Mirza Ghalib remembered on his 151st death anniversary today

ISLAMABAD: The 151st death anniversary of classical Urdu poet Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was observed on Saturday.

Ghalib wrote hundreds of Ghazals during his life which have since been interpreted and sung in many different ways, Radio Pakistan reported.

Mirza Ghalib was considered one of the most popular and influential poets of the Urdu language in South Asia.

He used his pen-names of Ghalib and Asad. His honorific was Dabir-ul-Mulk, Najm-ud-Daula.

Mirza Ghalib was born on December 27, 1797 in  Agra (India) into a family descended from Aibak Turks who moved to Samarkand (in modern-day Uzbekistan) after the downfall of the Seljuk kings. 

During his lifetime, the already declining Mughal empire was eclipsed and displaced by the Colonial British Raj and finally deposed following the defeat of the Indian rebellion of 1857, are some of the events that he described through his work.

Most notably, he wrote in both Urdu and Persian. His Persian Divan is at least five times longer than his Urdu but his fame rests on his poetry in Urdu.

He died on this day at the age of 71 in New Delhi in 1869.