Saturday, December 17, 2005

Great Urdu Poets: Ghazals Across Centuries, Poets' Chronological Listing and History

Mirza Ghalib

Urdu poetry has a unique appeal that cuts across languages, regions and countries. Millions who can't read the script, enjoy the 'shayri' and quote couplets.

The aim is to bring a representative collection of great poets and most of the gems of Urdu poetry to you both in Urdu [Perso-Arabic], devanagari and Roman Scripts.

The poets' names are in chronological order*. From Wali Dakani, the pioneering poet, to the giants of Urdu poetry like Mir Taqi Mir, Ghalib, Zauq, Momin, Zafar and later Dagh, the ghazals are posted.

Subsequently, Iqbal, Jigar Muradabadi, Josh Malihabadi, Majaz, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Ali Sardar Jafri, Majrooh Sultanpuri and contemporary poets of India and Pakistan. 
The focus will be on providing at least one verse of each poet--not quantity, but representation of most poets from different era and quality. The links will take you to their ghazals on the blog BESTGHAZALS.



I
Vali Dakani [also spelt as Wali Dakni, Dakhni] Click

II
Shah Hatim
Mirza Mazhar Jan Janaan Click
Mulla Vajahi
Ghawasi
Nishati

III
Mir [Meer Taqi Meer] Click
Mirza Rafi Sauda Click
Khwaja Meer Dard Click
Shekh Mohammad Qaa'em Chandpuri Click
Mir Abdul Hai Tabaan
Inamullah Khan Yaqeen
Siraj Aurangabadi Click
Mir Taqi Mir

IV
Shekh Ghulam Hamdani Mushafi Click
Sheikh Qalandar Bakhsh Jurat
Syed Inshallah Khan Insha  Click
Wali Mohammad Nazir Akbarabadi Click

V
Shekh Imam Baksh Nasikh Click
Shekh Haidar Ali Aatish Click

VI
Shah Naseer
Sheikh Ibrahim Zauq Click
Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib Click
Hakim Momin Khan Momin Click
Sirajuddin Khan Bahadur Shah Zafar Click

Sadruddin Azurda
Mustafa Khan Shefta



VII
Khwaja Mohammad Wazir
Daya Shankar Nasim
Syed Muzaffar Ali Asir
Arshad Ali Qalaq
Wazir Ali Saba
Mohammad Khan Rind
Syed Ismail Husain Munir Shikohabadi Click
Nizam Rampuri Click
BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR




VIII
Munshi Amir Ahmad Amir Minai Click
Nawab Mirza Khan Daagh Dehlvi  Click
Meer Mehdi Majrooh
Syed Zamin Ali Jalal Lucknowi
Munshi Amirullah Taslim Lakhnawi
Mohammad Ali Tishna
Khawaja Altaf Husain Haali Click



DAAGH DEHLVI
IX
Syed Akbar Husain Rizvi Akbar Allahabadi Click
Pundit Brij Narayan Chakbast Click
Syed Ali Mohammad Shad Azimabadi Click
Mirza Mohammed Hadi Ruswa Click
Riyaz Khairabadi
Muztar Khairabadi Click
Jalil Hasan Jalil Manikpuri
Hafiz Jaunpuri Click
Nuh Narvi Click
Syed Ali Taqi Zaidi Safi Lucknowi Click
Mirza Muhammad Hadi Aziz Lakhnavi Click
Mirza Zakir Husain Saqib Lakhnawi  Click
Tilok Chand Mahroom
Josh Malsiyani
Jafar Ali Khan Asar Lakhnavi
Pt Brij Narain Chakbast

X
Syed Fazlul Hasan Hasrat Mohani Click
Asghar Husain Asghar Gondvi Click
Shaukat Ali Faani Badauni Click
Ali Sikandar Jigar Muradabadi Click
Mirza Yaas Yagaana Changezi Click
Syed Anwar Husain Aarzoo Lakhnawi
Ameer Kazim Ali 'Jamil' Mazhari Click
Mohammad Ali Jauhar Click






IQBAL

XI
Dr Sir Sheikh Mohammad Iqbal 'Iqbaal' Click
Josh Malihabadi, Shabbir Hasan Khan Click
Firaq Gorakhpuri, Raghupati Sahai Click
Seemab Akbarabadi, Ashiq Husain 'Seemab' Click
Hafiz Jalandhari Click
Akhtar Sheerani Click
Saghar Nizami
Ravish Siddiqui
Anand Narain Mulla
Ahsan Danish Click
Pundit Harichand Akhtar Click
Arsh Malsiyani
Mohammad Deen Taseer Click
Saifuddin Saif
Abdul Hamid Adam Click
Shad Arfi


JOSH MALIHABADI



XII
Faiz Ahmad Faiz Click
Asrarul Haq Majaz Click
Moin Ahsan Jazbi Click
Makhdum Mohiuddin Click
Ali Sardar Jafri Click
JaaN Nisaar Akhtar Click
Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi Click
Kaifi Azmi Click
Saahir Ludhianvi Click
Ali Jawwad Zaidi
Majrooh Sultanpuri Click
Ghulam Rabbani Tabaan
Sikandar Ali Wajd Click

Sanaullah Saani Daar 'Miraji' Click
Noon Meem Rashid [NM Rashid] Click

Ejaz Siddiqui
Shamim Karhani
Khurshid Ahmad Jami

KAIFI AZMI
Nazish Pratapgarhi
Nushoor Vahidi Click
Qateel Shifai  Click
Sahir Ludhianvi Click
Majeed Amjad
Gopal Mittal
Maikash Akbarabadi
Aal Ahmad Suroor
Jagannath Azad Click
Salam Machhlishahri
Akhatrul Iman Click
Akhtar Saeed Khan Click

POST PARTITION

NIDA FAZLI
MODERN ERA

Nasir Kazmi Click 
Irfan Siddiqui Click
Shakeb Jalali Click
Ahmad Faraz Click
Shaharyar Click
Nida Fazli Click
Rajendra Manchanda 'Bani' Click
Ahmad Mushtaq Click
Jaun Elia Click
Parvin Shakir Click
Abdullah Kamal Click
Abdul Ahad Saz Click


Shahzad Ahmad, Aziz Qaisi, Prem Varbartni, Makhmur Saeedi, Mazhar Imam, Hamdi Kashmiri, Sultan Akhtar, Prakash Fikri, Shaz Tamkanat, Taj Bhopali, Waheed Akhtar, Unwaan Chishti and Irtiza Nishaat. 

[*The chronological order is to give you an insight regarding the development of Urdu language and its poetry.]