786gifts and 786shop 786books

786gifts and 786shop , another online shopping website


I have never used these 786gifts.com and 786shop.com online service but one of my friend said that they are usually late to reply and their prices are too high , if a price is 12 USD then total order size become atleast 50 USD when shipping charges are also included :)


786gifts and 786shop.com provides gift service to Pakistan and from Pakistan to USA and UK. their products are good and they are in market for more than 7 years now. so that is their plus point. But many new websites like sentimentexpress and flowersentiments.com , this site will fade away with time.

The design of the website is old fashioned looks as it was created by some kindergarden Kid 2000 years back . Navigation is though very simple. It is very attractive too.

I wouldn't recomment to use 786gifts.com or 786shop.com or 786books.com. All these website belong to UrduPoint Family. Urdupoint.com and Emarkaz.com is run by Mr Ali Ch while 786gifts.com or 786shop.com or 786books.com are owned by Ali Ch's elder brother because due to some reason few years back both were splitted..

I think these people are working really hard to make their online business successfull however due to mismanagement and lack of interest anymore in the business, emarkaz.com and 786gifts.com and other child website of them are losing popularity among new generation and new needs.


Thank You

pakistan vs india test and one day series 2007

Pakistan's Tour of Indian Nov-Dec 2007


Pakistan 's tour of India was expected to be very breath taking. After Pakistan and india 's final in twenty 20 world cup 2007, Pakistani fans were expecting that they will beat india but after losing fine one day series 3-2 , pakistan lost first test as well . However from no where pakistan cricket team could manage to draw 2nd test with the help of centuries by Kamran Akmal, Younis khan and great Misbah ul Haq.


3rd test in underway , today is 3rd day. India has made 620+ runs with the help of Double century from Saurav gangually , his all time best test score , 169 by Yovraj Singh and 102 not out by Irfan Pathhan. Pakistan bowlers looked too weak infront of Run Gunners like Yunvaj and gangually , making partnership of 300 plus runs.

As everyone know, Shoaib Akhtar bowled just 10 overs as he was injured while Pakistan main striker Muhammad Asif and Omer gull didn't join the team due to injury.

Infact , the team india is facing Pakistan a 2nd class team without Omer Gull and Muhammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar Injured. Even then if pakistan have drawn a test match, it is very good effort.

Shoaib Malik pakistani captain looked faded away. Didn't know how to make tough decisions and so Younis khan is against asked to lead the team

Pakistan is at present , 80 plus runs and they have left 9 wickets as yasir hameed was LBW by Anil Kumble, Indian Captain. Salman butt is not out at 50* and Younis khan is not out on 20* . Let see what happens today when pakistan faces the spin attack from Harbhajan singh and anil kumble. Will pakistan be able to draw this match ?

well as it looks , if everything goes the way it is seeming to go, pakistan is going to lose test series 2-0 as well.

we must hope that paksitan's pace attack be strenthen with Omer gull and Muhammad Asif. And Shoaib Akhtar should work hard on his fitness.

Thank You

Pakistan loses test series 2007 in india

i am really sad to write this but its true , after losing ODI series 3-2 to india , Pakistan lost test series 1-0 as well. However, Thank God, they were on the brink of losing test series 2-0 but weather problem and bad light abandoned match when they were 7 wicket down and only Muhammad Yousuf was there to struggle. But bad light saved the day for pakistans and empires rudi koertson team decided to end the match.





















Shoaib Akhter looked as he was just not playing, he is 34+ , and at this age, he can't play for pakistan anymore, especially NOT TESTS.













Misbah Ul Haq, is the only player who is worth to be saying a true Pakistani, he saved pakistan from a shameful defeat twice in last 3 test and so many times in ODI's, He is just new comer and talents shows inside him.














Kamran akmal is good too but he needs time and adjustments , salman butt, i don't know what is wrong with you, why can't you bat brother ?














Yasir hameed,hmm, stop cricket go and born more kids, this is the only job you can do better.














Younis Khan, keep this team live, otherwise, i dont think there is any other reason to lose, other than , lack of pure talent and self confidence.














Bad Luck Pakistan, again.

