An event titled “Bayad-e-Ghalib” was organized in memory of the great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib under the auspices of the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi on Tuesday at the Haseena Moin Hall. At the event, renowned poetess Zehra Nigah and distinguished scholar and critic Dr. Khurshid Rizvi discussed Mirza Ghalib’s personality, thought, and art in detail, while the event was moderated by Arts Council President Muhammad Ahmed Shah.
Dr. Rizvi, expressing his views, said that Ghalib’s extraordinary position in Urdu literature is self-evident. He said that Ghalib possessed a unique style in both poetry and prose, the likes of which are not found elsewhere in the Urdu literary tradition. He pointed out that the poet Iqbal had also alluded to the timeless freshness of Ghalib’s thought.
According to Dr. Rizvi, a prominent quality of the poet was his ability to encapsulate immense detail with brevity; he would often narrate an entire story in one or two couplets. He added that Ghalib’s letters comprise the most spontaneous prose in Urdu, characterized by a simplicity and natural flow that is hard to find elsewhere. Ghalib primarily emphasized the Persian language, in which he achieved great mastery.
The honorable poetess Zehra Nigah described Mirza Ghalib as a poet known throughout the world, with his global greatness evidenced by the more than three hundred books written about him. She shared a personal impression, saying, “When I opened Ghalib’s divan, I felt I would have to place a finger on every word to understand it, and even today at this age, I have not been able to fully understand Ghalib.”
Ms. Nigah explained that Ghalib’s letters narrate the history of the 1857 era, and the painful times he went through proved beneficial for his poetry, although he did not receive the fame he deserved in his lifetime. She said that although great poets often emerge from hardship, “Mirza Ghalib will never grow old” and he will live on as long as new ideas continue to emerge. Ms. Nigah also recited Ghalib’s couplets to the audience.
The host of the event, Arts Council President Muhammad Ahmed Shah, paid tribute to Ghalib, calling him Urdu’s “greatest and first stylistic poet.” He cited researcher Rasheed Hasan Siddiqui, who had described the Urdu language, Mirza Ghalib, and the Taj Mahal as the three great gifts of the Mughals to India. Mr. Shah said that Ghalib departed from tradition to forge a new path in literature, establishing a distinct style in both prose and poetry.
Mr. Shah concluded by saying that Ghalib’s letters serve as a complete autobiography and suggested that the poet’s often-mentioned “social and moral weaknesses” were, in fact, the true source of his poetic greatness and intellectual stature, which granted him an immortal place in Urdu literature.
The event was attended by numerous personalities from the world of art and literature, including Fatima Hassan, Shahid Rassam, Huma Mir, Amjad Shah, and Mazhar Abbas. In the end, Muhammad Ahmed Shah presented bouquets to Zehra Nigah and Dr. Khurshid Rizvi on behalf of the Arts Council.