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.

Upon hearing this sher, Ghalib exclaimed, “whoever has written this couplet deserve the Lord’s rahmat (mercy) for composing such an excellent Urdu poetry), and If I use his takhallus Asad, then people will mistake his couplet to be mine. And so he changed his takhallus to ‘Ghalib’.

Although it appears that takhallus ‘Asad’ appears more infrequently in Ghalib’s work than ‘Ghalib’, and did not seem to prefer either one over the other.