So , who can be good captain now ?

well, answer is very simple and every one know that as well. the only choice is younas khan, he is aggressive captains , and he can handle team members very well, he is senior too.

so i wonder PCB will have to change their mind and say sorry to Younis and request him to please accept captaincy of Pakistan Cricket team, i dont' think there would be a single player in the planet who doesnt' want to be the captain of Pakistan Cricket Team. Then how can Younis say that he is not going to accept captaincy, there some serious talking b/w management or some other person in PCB and Younis. So try to solve problems, please don't create them by replacing Shoaib Malik with some one even more junior or other than Younus Khan.

Pakistan Cricket Captain Younis Khan or Shoaib Malik

To me , i don't think that there is any fault of shoaib malik in recent series defeats from india. totally its all team effort loss. No one did play good or tried extra ordinary to win match. Shoaib malik is not a strong person to be appointed as captain. he is soft, he is not aggressive, his biggest problem is that he listen to boys and do what they say. captains make decision in the best interest of team not individual player.

guess, if Shoaib Akhter says that he wants to open the inning, then will shoaib malik be able to say " Sorry Mr, you are a bowler not a batsman and you are not capabable of batting , every one knows that " , i can bet , shoaib malik will not say like that. he will reply to akhtar, "shoabi bhai , yaar yeh tu koi baat nahi howi , aap plz open karnay ka iraada badal do , aap ki bari meharbani ho gi , main aap ka yeh ihsaan kabhi nahi bholoon ga"

well, reason are many , Malik is soft, he is junior than most of the team members, and unfortunately pakistani cricket teams is full of aggressive players like afridi , shoaib, asif , Younis, Sami.

History of Urdu poetry

Urdu language and literature, beyond their spatial confines, have been more heard of than read. With the publication of some notable translations, some of them in the recent past, a new literary culture seems to be emerging from the canons of the old. Modern Urdu poetry, of which this is the first comprehensive selection, has its own tradition of the new. It has developed through stages of a variegated literary history. This history has absorbed both the native and non- native elements of writing in Arabic and Persian, and the Urdu language has survived through several crises and controversies. Some of these are related to its growth and development, its use by the British to divide the Hindus and the Muslims. it estrangement in the land of its birth following the Partition of India and its interaction with Hindi once akin but now an alien counterpart. Even with the extinction of those generations of Sikhs in Punjab, Muslims in Bengal and Hindus elsewhere, who nurtured the language with love and for whom it was the mark of a cultivated man, the language has survived and developed. It is now the cultural legacy of India and the adopted national identity of Pakistan, and significant new literature has emerged in both countries.


Literary centre : Deccan, Delhi and Lucknow
Literature in Urdu grew at three different centres: Deccan, Delhi and Lucknow. As it happened, the Deccan emerged as the earliest centre, even though the language had first developed in northern India, as a result of an interesting linguistic interaction between the natives and the Muslim conquerors from Central Asia, who settled there in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, The period stretching roughly from the middle of the fourteenth centuries to the middle of the eighteenth produce a number of poets. They are claimed both by Urdu and Hindi literary historians, but Quli Qutub Shah (1565-1611) is generally acknowledged as the first notable poet, like Chaucer is English, with a volume of significant poetry in a language later named Urdu. He was followed by several others, among whom Wali Deccani (1635-1707) and Siraj Aurangabadi ( 1715-1763) deserves special mention. Delhi emerged as another significant centre with Mirza Mohammad Rafi Sauda (1713-80), Khwaja Mir Dard (1721-85), Mir Taqi Mir (1722-1810), Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797-1869) and Nawab Mirza Khan Dagh (1831-1905). It reached its height of excellence during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Lucknow made its way as the third important centre with Ghulam Hamdani Mushafi (1725-1824), Inshallah Khan Insha (1757-1817), Khwaja Haidar Ali Atish (1778-1846), Iman Baksh Nasikh (1787-1838), Mir Babr Ali Anis (1802-74) and Mirza Salamat Ali Dabir (1803-1875). These literary capitals, where the classical tradition developed, had their individual stylistic and thematic identities, but broadly it may be said that the ghazal (love lyric) reached its zenith with Mir and Ghalib, qasida (panegyric) with Sauda, mathnawi (romance) with Mir Hasan and marthiya (elegy) with Anis and Dabir.

