Wali Mohammed Wali: Life and Ghazals

Wali was born in 1667 at Aurangabad, an important town in the present Maharashtra State. He loved travelling, which he regarded as a means of education.

If, on the one hand, Wali unravelled the beauty and richness of the native language as a poetic medium, on the other, he was alive to the vigour and verve of Persian diction and imagery which he successfully incorporated into the body of his verse. He may thus be called the architect of the modern poetic language, which is a skilful blend of Hindi and Persian vocabulary. Although Wali tried his hand at a variety of verse forms including the masnavi, qasida, mukhammas, and the rubai, the ghazal is his speciality. He wrote 473 ghazals containing 3,225 verses.

His favorite theme is love - both mystical and earthy - and his characteristic tone is one of cheerful affirmation and acceptance, rather than of melancholy grumbling. He was the first Urdu poet to have started the practice of expressing love from the man's point of view, as against the prevailing convention of impersonating as a woman.

Wali died in Ahmedabad in 1707, and was buried in the same city.

Some of Wali's ghazals

· Yaad karna har ghari us yaar ka

· Uskon haasil kyonke hoe jag mein faraagh-e-zindagi

· Jise ishq ka tir kaari lage

Yaad karna har ghari us yaar ka
Hai wazifa mujh dil-e-bimaar ka.

Aarzoo-e-chasma-e-kausar nahin
Tishna-lab hun sharbat-e-didaar ka.

Aakbat kya howega maalum nahin
Dil hua hai mubtla dildaar ka.

Kya kahe tarif dil, hai be nazir,
Harf harf us makhzan-e-israar ka.

Gar hua hai taalib-e-aazadgi,
Band mat ho subba-o-zunnaar ka.

Masnad-e-gul manzil-e-shabanam hui,
Dekh rutba dida-e-bedaar ka.

Ai Wali hona srijan par nisaar,
Mudda hai chashm-e-gohar baar ka.

Uskon haasil kyonke hoe jag mein faraagh-e-zindagi,
Gardash-e-iflaak hai jis kon ayaag-e-zindagi.

Ai azizaan sair-e-gulshan hai gul-e-daagh-e-alam,
Suhbat-e-ahabaab hai maani mein baagh-e-zindagi.

Lab hain tere filhaqiqat chashma-e-aab-e-hayaat,
Khizr-e-khat ne us son paaya hai suraagh-e-zindagi.

Jab son dekha nain nazarbhar kaakul-e-mushkin-e-yaar,
Tab son jion sumble pareshaan hai dimaagh-e-zindagi.

Aasmaan meri nazar mein kuba-e-taarik hai,
Gar na dekhun tujkon ai chashm-o-chiraagh-e-zindagi.

Lala-e-khunin kaffin ke haal son zaahir hua,
Bastgi hai khaal son khubaan ke daagh-e-zindagi.

Kyon na howe ai Wali roshan shab-e-qadar-e-hayaat,
Hai nigah-e-garam-e-gul ruan chiraagh-e-zindagi.

Jise ishq ka tir kaari lage,
Use zindagi kyon na bhaari lage.

Na chhore mahabbat dam-e-marg lag,
Jise yaar jaani son yaari lage.

Na hoe use jag mein hargiz qaraar,
Jise ishq ki beqaraari lage.

Har ik waqt mujh aashq-e-paak kon,
Piare teri baat piari lage.

Wali kon kahe tu agar ek bachan,
Raqibaan ke dil mein kataari lage.