How is Ghalib Remembered Today?

As one of the most famous poets to ever live, Mirza Ghalib's ghazals and poetry find their way into the intricate details of our lives on a daily basis. Here is a short account of his legacy and memory.

ghalib ki haveli source: hindustan times

The power of the written word, the sorrow an oeuvre can limn into our lives, and all of the emotions that words can percuss into the mundaneness of everyday life; remain factors as to why poetry continues to take the front seat for so many of us. For a city that came to life in the midst of a cultural renaissance, poetry, dance, music and art were easily the fodder for its inhabitants. Such was the cultural impact in 17th-century Delhi.

However, it wasn’t long until the magnanimity of the Mughal Empire came close to the precipice of total destruction. With the vestiges of the Empire coming to a halt in the 19th century, cultural life also saw multiple changes. Mirza Ghalib, the poet who talked about pain, suffering, happiness and life was one of the most important people at the time. So consequential were his words that Delhi-based litterateurs and aficionados find their way into the Ghalib ki Haveli even today.

Rau meñ hai raḳhsh-e-umr kahāñ dekhiye thame

ne haath baag par hai na pā hai rikāb meñ”

Time’s steed doth move apace, now where it halts,

let’s see, neither reins are held in hand, nor feet in stirrups be

Born in 1797 in Agra, Ghalib’s poetry is best described as one for every mood. Most people confuse his undying legacy with the materialistic pleasures of life, wine and women. However, the truth remains far from that. Ghalib’s oeuvre is the quintessential depiction of humanistic ideals and philosophy.

Consider this,

Wafardaari ba shart e ustuvaari asl e imaa’n hai

Marey butkhaane mein you kaabe mein gaarho barahman ko

Steadfast loyalty is the essence of faith

If the brahmin dies in his temple, bury him in the Kaaba

The arsenal of poetic and cultural treasures that Ghalib’s poetry brings forth has been recovered, recounted by several contemporaries even today. So fresh is his legacy that artists and directors recount his poetry in the most whimsical fashion.

‘Anti National Ghalib’ directed by Manisha Sinha is a play that encompasses cinema, history, literature, judicial proceedings and even politics. In tandem with the theatre of absurdity, two of the poet’s ghazals are deemed ‘anti-national’ for which he’s called to the court. The poet is then charged with several other crimes that he tries to defend with his couplets.

The gist remains that for a poet that has been gone for aeons, his legacy and words continue to reverberate in the most fantastic fashion and enthral the audience even today.