Hali and Iqbal : new poetry in Urdu
In the period that followed, and before the launching of the Progressive Writers Movement in the 30s, mention should be made of Altaf Husain Hali (1837-1914) and Mohammad Iqbal (1877-1938). Hali was a poet of the newer socio-cultural concerns and advocated 'natural poetry' that had an ameliorative purpose. His Musaddas is an important example of this. He was also a theorist who opened new frontiers in Urdu criticism with his Moqaddama-e-Sher-o-Shairi (Preface to Poetry) which equals Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads in importance, and even surpasses it in certain respects. He realized that with the impact of the West a new perspective was required. He, along with Mohammad Husain Azad (1830-1910), laid the foundations of a new poetry in 1867 under the auspices of Anjuman-e-Punjab, Lahore. Azad had asserted in the same year that Urdu poets should come out of the grooves of responses conditioned by Persian culture and root their works in the ethos of the land. Seeing no response to his pleas, he reiterated the same point seven years later on May 8, 1874 during his address on the occasion of the first mushaira of the Anjuman. These appeals failed to make and impact as sensibilities rooted in particular tradition are not easily altered even by impassioned pleas. Hali, creating a new taste for his age. Iqbal, with his remarkable religio-philosphical vision, and Josh Malihabadi (1838-1982), with his nationalistic and political fervour, produced exceptionally eloquent kinds of poetry that continue to reverberate over the years. Iqbal remained the most influential poet to achieve artistic excellence while putting forward a philosophical point of view, and his poetry, quite often, acquired the status of the accepted truth. A host of others Urdu poets and translators of English poetry who appeared on the literary scene during the first quarter of this century experimented with non-traditional poetic forms but they ultimately echoed sentiments and adopted forms that were more or less tradition-bound. They also looked towards the West, the traditional source of literary influence, but that was a world apart and too far to seek, They could reach only the Romantics who had already become outmoded in an age identified with Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. A characteristically modern poem in form and value, tone and tenor, remained at best an intriguing possibility.

Progressive Writers Movement
The 1930s emerged as the archway for entry into a new world and achieve the unachieved. Some young Indians-- Sajjad Zaheer, Mulk Raj Anand, and Mohammad Deen Taseer-- who wee then studying in London, musing on the role of literature in a fast-changing world, came up with a manifesto for what came to be known as the Progressive Writers Movement. Even before this, Sajjad Zaheer, during his stay in India had published Angare (Embers), an anthology of short stories, with explicit sexual references and an attack on the decadent moral order. The book had to be banned, like Lady Chatterley's Lover, but the stories had an impact, as they were thematically interesting and technically innovative. The reader had suddenly become exposed to the worlds of Freud, Lawrence, Joyce and Woolf. There was a world of new values waiting to be explored by an emotionally charged and intellectually agile reader. the Progressive Writers Movement was launched at the right time. This was the precise hour to shed the age-old traditions, take leave to the clichés, proposed new theories, and explore a new world order.
Akhter Husain Raipuri, in his well-timed Adab aur Inqilab (Literature and Revolution) published in 1934, discarded the classical Urdu poets, including Mir and Ghalib, as degenerate representative of a feudalistic culture. This rejection was, however, based on extra-critical considerations as he was more intent on popularizing Marxist thought in literature. Premchand's famous presidential address to the conference of Progressive Writers Association in Lucknow two years later in 1936, came as a more precise call to relate literature to social reality. ' We will have to change the standards of beauty, ' he had said, and beauty of him was that which Eliot identified as ' boredom and horror' in his own context. The movement focussed on poverty, social backwardness, decadent morality, political exploitation; it dreamt of an ideal society and a just political system.
Every rebel was, therefore, a progressive writer and vice-versa during those exhilarating days. He was basically wedded to the idea of political and social revolution. He drew his inspiration from Marx. He rejected the striving for individual signatures, new modes of expression and new experiments in form. It was important for the poet to denote rather than connote, and to appeal to the larger humanity rather than to the individual. Falling victim of these errors before long, the movement alienated some noted poets, the most important of them being N. M. Rashed (1910-75) and Miraji (1912-49), who came together to lead a group called Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq (Circle of Connoisseurs) in 1939. The progressive writers insistence on ideology and the impatience of those who cared more for art are reminiscent of the British poets of the 1930s and the later stance of W. H. Auden.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-84) is the most prominent and the finest of the poets who subscribed to the progressive ideology. he was singularly successful in striking a balance between art an ideas. He was drew upon sources other than Urdu and Persian and imparted an individual tone to his poetry. he did not raise slogans; he only uttered soft notes of expostulation. he was inspired more by the spirit of liberation than by slogans raised elsewhere. Prominent among other progressive poets were Asrarul Haq Majaz (1908-56), Makhdoom Mohiuddin (1908-69), Ali Sardar jafri (b.1913), Jan Nisar Akhter (1914-76), Kaifi Azmi (b.1918) and Sahir Ludhianawi (1921-80). They are mentioned here not only for the individual qualities of their poetry by also for their importance in this movement at a particular juncture in literary history. Despite the deep political complexion of the Progressive Writers Movement, it prominence was a short-lived affair. The next generation of poets expressed certain misgivings about their emphasis on class struggle in a materialistic and scientific world. The new poet wished to shake off all external shackles and apprehend his own experience for himself.

