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== SOURCES IN ENGLISH == SOURCES IN URDU ==

The primary Urdu text source

As the primary text source, I use kulliyaat-e miir , jild-e avval , mukammal chhih diivaan-e ;Gazaliyaat , ed. by :zill-e ((abbaas ((abbaasii , corrected and augmented by a;hmad ma;hfuu:z under the supervision of S. R. Faruqi (New Delhi: qaumii kaunsil baraa-e furo;G-e urduu , 2013). The first edition was 1983 [on the rekhta.org site], the second was 2003, and the third was 2013.

IF YOU KNOW URDU AND ARE AT ALL SERIOUS ABOUT MIR, you'll want to buy this gold-standard edition of vol. 1 (which contains all the ghazals) of the Kulliyat before it goes out of print. I suggest emailing <custserv@dkagencies.com> and ordering it. In my own commentary I refer to this 2013 edition as 'the kulliyat'.

Let's be grateful that Ahmad Mahfuz and SRF have had the good sense not to inflict on us their own choice of short-vowel marks or izafats (not to speak of the horrible vexation of English-style punctuation!). Such interpolations are annoying in themselves, and also frequently deceive naive readers into thinking that they were actually provided by the poet. Thus Mahfuz/Faruqi kulliyat editions are not only excellently accurate, but are also as ambiguous as Mir wanted them to be. If only the editors of Ghalib had had the same fine judgment!




SOURCES IN ENGLISH (and beyond)

Ahmed Ali, 'The Anguished Heart: Mir and the Eighteenth Century', from The Golden Tradition: An Anthology of Urdu Poetry, selected, translated, and with an introduction by Ahmed Ali. New York: Columbia University Press, 1973. Pp. 23-54: [on this site]

Faruqi, Shamsur Rahman. Mir Taqi Mir: Selected Ghazals and Other Poems, translated by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2019. Murty Classical Library of India; Sheldon Pollock, General Editor.

Faruqi, Shamsur Rahman, 'The Poet in the Poem; or, Veiling the Utterance.' From A Wilderness of Possibilities: Urdu Studies in Transnational Perspective (a festschrift in honor of C. M. Naim). Ed. by Kathryn Hansen and David Lelyveld. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 173-91. DRAFT version, rather than the final published form: [on this site]. A finalized version published later: [on this site]

Faruqi, Shamsur Rahman. *Mir and Ghalib: Comparisons*, some thoughts from the introduction to Shi'r-e shor-angez vol. 1, in my translation.

Faruqi, Shamsur Rahman. This article in PDF form contains a good deal of discussion of Mir's poetics, through an analysis of his tazkirah: 'A Long History of Urdu Literary Culture, Part 2'.

Garcin de Tassy, M., trans. and ed., intro. Conseils aux Mauvais Poetes, Poeme de Mir Taki. Paris: Dondey-Dupre, 1826. [French]

Kanda, K. C., trans. and intro. Mir Taqi Mir: Selected Poetry. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1997.

Kumar, Ish. Mir Taqi Mir. New Delhi: Sahitya Academy, 1996 [1982].

Matringe, Denis, trans and ed. Masnavis: Poemes d'amour de l'Inde moghole par Mir Taqi "Mir." Paris: Gallimard, 1993. [Translations of daryaa-e ((ishq and mu((aamilaat-e ((ishq .]

Naim, C. M., trans. and ed., intro. Zikr-i Mir: The Autobiography of the Eighteenth Century Mughal Poet: Mir Muhammad Taqi 'Mir'. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999. Now available online through *Hathi Trust Digital Library*.

Naim, C. M., 'Mir and his Patrons' and 'Mir on his Patrons', in Annual of Urdu Studies 14 (1999): *part one* and *part two*.

Naim, C. M., 'Mir in "Fact" and Fiction', in Annual of Urdu Studies 24 (2009).

Narang, Gopi Chand. The Hidden Garden: Mir Taqi Mir. Surinder Deol, trans. New Delhi: Viking India, 2021.

Noble, James. The Orientalist: or, Letters from a Rabbi (Edinburgh, 1831): [site]; on Mir see Chapter XVIII, pp. 285-296.

Pritchett, Frances W., 'Convention in the Classical Urdu Ghazal: the Case of Mir,' Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 3,1 (Fall 1979):60-77: [on this site]

Pritchett, Frances W., 'A Long History of Urdu Literary Culture, Part 2', Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia, ed. Sheldon Pollock. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Pp. 864-911: a DRAFT version is [on this site]. (The article discusses Mir's tazkirah.)

