Nh takaa hii kare hai jis-tis kaa
hairatii hai ye aaiinaa kis kaa

shaam se bujhaa bujhaa saa rahataa hai
dil huaa hai chiraaG muflis kaa

the bure muGabacho.n ke tevar lek
shaiKh maiKhaane se bhalaa khisakaa

faiz-e-abr chashm-e-tar se uThaa
aaj daaman vasii hai is kaa

taab kis ko jo haal-e-’Meer’ sune
haal hii aur kuchh hai majalis kaa


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Ulti hoe gaeen sub tadbeerain, kuch na dava nain kaam kya
Dekha, oos beimary-e-dil nain akhir kaam tamaam kya

Ahad-e-javani row row kaata, peery main leen ankain mond
Yani raat bohat thay jaagay, subh hooye araam kya

Naahuq, hum majbrooron per ye teh-mat hay mukhtari key
Chaahtay hain so aap karay hain hum koe ebs badnam kya

Yaan kay sabaid-o-syah main hum koe dakhl due hay soe itna hay
Raat koe row row subh kya, ya din doe joon toon shaam kya

sarazad ham se be-adabii to wahashat me.n bhii kam hii huii
koso.n us kii or gae par sajdaa har har gaam kiyaa

aise aaho-eharam-Khurdaa kii wahashat khonii mushkil thii
sihar kiyaa, ijaaz kiyaa, jin logo.n ne tujh ko raam kiyaa

Mir kay deen-o-mazhab koe ub poochtay kya hoe, in nain toe
Qashqa khainncha, deer main bet-ha, kub ka tarq islam kya


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