The modernism

N. M. Rashed and Miraji are the two most remarkable poets in this group.They along with Faiz, represent in the Urdu language what Eliot and the Symbolists do in English and French. They appeared later but also showed a unique resilience and vitality. Faiz was a poet with a message, one woven artistically into a pattern of symbols and delivered in a mellifluous tones. Rashed treated the Urdu language in a fresh way and created complex symbiotic fusion. Faiz appeals alike to the philanthropist and the philanderer, the pious and profane, the music makers and dreamers of dreams, but Rashed appeals only to a select readership. Faiz emerged as a myth in his own lifetime while Rashed and Miraji are yet to be fully appreciated. Rashed's resources are immense. The merging to the eastern and western influences accounts for the richness of his verse enhanced by linguistic innovation and poetic skill. Miraji, who reminds one of Tristan Corbiere in his bohemianism, drew upon Oriental, American and French sources, meditated upon time, death, the mystery if human desires, the raptures of sex and wrote in a variety of verse forms -- regular, free, and prose-like. He opted for esoteric symbolism, resorted to the stream-of-consciousness method and emerged as a unique modernist movement in Urdu poetry.
It was on this tradition that individual poets later developed their own version of modernism. Majeed Amjad (1914-74), Akhtarul Iman (b.1915) and Mukhtar Siddiqi (1917-72) deserves special mention here. A poem for them was a delicate work of art that succeeded or failed for its artistic worth. Akhtarul Iman wrote ironic, nostalgic and dramatic poems, while Majeed Amjad wrote in an inimitable introspective mood and ideas. They served as models for the younger poets to follow. The impact of Rashed, Miraji and Faiz was immense and far-reaching. Their successors echoed them, learnt from them and so came to acquire their own voices in course of time.
The generations of poets since the 1950s faced new predicaments. The Partition of India was an experience they had suffered, while the world around was also terribly alive and eventful. Groups of poets followed on after another; Wazir Agha (b.1922), Muneer Niyazi (b.1927), Ameeq Hanfi (1922-88), Balraj Komal (b.1928), Qazi Saleem (b.1930) grappled with the world around in an idiom and form that were decidedly new and had nothing to do with Progressive aesthetics. All of them acquired their own individual identities and made their mark in the development of modern poetry. They looked back at their won masters-- Mir and Ghalib-- and fared forward to Eliot and Empson. Modern literary and philosophical movements no longer remained alien. Realism, symbolism, existentialism, and surrealism, were drawn closer home. Kumar Pashi (1935-92), Zubair Rizvi (b.1935), Shahrayar (b.1936), Nida Fazli (b.1938) and Adil Mansoori (b.1941), on the one hand, and Gilani Kamran (b.1926), Abbas Ather (b.1934), Zahid Dar (b.1936), Saqi Farooqi (b.1936), Iftekhar Jalib (b.1936), Ahmed Hamesh (b.1937), Kishwar Naheed (b.1940) and Fehmida Reyaz (b.1946), on the other, experimented in form and technique, bringing in new diction and finding a place for new experiences. The new poem had come into being; modernism had firmly established itself by the mid-1970s.
Shaabkhoon, a literary journal, projected this movement in a big way and identified the poets of the new order. Ever since its inception in 1966, it has done a singular job -- especially during the vital 60s and 70s -- of creating a taste for modernism. Shamsur Rehman Farooqi, the most perceptive of the modern Urdu critics, played a vital role in helping recognize the contours of modernism with his critical studies. his studies appraising modern poets, as well as classical poets who bear upon the modern tradition, developed sound critical theories and helped in creating an atmosphere for the acceptance and appreciation of modernism.