Pritchett, Frances W., in association with S. R. Faruqi, trans. and ed. Ab-e Hayat: Shaping the Canon of Urdu Poetry. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001. A slightly corrected version of this work is online through DSAL, with page numbers linked to the original Urdu text. The discussion of Mir is here.

Pritchett, Frances W., 'Mir as Suffering Curmudgeon: a Historical Hatchet Job.' Urdu and Indo-Persian Thought, Poetics, and Belles Lettres (a festschrift in honor of S. R. Faruqi). Ed. by Alireza Korangy. Pp. 167-178.  Leiden: Brill, 2017; *a draft version* (with accurate diacritics)

Robinson, Francis. 'Glimpses of a lost world' (A review of C. M. Naim's translation of Zikr-e Mir), Times Online, Mar. 31, 2000: [site]

Russell, Ralph, and Khurshidul Islam. Three Mughal Poets: Mir, Sauda, Mir Hasan. Foreword by Annemarie Schimmel. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968. Chapter 4: 'The Love Poetry of Mir'; Chapter 5: 'Mir and the Lover's Way of Life'; Chapter 6: 'Mir: the Man and his Age': [on this site]; 'Appendix: A Complete Ghazal of Mir': [on this site].

Sabri, Zahra. 'Mir Taqi Mir's Zikr-i Mir: An Account of the Poet or an Account by the Poet?' The Medieval History Journal 18,2 (2015). Pp. 214-249: [on this site].

Sadiq, Muhammad. A History of Urdu Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984 [first ed. 1964]. Discussion of Mir: pp. 127-38: [on this site]

Saxena, Ram Babu. A History of Urdu Literature. Allahabad, 1927. On Mir: pp. 70-80: [on this site]. (This was the first history of Urdu literature to be written in English.)

Verma, Rajinder Singh, trans. and ed. Pick of Mir. Foreword by Gopi Chand Narang. Afterword by Mulk Raj Anand. New Delhi: Enkay Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1989.
 

 

SOURCES IN URDU


Main text source: [see above]

Commentarial source: Faruqi, Shamsur Rahman. shams ul-ra;hmaan faaruuqii -- Tumultuous Poetry: A Selection and Detailed Examination of the Ghazals of Mir / shi((r-e shor-angez ; ;Gazaliyaat-e miir kaa inti;xaab aur mufa.s.sal mu:taali((ah -- New Delhi: qaumii kaunsil baraa-e furo;G-e urduu , third edition, with additions and corrections, 2006 (vol. 1); 2007 (vol. 2); 2008 (vol. 3); 2008 (vol. 4). Second edition: New Delhi: Taraqqi Urdu Bureau, 1997 (vol. 1); 1997 [1992] (vol. 2); 1997 [1992] (vol. 3); 1997 [1994] (vol. 4). First edition: 1990. NOTE: The volumes of the *second edition* are now available on rekhta.org: *volume 1*; *volume 2*; *volume 3*; *volume 4*. (The third edition contains some new material that is not found in the second edition.)

In my own commentary I refer to this work (using of course the THIRD, most recent, 2006, edition) as 'SSA'. Since SSA doesn't follow divan order but goes letter by letter, and since it uses only its own internal numbering system, serious readers will want to consult *this concordance*.

Internal references to the introductions to SSA (3rd edition):
=Introduction to volume 1: {14,7}; {255,2}; {354,4}; {380,2}; {389,7}; {423,11}; {595,8}; {930,1}; {949,1}; {1040,4}; {1047,10}; {1080,5}; {1176,2}; {1176,5}; {1176,9}; {1213,1}; {1256,5}; {1256,6}; {1658,1}; {1719,3}
=Introduction to volume 2: {1112,9}
=Introduction to volume 3: {1039,1}
=Introduction to volume 4: {1740,1}

Because of the importance of S. R. Faruqi's work for this website, his own advice about resources is of great interest. He names (SSA 1:15-16) as his three favorite anthologies [inti;xaab]: that of Asar Lakhnavi [a;sar lakhnavii], called The Relish of Mir [mazah-e miir]; that of Muhammad Hasan Askari [mu;hammad ;hasan ((askarii], which was published in a special number of the journal saaqii ; and above all that of Sardar Jafari [sardaar ja((farii].

