ASAD - 26

Originally posted on rec.music.indian.misc in 1995

Who is known as "Shehenshaah" of GHazal? No. It's not GHalib, as many would like it to be. That includes me too. So I was surprised, when a very kowledgeable person told me that it's "'Mir' Taqi Mir"! Do you remember yesterday's Sher ? :-)

Why? Because Mir was the "chief" architect responsible for giving GHazal the beauty it has. With him started the Golden Period of GHazal. He gave it the present form, and induced the "dard" and "nazaakat" in GHazal. His Shayari was simple and elegant. It never fails to touch your heart.

Although it's not possible to include all the examples in this series, I will try to make the point with a couple of his Shers in coming days.

Isaa = "Isaa Messiah" or Jesus Christ. Here it should be taken as just Messiah or "healer".

baad marane ke, meri Kabr par wo aayaa 'Mir'
yaad aayi hai, mere Isaa ko dawaa, mere baad
- 'Mir' Taqi Mir

This idea of "bahut der karadi" has been used quite often since this Sher, but still the Sher has the power of "dard" to touch you.

- Abhay.
ASAD _also_ stands for "A Sher A Day" !


UPDATE : Ali Sardar Jafri in his compilation of Deewan-e-Mir casts doubts on this sher being written by 'Mir' Taqi Mir.