Urdu Poetry in Pakistan

It may not seem quite right to speak of Urdu poetry in terms of Indian and Pakistani poetry, but it would be reasonable to say that the new urdu poetry in Pakistan is remarkable for its variety and vitality. Emerging from the common sources and traditions of history and culture, poetry in Pakistan has achieved its own frames of reference, its own tones of voice, its own notes of protest, largely because of the socio-political compulsions. Its poetics is characterized by a healthy adherence to tradition and somewhat virile improvisation of the traditional modes of expression.
The new poet in Pakistan has created his own blend of the lyrical with the prosaic, the manifest with the allegorical. he expressed his own predicament and that of the world around him which arouse both hope and fear, dreams and despair. Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Majeed Amjad and Muneer Niyazi, with their vitality and strength, have led us to the still more varied and vibrant Sermad Sehbai, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Afzal Ahmad Syed, Zeeshan Sahil and the vital feminine voices of Kishwar Nahed, Fehmida Reyaz, Nasreen Anjum Bhatti, Sara Shagufta, Shaista Habib and Azra Abbas. All these and many more form part of a formidable poetic scene. They are rich in their experience and execution and may well be placed among the prominent Third World voices that are being heard today with great curiosity and interest.
Modernism is an international phenomenon and modern Urdu poetry is a part of it. It has made its mark with its recognizably individual poetics. The Urdu poet is now free to make his choice; he has drawn upon sources both indigenous and foreign, literary and extra-literary, including philosophy, sociology and mythology. The issues regarding the form of the poem, the language, experiential capital and aesthetic dimensions have been resolved. the modern reader has finally identified his poem.
[ From the introduction to the book ' Fire and the Rose ' ]

Rahman, Anisur ; Fire and the Rose; an anthology of modern Urdu poetry; Rupa & Co. 1995.

urdu poetry of pakistan( a brief history )

A Brief History of Urdu Poetry by UrduMaza.com

Poetry is a personal and emotional genre making it difficult to truly explain what constitutes poetry; however, we can summarize it in the following definitions of poetry:

> The expression of the heart, human experience, feelings and thoughts.

> Expressing facts in appropriate words.

> A description of life written with imagination and emotion.

> The most popular genre of literature.

> The fountain to civilization, constitution and different arts and crafts.

> The concoction of all knowledge and craft.

> An element of surprise to us.

> An art through which a poet can excite the emotions and feelings of others.

> Expressing an ordinary event in an effective, heart-stealing style of writing that creates a sharp reaction in the heart and mind of the reader.

Poetry is universal as every language spoken by mankind has in it some poetic elements. Interestingly, though languages differ significantly in the manner of expression, the nature of poetic expression remains common indicating that poetry is more of a human phenomenon rather than syntactical expression. From expression of love for a woman to revolt against a regime, poetry carries in it an element of subtlety and spontaneity—something created by the environs of the poet. To understand a great poet, therefore, we must first look into his mind and his awareness of the milieu exterior. Since Ghalib, undoubtedly the greatest poet of Urdu language, expressed himself mainly through his writings of love sonnets, it is imperative that we examine the art of love sonnets, the language they are written in, and the environs that prompted these writings to understand how Ghalib became a master of this genre.

In this chapter we will examine the roots of Urdu language, Urdu poetry and particularly the genre of love sonnets, ghazals, in Urdu. The following chapter will examine the life and works of Ghalib and the third chapter will offer a broad view of Ghalib’s art of expression in love sonnets, the ghazals.