Most fundamentally, here is his own list of the sources he used for his own commentary (SSA 1:20-21):

1) The Fort William edition [nus;xah-e for;T vilyam] (Calcutta 1811). 'This edition was presented to me by my dear friend Nisar Ahmad Faruqi. At the expense of his own work, he let the edition remain with me for a long period. I am grateful to him.'

2) The Naval Kishor edition [nus;xah-e naval kishor] (Lucknow 1867): on the rekhta.org site (2nd ed, 1874). 'This edition was obtained from Naiyar Masud. To thank him is both necessary and, for certain reasons, also unnecessary.'

3) The Asi edition [nus;xah-e aasii] (Naval Kishor, Lucknow, 1941): on the rekhta.org site. 'This almost unobtainable edition was graciously given to me by my dear friend, the late Athar Parvez. God will reward him for it.'

4) The Complete Ghazals [kulliyaat-e ;Gazaliyaat], edited by Zill-e Abbas Abbasi [.zill-e ((abbaas ((abbaasii] (Ilmi Majlis, Delhi, 1967). 'This one I have adopted as the basic text, because it has been edited in the light of the Fort William edition.'

5) The Complete Works [kulliyaat], volume 1 edited by Ihtisham Husain [i;htishaam ;husain], volume 2 edited by Masih uz-Zaman [masii;h ul-zamaa;N] (Ram Narayan Lal, Allahabad, 1970).

6) The Complete Works [kulliyaat], volumes 1, 2, and 3 (only four divans), edited by Kalb-e Ali Khan Fa'iq [kalb-e ((alii ;xaa;N faa))iq] (Majlis Taraqqi-e Adab, Lahore, 1965). 'The rest of the volumes, which remained incomplete, were not published.'

7) The First Divan [diivaan-e avval], from the Mahmudabad manuscript [ma;x:tuu:tah-e ma;hmuudaabaad], edited by Akbar Haidari [akbar ;haidarii] (Srinagar, 1971): on the rekhta.org site (1973).

8) A manuscript of the First Divan, in the possession of Naiyar Masud. 'The date is not give, but it's possible that this manuscript might be even older than the Mahmudabad one. A number of difficulties in the First Divan were solved by means of it.'

SSA's inclusion of ghazal verses from poems in other genres: {236x,1}; {1807x,1}; {1853x,1}.

= = = = = = = = = = =

Faruqi, S. R. -- An Explanation of Ghalib / tafhiim-e ;Gaalib -- New Delhi: Ghalib Institute, 1989 [revised 2nd ed. 2006]. References: {128,8}; {366,8}; {371,1}; {468,2}; {1289,5}

Faruqi, S. R. -- Poetry, Non-poetry, and Prose / shi((r ;Gair shi((r aur na;sr -- Allahabad: Shabkhun Kitab Ghar, 1973. References: {6,1}; {11,10}; {39,3}; {386,1}; {421,2}; {485,3}; {485,9}; {897,4}

Faruqi, S. R. -- Meter, Harmony, and Expression / ((aruu.z aahang aur bayaan -- Lucknow: Kitab Nagar, 1977. References: {100,7}; {729,4}; {1289,5}; {1722,6}

Faruqi, S. R. -- Proof and Disproof / i;sbaat-o-nafii . Delhi: Maktabah Jami'a, 1986. References: {64,12}

Faruqi, S. R. -- *his main English works* and *his main Urdu works*.

= = = = = = = = = = =

Abdul Haq: maulvii ((abd ul-;haq -- inti;xaab-e kalaam-e miir . Delhi: Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu, 1980: on the rekhta.org site. Another edition: Aligarh: Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu (Hind): on the rekhta.org site.

Asar Lakhnavi: ja((far ((alii ;xaa;N a;sar lakhnavii -- mazaa-e miir ya((nii inti;xaab-e kalaam-e miir , jild-e duvvum . Delhi: Kitabi Duniya, 1947. On the rekhta.org site.

Azad: mu;hammad ;husain aazaad -- aab-e ;hayaat . Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy, 1982. Photo offset of: Lahore: Naval Kishor, 1907. This edition is online at DSAL, and is also linked to the the Pritchett and Faruqi translation.

Azar: raashid aazar -- miir kii ;Gazal-go))ii ek jaa))izah . Delhi: Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu, 1991. On the rekhta.org site.

Farid Ahmad Barkati: fariid a;hmad barkaatii -- farhang-e kulliyaat-e miir . Jaipur: Author, 1988. On the rekhta.org site.

