Selected Poems and Letters

2017·4.57 MB·English

by  Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib

Ghalib
TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS
TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS
Editorial Board
Wm. Theodore de Bary, Chair
Paul Anderer
Donald Keene
George A. Saliba
Haruo Shirane
Burton Watson
Wei Shang
GHALIB
Selected Poems and Letters
Edited and translated by
Frances W. Pritchett and Owen T. A. Cornwall
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK
Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given by the Pushkin Fund in
the publication of this book.
Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2017 Frances W. Pritchett and Owen T. A. Cornwall All rights reserved EISBN 978-0-231-
54400-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ghalib, Mirza Asadullah Khan, 1797-1869,
author. | Pritchett, Frances W., 1947-editor, translator. | Cornwall, Owen T. A., editor, translator. | Ghalib,
Mirza Asadullah Khan, 1797-1869. Works. Selections. | Ghalib, Mirza Asadullah Khan, 1797-1869. Works.
Selections. English.
Title: Ghalib : selections from his Urdu poetry and prose / edited and translated by Frances W. Pritchett
and Owen T.A. Cornwall.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2017. | Series: Translations from the Asian classics |
English translation and Urdu text. | Includes bibliographical references, appendices, glossary, and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016028955 (print) | LCCN 2016048551 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231182065 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231182065 (electronic) Classification: LCC PK2198.G4 A2 2017 (print) | LCC PK2198.G4 (ebook) |
DDC 891.4/3913—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028955
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at cup-
[email protected].
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Ghalib’s Life and Times
PART ONE: GHAZALS
PART TWO: GHAZAL VERSES
PART THREE: OTHER GENRES
1. Poems
Qaṣīdas (Odes)
An ode in praise of the Prophet (1821)
An ode in praise of a sleek betel nut (1826)
An ode in praise of the king (1852)
Rubāʿīs (Quatrains)
A quatrain on childhood and old age (1816)
A quatrain on “speaking the difficult” (1821)
A quatrain on fireworks and passion (1833)
2. Letters
To Tafta (1858), about the terrible losses of 1857
To Mihr (1859), about Ghalib’s appearance
To Mihr (1860), about the long-ago cruel dancing girl
To Mihr (1860), about being a sugar fly, not a honey fly
To Ala’i (1861), about the poet’s life as a captive
3. Prose
Preface to a Romance (1866)
Notes
Appendix 1. Ghalib’s Comments on His Own Verses
Appendix 2. Ghalib Concordance, with Standard Divan Numbers
Glossary of Technical Terms and Proper Names
Bibliography
Index
Urdu Text
Acknowledgments
Ghalib loved and cherished his friends, and we want to offer a toast
to ours. We owe to Shamsur Rahman Faruqi a larger debt than we
can describe. We thank Aftab Ahmad, Allison Busch, Arthur Dudney,
Satyanarayana Hegde, Pasha M. Khan, C. M. Naim, Sean Pue, Dalpat
Rajpurohit, and Zahra Sabri for their advice, help, and moral
support; we also offer a libation to the memory of Aditya Behl. We
thank Sheldon Pollock for encouraging us to undertake this project.
Finally, Jennifer Crewe and the staff of Columbia University Press
have been a pleasure to work with, and we are greatly in their debt.
Introduction
Ghalib’s Life and Times
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Mughal empire,
once in control of almost the entire Indian subcontinent, was
hanging by a thread. The repeated invasions by Iranians, Afghans,
and Marathas in the course of the eighteenth century had left the
Mughal emperors in possession of little beyond the imperial Red
Fort in Delhi and their title. In 1803, the British East India Company
officers with their Indian sepoy army captured Delhi and
consolidated their hold on North India. From then on, the Mughal
emperors were British pensioners.
The traditional date of Ghalib’s birth is 1797, in Agra, into a family
of Turkish descent and military background.1 Ghalib’s father died
when the boy was only five, and the family was supported by an
uncle, Nasrullah Beg Khan. This uncle, having surrendered the Agra
fort to the British in 1803, joined the East India Company army.
When he died in 1806, Ghalib was entitled to a significant portion of
his British pension, but another, better-connected relative diverted
much of it. For decades Ghalib petitioned the indifferent British
bureaucracy for his rightful share, even making an arduous but