Mirza Ghalib

Mirza Ghalibs original Takhallus (pen-name) was Asad, derived from his name, Asadullah Khan. Later he also decided to adopt the takhallus ‘Ghalib’ which means one who conquers all, superior, most excellent.

The legend has it that he changed his pen name to ‘Ghalib‘ when he came across this sher (couplet) written by another poet:

Asad us jafaa par butoN say wafaa ki
mire sher shabaash rahmat Khudaa ki

Translated Version:

Asad worshipped idols after being betrayed.
my poems(thank you,)are, the mercy of GOD.

In or around 1810, two events of great importance occured in Ghalib’s life: he was married to a well-to-do, educated family of nobles, and he left for Delhi. One must remember that Ghalib was only thirteen at the time. It is impossible to say when Ghalib started writing poetry. Perhaps it was as early as his seventh or eight years. On the other hand, there is evidence that most of what we know as his complete works were substantially completed by 1816, when he was 19 years old, and six years after he first came to Delhi. We are obviously dealing with a man whose maturation was both early and rapid. We can safely conjecture that the migration from Agra, which had once been a capital but was now one of the many important but declining cities, to Delhi, its grandeur kept intact by the existence of the moghul court, was an important event in the life of this thirteen year old, newly married poet who desparately needed material security, who was beginning to take his career in letters seriously, and who was soon to be recognized as a genius, if not by the court, at least some of his most important comtemporaries. As for the marriage, in the predominantly male-oriented society of Muslim India no one could expect Ghalib to take that event terribly seriously, and he didn’t. The period did, however mark the beginnings of concern with material advancement that was to obsess him for the rest of his life.

The question of Ghalib’s early education has often confused Urdu scholars. Although any record of his formal education that might exist is extremely scanty, it is also true that Ghalib’s circle of friends in Delhi included some of the most eminent minds of his time. There is, finally, irrevocably, the evidence of his writings, in verse as well as in prose, which are distinguished not only by creative excellence but also by the great knowledge of philosophy, ethics, theology, classical literature, grammar, and history that they reflect. I think it is reasonable to believe that Mulla Abdussamad Harmuzd — the man who was supposedly Ghalib’s tutor, whom Ghalib mentions at times with great affection and respect, but whose very existence he denies — was, in fact, a real person and an actual tutor of Ghalib when Ghalib was a young boy in Agra. Harmuzd was a Zoroastrian from Iran, converted to Islam, and a devoted scholar of literature, language, and religions. He lived in anonymity in Agra while tutoring Ghalib, among others.