Ghazals of Ghalib - Paperback

by Sasha Newborn (Translator), Ghalib (Author)

New Compare this edition with six others at http: //www.bandannabooks.com/vsghalib.php. Ghalib, a court poet in India during the period of British takeover, excelled in poetry both in Urdu and Persian. Ghazals are a poetry genre with couplets gathered that share a common theme but do not form a narrative sequence. With these two-liners, Ghalib was a master. His subjects range from personal to cosmic, and includes his metaphoric "love affair" with God, in which he protests the neglect or spurning by The Beloved. Ghalib lived by his wits, with cleverness and astuteness. He did not regard himself as a mystic, yet he marvels at the wonders of existence. Ghalib's work gives a sense of the state of India as it came under the British. He himself was not political; Gandhi came to represent that dimension of Indian philosophy with satyagraha. Gandhi's best thought might be seen in Gandhi on the Gita (Bhagavad Gita) (www.createspace.com/4035181).

Author Biography

Ghalib (Mirza Asadullah Khan) was born in 1797 with Seljuk Turk ancestry. His father and uncle led mercenary troops for various Indian rajahs, but both died by the time Ghalib was nine years old. By assiduous work, he eventually became a respected court poet. He lived through the Sepoy Mutiny of four months, later writing about it, as the British regained control of India. He claimed to be free from the bonds of convention and every religion. He died at age 73.