Mirza Ghalib

Ghalib (1797-1869) is undoubtedly one of the greatest Indian poets. Playful yet complex, simple and yet erudite, Ghalib’s poetry mixes metaphors, ignores the rules of grammar, shuns ornamentation and takes recourse to linguistic innovations to ponder over issues of life, death, love and God. The present translation of two hundred couplets from the Urdu Diwan seeks to combine the music of Galib’s poetry with a probing into his thoughts.