Hali: al:taaf ;husain ;haalii -- muqaddamah-e shi((r-o-shaa((irii . Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy, 1988 [1982]. (Originally published: 1893.) A good overview by Laurel Steele: Annual of Urdu Studies (1981).

Ihtisham Husain, ed.: i;htishaam ;husain -- kulliyaat-e miir jild-e avval ma(( muqaddaman . Allahabad: Ram Nara'in Lal Beni Madhav, 1972.

Jamil Jalibi: jamiil jaalibii -- mu;hammad taqii miir . Karachi: Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu Pakistan, 1981: *on this site*

Lari, Maqbul Ahmad: maqbuul a;hmad laarii -- ;hadii;s-e miir . Lucknow: All-India Mir Academy, 1967. [Facing-text pages in Urdu and Hindi.]

Mahfuz, Ahmad: a;hmad ma;hfuu:z -- bayaan-e miir . New Delhi: M. R. Publications, 2013.

Maz'har Ahmad, ed. : ma:zhar a;hmad -- miir tanqiid: maa.zii ;haal mustaqbil . New Delhi: M.R. Publications, 2018. [Very useful anthology of critical essays.]

Mir (Persian): nikaat ul-shu((araa . Ed. by Abdul Haq. Karachi: Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu, 1979. [Reprint of 1939 ed.] (Persian)

Mir (Persian): nikaat ul-shu((araa . Ed. by Mahmud Ilahi. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy, 1984. On the rekhta.org site.

Mir (Persian): nikaat ul-shu((araa . Ed. by Muhammad Habib ul-Rahman Khan. Badayun: Matba Nizami. On the rekhta.org site.

Mir (Urdu): nikaat ul-shu((araa . Trans. by Hamidah Khatun. New Delhi, 1994. On the rekhta.org site.

Mir (Persian): ;zikr-e miir . Persian text; scholarly edition by Abdul Haq. Anjuman Urdu Press Deccan, 1928. On the rekhta.org site.

Mir (Persian -> Urdu): miir kii aap-biitii , ;zikr-e miir kaa urduu tarjumah ma(( faarsii matan .Trans. by Nisar Ahmad Faruqi. Delhi: Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu, 1996. On the rekhta.org site.

Mir (Persian -> English) Zikr-i Mir: The Autobiography of the Eighteenth Century Mughal Poet. C. M. Naim, trans. and ed. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999. Available through the Hathi Trust.

Mir: miir mu;hammad taqii miir -- kulliyaat-e miir . Front matter missing. On the rekhta.org site.

Mir: miir mu;hammad taqii miir -- kulliyaat-e miir . Lucknow: Naval Kishor, 1941: on the rekhta.org site.

Mir: miir mu;hammad taqii miir -- diivaan-e miir . Ed. by Sardar Ja'fri. Volume 1 is in facing-text Urdu/Devanagari format, with glossary help. Volume 2 provides additional information about his life and work. On the rekhta.org site: *Volume 1*; *Volume 2 (the Urdu version)*; *Volume 2 (the Hindi version)*.

Mir: miir mu;hammad taqii miir -- kulliyaat-e miir . Ed. by Ibadat Barelvi. Karachi: Urdu Duniya, 1958. On the rekhta.org site.

Mir: miir mu;hammad taqii miir -- kulliyaat-e miir , jild-e panjum . Ed. by Kalb-e Ali Khan Fa'iq. Lahore: Majlis Taraqqi-e Adab, 1982. On the rekhta.org site: *Volume 5*

Muhammad Umar: mu;hammad ((umar -- a;Thaaravii;N .sadii me;N hinduustaanii ma((aasharat , miir kaa ((ahad . New Delhi: Maktaba Jamia, 1973. On the rekhta.org site.

Na'im, Muhammad: mu;hammad na((iim -- miir kii i.slaa;he;N , in Naya Daur (Lucknow), June 1954, pp. 10-30: *on this site*

Nisar Ahmad Faruqi: ni;saar a;hmad faaruuqii -- talaash-e miir . New Delhi: Maktaba Jamia, 2011: on the rekhta.org site. Also: Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu (Hind), 1994: on the rekhta.org site.

Nurani, Amir Hasan: amiir ;hasan nuuraanii -- miir taqii miir ;halaat aur zindagii . Lucknow: Naval Kishor, 1957: on the rekhta.org site.

Raza, Kalidas Gupta: kaaliidaas guptaa ra.zaa --chaar tauqiite;N . Bombay: Sakar Publications, 1999. The Mir timeline: *on this site*