Urdu, literally meaning “camp” in Turkish, is a mixture of many tongues and languages. Muslims brought many different languages to India, and diluted India’s languages freely with words from their own. When Delhi was the seat of the Muslim Empire in the late 12th century, the languages around Delhi, mainly Brij Bhasha and Sauraseni became heavily mixed with Persian, the lingua franca of the Muslim rulers. Other languages that found their way into the languages of India were Turkish, Arabic and later English. Whereas much of the vocabulary of the original languages (Sauraseni, for example) changed, the basic grammar structure remained intact. In the 13th century, the language of India became widely known as Hindvi, Hindi, and Brij Bhasha and was written in the original devanagri script [the Sanskrit script]. The name gUrdug was given to this thriving language of the region in the period of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan (1627-1658). The language was introduced to the southern province of India, Hyderabad Deccan, by the armies and followers of the Tughlaq and Khilji kings in the 14th century. Affected by the dialects of the South, the language became known as Deccani (after Hyderabad Deccan), having adopted the Persian script and replaced Persian in offices as the official language. Since the language was written in the devanagri script for quite some time around Delhi, it had been erroneously assumed that the first Urdu poet was Amir Khusro (1253-1325) from the Deccan. The fact is many poets up in the North had already been writing Urdu poetry, namely Kabir Das, Mira Bai, Guru Nanak, Malik Mohammad Jaisi and Abdul Rahim Khan Khanan, who lived much earlier than Amir Khusro.



Urdu poetry of the Indian subcontinent as we know it today did not take its final shape until the 17th century when it was declared the official language of the court. The 18th century saw a phenomenal rise in Urdu poetry when Urdu replaced Persian as the lingua franca of the region. Urdu poetry, as it is derived from Persian, Turkish and Arabic, acquired many conventions in its poetry that came from these languages. Just as Elizabethan English is full of social and regional realities, Urdu holds a remarkable wealth of the conventions of many cultures and languages. This element got a great boost in the 18th century when there weren’t many newspapers or media of information available to the public. Urdu poetry became a more intimate form of communication regarding the social and political tribulations of the time. The commonest form of communication, in tradition with the Arabic culture, was to read poetry in gatherings, called musha’era, where poets would gather to read poems crafted in accordance with a metrical pattern, which was often prescribed beforehand. Not only did the poetry have to meet the choice of word, and the loftiness of thought but also strict metrical patterns. There were competitions like those held in ancient Greek, Roman and pre-Islamic Arabic cultures. However, the intensity and warmth of the musha’eras that developed in Delhi were indeed unique and helped popularize Urdu as the language of poetry in the Mughal Empire. A culture built around taking lessons in writing Urdu poetry became the in-thing for the royalty, and the masters of poetry were given reverence worthy of kings. In all musha’eras, the most honored of the poets would preside and the candle that was passed around to poets in the order of their rankings reached the presiding poet in the end. This impact on the tradition of respect and new cultural traits took root since the poets were held in high-esteem in those times. The royalty sought their company and poetry was sent as gift to their friends. Whereas the 18th century produced remarkable literature in Urdu, it was often lost, since only when the poets reached fame were their writings collected and published. The writings of one of the greatest poet, Nazir, were collected 80 years after his death and even the works of Zauq, the teacher of King Bahadur Shah Zafar, were destroyed during the mutiny of 1857. Some of the poems written by the King, Bahadur Shah Zafar, in exile were also lost.

Urdu poetry is based on a system of measure—it is a quantitative expression and its form is very rigid. The usual measures are nine, or more commonly eighteen, but by various permutation and combinations, they number over 800. The several forms of Urdu poetry include:

q qasida or ode of praise

q masnavi or long reflective poem and tale in verse

q marsia or elegy

q qit’a or fragment, a four line quatrain

q ruba’i or a quatrain with specific rhyme and topic

q ghazal , a lyrical poem of six to 26 lines, often longer; the word gghazalg is derived from, Arabic word, “taghazzul,” or gconversation with ladiesg or expression of love for women. The word ghazal also means the agonized cry of the gazelle. The literal meaning of ghazalg is to talk to women or to talk about them or to express love to them through the description of the condition of heart.

Whereas many poets have specialized in the specific art of writing one of the above types, most have attempted ghazal, the most popular form and those whose fame reached the greatest heights have been poets of ghazal. Since each verse of a ghazal is an independent segment and a complete description of the topic (though there may be a chain of verses with the same theme), it requires a great deal of ability to express in the fewest words the most complex emotions. Also, since the topic of ghazal is not new and just about everyone in his or her lifetime experiences affection towards the opposite sex, the style of expression for the ghazal has to be unique to make any impact. As a result, it is easy to write a common verse but almost a monumental task to create a unique one.

