GLOBALCULTURZ ISSN:2582-6808 Vol.II No.1 January-April 2021
Article-ID 202101228 Pages270-275 Language:Hindi Domain of Study: Humanities & Social Sciences Sub-Domain: History Title: Ghalib and His Literature: A Source of Dilli’s History
Manish Karmwar Assistant Professor, SLCe College, University of Delhi (India)
[E-mail: manishkarmwar@gmail.com [[M:+91-9818014416]
Note in English
History of Delhi and Ghalib
I ASKED MY SOUL: WHAT IS DELHI?
SHE REPLIED: THE WORLD IS BODY AND DELHI ITS LIFE.
Abstract— Mirza Ghalib is Delhi’s true metaphor. He loved the city very much was a quintessential witness of a transition occurring in British Delhi. His life was greatly affected by this transition. Ghalib’s writings, reactions, letters and analysis; though they were for different motive but they shaped a true source of history of Delhi. This paper has tried to examine Ghalib’s life was a witness to the changes happening in 19th century in Delhi. He began writing letters in Urdu around 1847. He quit the old-fashioned way of writing letters that essentially meant long salutations and tortuous language and instead went for a very lively and frank style. This paper has discussed the contributions of Mirza Ghalib as Delhi’s metaphor and also review the Literature of Ghalib as a source of Delhi’s history Pre- and Post-1857. Ghalib lived in the city of Delhi, saw with his own eyes madness and mayhem descend upon the streets of his beloved city and witnessed the siege and slaughter of an entire way of life. This work also elaborates the contradictions of the society of Delhi reflected in the life and work of Ghalib..
Keywords— Delhi, Mirza Ghalib, British India,1857, Urdu letters.
GHALIB AND HIS EARLY DAYS
Ghalib was born in Agra on 27 December 1797. His links with Agra were however not ancestral. His grandfather, Quqan Beg Khan, Ghalib claimed had come to India from Samarqand. Khan was a military adventurer employed at different times with the Governor of Punjab, the Mughal Abdullah Beg Khan and Nasrullah Beg Khan, followed in their father’s footsteps. It was both an uncertain and a dangerous profession. We have seen, Ghalib was hardly four when his father died. After his death, Nasrullah Beg took his brother’s family in his care, consisting of Ghalib, his younger brother and sister.