Couplet
diivaangii se dosh pe zunnaar bhii nahiiñ / yaanii hamaare jeb meñ ik taar bhii nahiiñ
Dans ma folie je n'ai même pas le cordon sacré sur l'épaule ; c'est-à-dire qu'il ne reste pas un seul fil à notre col.
— Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib مرزا اسد اللہ خاں غالبؔ
Bhairava Raga, early 1800s
From a book
نقل اشتہار در این نزدیکی بسمع مبارک نواب معلی القاب لفٹنٹ گورنر بہادر بنگال چنان رسیدہ کہ بعضے اشخاص از راہ تعصب و نادانی محض برائے حیرانی و پریشانی جمہور خلائق چند سخنان بے اصل و نالایق متعلق بمذہب و ملت و رسم و طریقت ہنود و مسلمانان چنان مشہور و اعلان کردہ…
“Copy of the Proclamation [TN: This is the proclamation of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal that Sir Syed refers to in the First Cause. It is printed in Persian at the end of the source edition and is translated here in full; the Persian original is on the facing page.] It has lately come to the hearing of His Honour…”
Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind (The Causes of the Indian Revolt)
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan · Appendix: The Lieutenant-Governor's Proclamation
Couplet
ishq mujh ko nahiiñ, vahshat hii sahii / merii vahshat tirii shohrat hii sahii
Ce n'est pas l'amour que je ressens ; disons la folie, alors ; que ma folie soit ta renommée.
— Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib مرزا اسد اللہ خاں غالبؔ
Posthumous portrait of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (reigned 1719–1748) holding a falcon (recto), 1764
Quick quiz
“I will not go.” (a man)
Continue reading this book
Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind (The Causes of the Indian Revolt)
اسباب بغاوت ہند
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan · Appendix: The Lieutenant-Governor's Proclamation
Read chapter 9About the book
Couplet
Ghalib, the path to annihilation is always before my eyes, for it is the binding that holds the scattered pages of the world together.
— Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib مرزا اسد اللہ خاں غالبؔ
Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil window, c. 1765
From a book
خدا معلوم انہوں نےمحاوروں کی کوئی فرہنگ تیار کر رکھی تھی یا کیا! ایسے ایسے محاورے ان کی زبان اور قلم سے نکل جاتے تھے جو نہ کبھی دیکھے نہ سنے۔
“God knows whether he had compiled some dictionary of idioms, or what! Such idioms would come from his tongue and pen as one had never seen nor heard. The flow and spontaneity of his prose would be hard to match anywhere else; but as he went along he did not merely scatter pebbles of Arabic words in the road, he set…”
Dr. Nazir Ahmad ki Kahani (The Story of Dr Nazir Ahmad): A Pupil's Memoir
Mirza Farhatullah Baig · Translations, Prizes and the Edinburgh Gowns
Couplet
No scheme can stop my wandering in the desert: there is a whirl in my feet, not a chain.
— Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib مرزا اسد اللہ خاں غالبؔ
Posthumous portrait of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (reigned 1719–1748) holding a falcon (recto), 1764
Quick quiz
What does کم از کم (kam az kam) mean?
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