ªhazal became the most popular form of Persian and Urdu poetry while qasida was popular in Arabic poetry. ²asida finds its roots in tribal sentiments. The rise of Islam saw a decline in the tribal structure of the communities and more sophisticated, livelier expressions of society, the lover and the beloved became the accepted themes of poetry. That remains true today, though in its transition many thoughts of mysticism have also surfaced. The ghazal also maintains a rather platonic sense as well; juxtaposed to corporeal love, the spiritual love expressed in Urdu ghazal coexists with the mundane. Understanding an Urdu ghazal can be a daunting task for many, particularly those who are removed from the Indo-Persian and Arabic scene. The forces of images, the dreams and the strength of analogies combined with subtleties of the words as used colloquially, create the mood of the ghazal, making it almost impossible to translate the thoughts into another language, particularly the English language, which though extremely rich in vocabulary and thought, remains inadequate in expressing the nuances of a distant culture and language. [Converse will be true if one were to translate Shakespeare in Urdu.] All of this combined with extreme brevity, as a two line verse, makes it that much more difficult to understand and interpret. The poetry of Ghalib, the topic of this book, is a classical example. gUnderstanding Ghalibg can well be an oxymoron. A good ghazal has to be lived through allowing it to sink in and it cannot be read only once; it entails a slow imbibing process before the spirit of the thoughts expressed begin to guncompressg and an abstract becomes visual.

The ghazal is made up of sh’ers (verses), which consists of two hemistiches each, and may be called couplets with the difference that the two lines rhyme only in the opening verse or where they form a qit’a or a continuous ghazal. (The word sh’er is derived from the Arabic meaning “of wisdom and hence the she’r, shae’ri and mushae’ra all representing intelligence, reasoning, knowledge, and consciousness.) A verse has q¢fi¢ and radif, the rhyming and repeating words, except in the first verse, matla, where the qafia and radif are the same. The last verse is called maqta, wherein the poet normally uses his pseudonym (takhallus), often to create a meaning out of it or to construct a clever thought. The meter is also very specific for ghazals.

A difference from Western poetry arises here as the she’rs do not bear any relationship to each other and are often complete in the thought, theme or feeling they portray. Though the ghazals may often carry a theme, there are such drastic changes in expression that it often throws the Western reader totally off-guard? The measure of a ghazal remains the same and the rhyming scheme is aa, ba, ca, and so on. The popularity of Urdu ghazal comes from its varied themes. The high etiquette required in writing ghazal and the limits the themes place on the poet. The most common subjects of the ghazal are the love of the poet for his beloved, her (his, see later) indifference, the broken heart, the cruelty of fate, the difficulties in passing the night of separation; the impermanence of human glory, the instability of life, the meaning of God and so on. Many similes are used to describe the varied images and themes that form the core of Urdu ghazal. The nest is the lover’s heart, wherein the lightning (cruelty of fate) strikes, the nightingale (bulbul) loving the rose, the moth burning itself on the candle, the snare and the hunted bird, the dagger of the beloved’s eyelashes are common. Also intertwined in the varied descriptions of feelings are references to biblical prophets: Jacob’s patience and his suffering for Joseph; the beauty of Joseph; Zuleikha, the wife of Potiphar, Solomon the wise, Jesus the giver of life, Moses’ challenge to God to show Himself. Also, many anecdotal stories and themes are oft repeated: Qaroon, the rich man who was hanged for not paying taxes, the discovery and taste for good wine of the Persian Kings Jamshed, Kaikobad and Kaikhusro of Zoroastrian days, Alexander of Macedonia. Shireen and Farhad, the legendary lovers of Persia, and their Arabic counterparts, Laila and Majnoon; the warrior Sultan Mahmood Ghazni and his beloved slave, Ayaz, are some of the themes that must be well understood by the reader of Urdu poetry. In addition, the poet has many personalities, some figurative, to deal with; there is this pir who serves as a guide or mediator, trying to dissuade the lover from his insanity; the prayer cloth and the black string worn by religious men; the wine, the tavern, the goblet, the decanter appear all over. The more sublime topics include descriptions of monism, dialogue with God and assertion of Sufi doctrines. The Glossary section of the book describes details of these and many more topics of common occurrence in Urdu ghazal. The knowledge of the holy book of Islam, Qur’an, finds many references in Ghalib’s ghazal as do the vedantic beliefs and Hindu philosophy of life.

Despite the great diversity in the topics of the ghazal, the most significant mood remains melancholy and love-sick; a heart full of sadness is the prevailing theme, and rules for this were actually laid down by Arab critics Ibn-eRasheeq and Ibn-e Quddama in the 10th and 11th century; Persian poetry, which has the greatest influence on Urdu ghazal reinforced this theme. Held in supreme regard is the beloved and no expression could belittle the beloved. (However, see below how Ghalib got away with this.) The ghazal, carries a sense of nobility, idealism, sensuousness (not necessarily a sensual aura) wherein the lover is inseparable from the loved. It is more like the 16th and 17th century English lyrical poetry, wherein metaphors play a significant role. Take for example T. S. Eliot’s “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Love adduced in Urdu ghazal is always one-sided, unrequited love, idolizing and idealizing at the same time. Urdu ghazal poet is not merely creating a ghazal from its many blocks (she’rs), but representing the times he or she is living in. The vision of the poet as affected by the surroundings is very much reflected in the ghazal, a concept that is closer to Shelley’s concept wherein the poet is the “unacknowledged legislator of mankind.” Ghalib’s ghazals have also been compared to the devastating couplets of Alexander Pope

A rather touchy situation for the Western reader of Urdu poetry arises in how the male gender is used for the beloved. Translations, including this book, are difficult to do using this scheme. (As a result, I have addressed the beloved as female). The roots of this convention go back to the ancient Persians and Greeks; the Persians with their homosexual preference found the young Turkish boys taken in as slaves very attractive. In the 18th and the 19th century, it was fashionable to have these young companions as confidants, and cupbearers (saqi) to a point where the royalty began to profess their love for them rather openly. As a result, the poetry, which at that time was mainly for the consumption of the royalty, began to express the sentiments of the love of the male for the male. (The Western gay movement finds its beginning in the late 20th century.) Soon it became fashionable to address the beloved as male and the tradition continues.

Before Amir Khusro (1253-1325), the language of poetry was primarily the vernacular Brij Bhasha. Amir Khusro interspersed it with Persian as the first school of ghazal poets emerged in the Deccan during the 15th and 16th centuries. Early ghazal was somewhat free of structure and made rather simple and blunt expressions as we see in the works of the Qutub Shahi poets of the Deccan. Vali (1668-1744) contributed much to the structure of ghazal. When the works of Vali reached Delhi in 1720, the town was in an uproar and, within a decade, Urdu became a language of poetry. The works of many minor poets like Hatim, Naji, Mazmoon and Abru actually formed the groundwork that cemented the structure of Urdu poetry in the 18th century in Northern India, particularly Delhi. Urdu ghazal became heavily Persianized and led in the golden age of Urdu ghazal beginning with Mir Taqi Mir. The simplicity of emotions expressed in earlier ghazals went through a metamorphosis, leading to the works of Ghalib, perhaps the most difficult Urdu ghazal poet. This transition from the 15th to 18th century was due not only to the maturity of technique but to changes in the social order as well. For India, the 18th century was an age of transition. The last of the strong Mughal Emperors was Aurangzeb (1707), after whom there was dismemberment of the empire. The capital was invaded and destroyed by Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali, followed by others. Finally, the British crept in with their deceptive plans. All of this changed the aura of the empire, which had stifled human thought. The uncertainties of the time caused many to raise questions and a revival of the arts and literature, a sort of renaissance period, ensued for India in the 18th century. Urdu poetry benefited most from this revolution of thoughts. The doubts and the uncertainties of the 18th century continued into the 19th century, and the mutiny of 1857 against the British left many indelible marks on the social and cultural scene of Northern India, all reflected melancholically by many poets, Ghalib included. Many new constructions of language ensued using old similes. The executioner and the rival were now the British. Christ became a symbol of the ruling elite and new meaning was given to the kalisa (church). The dwindling light from the candle of the dying empire was called a candle ready to be extinguished as the weak, symbolic emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, who himself was an elite poet, tried desperately to preserve the traditions of the Mughal Empire. Mourning over lost glory became an oft-repeated topic for Urdu poetry.

In brief, Urdu ghazal finds its roots in the melancholic romantic era of the Mughal period. It was through the rise of Urdu ghazal as a medium of expression that Urdu language rose to the height of popularity and evolution in a very short time in its lifecycle.