1750's == Grandfather comes to India from Samarqand, takes service first with Shah Alam, later in Jaipur

1797, Dec. 27 == Ghalib is born, Agra, to Abdullah Beg Khan and Izzat un-Nisa

1802 == his father is killed in battle in the service of the Raja of Alwar; the father's younger brother Nasrullah Beg Khan takes charge of the widow and children

1805 == his uncle Nasrullah Beg Khan dies in a fall from an elephant, while in the service of Lord Lake; his survivors are granted a pension from the estate of Navab Ahmad Bakhsh Khan

c.1807 == he begins sporadically to attend the maktab of Maulvi Muhammad Mu'azzam, Agra; in addition, Nazir Akbarabadi is alleged (probably not accurately) to have been his tutor for a time in this period; his famous short masnavi about kite-flying has been attributed by Hali to this period

1810, Aug. 9 == he is married in Delhi to Umra'o Begam (age 11), daughter of Navab Ilahi Bakhsh Khan 'Ma'ruf', younger brother of Navab Ahmad Bakhsh Khan or Firozpur Jhirka and Loharu; none of the seven children they have together lives beyond infancy

1811 == Hurmuzd (Abdus Samad) allegedly arrives from Iran, stays 2 years as his Persian tutor, teaches him the Persian of a native speaker

1812 == he moves to Delhi permanently; lives for a while with his father-in-law, then moves to a rented house in Gali Qasim Jan

c.1816 == he compiles his first Urdu divan, which is now known as the nus;xah-e amrohah or the nus;xah-e bhopaal . The original manuscript has since disappeared, but printed editions of it exist, one by Akbar Ali Khan Arshizadah (Rampur, 1969), one by Nisar Ahmad Faruqi (Lahore, 1969)

c.1821 == he compiles the second version of his Urdu divan, which is now known as the nus;xah-e ;hamiidiyah . This manuscript was printed first in 1921, edited by Mufti Anvaar ul-Haq of Bhopal with the famous unfinished preface by Abdur Rahman Bijnori; and again much later (1970's) in facsimile editions from Lucknow and Lahore. The original is reported to have disappeared from the State Library in Bhopal in 1947, and has recently been reported by S. R. Faruqi to have resurfaced. This version contains most (though not all) of the ghazals from 1816, and many new ones.

1825 == he compiles the third version of his Urdu divan, which is now known as the nus;xah-e sheraanii ; this manuscript, discovered by Haafiz Mahmud Sherani, is now in Punjab University Lahore; it was published by Punjab University in a facsimile edition, 1969. This version contains most (though not all) of the ghazals from 1821, and many new ones.

1826 == his father-in-law dies; his brother Mirza Yusuf goes mad

1826, early == he makes a fruitless visit to Firozpur Jhirka, hoping in vain to meet Metcalf through Ahmad Bakhsh Khan and improve his pension situation

1826, early == he leaves Firozpur for Kanpur, where Metcalf was reported to be encamped, but is unable to meet with Metcalf; he falls ill, and upon his recovery proceeds to Lucknow. There he imposes excessive conditions for meeting the Navab, and thus doesn't meet him; he again falls ill

1827, August == he travels to Banda, where he stays for about six months

1828, very early == he travels to Banaras, where he stays for about a month

1828, Feb. 20 == he reaches Calcutta; petitions the Company government for redress of pension grievances

1828, June == he participates in Persian mushairahs; some linguistic objections are raised against his poetry by pupils of Mirza Muhammad Hasan Qatil; he replies to them in his masnavi baad-e mu;xaalif , written in a conciliatory tone but insisting on his view that Indian Persian writers are not authoritative for usage and idiom

1828, June== the Company government directs him to submit his petition in Delhi

1828-29 == he compiles gul-e ra((naa , a selection of his Urdu and Persian poetry, for his friend Maulvi Siraj ud-Din Ahmad; the manuscript was missing for almost a century but then was found by Sayyid Naqi Bilgrami, and published by Malik Ram [check date; 1969?]

1829, Feb. == he receives a durbar place and honors

1829, Aug. == he's present at the Governor General's second durbar; he leaves Calcutta for Baanda

1829, Oct. == he reaches Banda and stays for a week, then leaves for Delhi

1829, Nov. 29 == he reaches Delhi

1835(?) == he is sued for debt, has to stay in his house by day to avoid his creditors

1837(?) == he is sued for debt by an English wine-merchant, and is briefly arrested; but Amin ud-din Khan of Loharu (son of the ruler), pays the debt

1835-37 == mai;xaanah-e aarzuu-saranjaam , his Persian divan, published by Matba Dar us-Salam, Delhi, 506 p.; compilation supervised Navab Ziya ul-Din of Loharu (son of the ruler) and others. This work contained 275 ghazals with 6,673 shi'rs.

1837, Sept. == Bahadur Shah ascends the throne

1840 == he refuses the interview for an appointment to the professorship of Persian in Delhi College

1841, c. Nov. == diivaan-e ;Gaalib in Urdu, Sayyid ul-Mutaaba Press (also known as Sayyid ul-Akhbar Press), Delhi, 108 p.; a Persian intro. by Ghalib; an endnote by Ziya ul-Din Ahmad Khan dated 1838 saying that the total shi'rs are 1,070 (though it's actually 1,095). This edition is in the Saulat Public Library, Rampur. A facsimile edition was published by Kalidas Gupta Raza (year?).

1847, May == diivaan-e ;Gaalib in Urdu, 2nd ed., Matba Dar ul-Salam, Delhi, 98 p.; 1,159 shi'rs. A facsimile edition was published by Kalidas Gupta Raza (year?)

1847, June == he is arrested for gambling, sentenced to 6 months' imprisonment and a fine (which is paid by friends); he is treated leniently and released after 3 months; only Sheftah is loyal; he then stays with Miyan Kale Sahib (Maulana Nasir ud-din)

1847-48 == his first surviving Urdu letters

1849 == panj aahang , Persian work in 5 sections: rules of address; rules of Persian grammar; his Persian verses; misc. quotes and references; his Persian letters; by Matba Dar ul-Salaam, Delhi, 493 p. Kalidas Gupta Raza published a facsimile edition of the letters part (year?)

1850, July 4 == engaged by Bahadur Shah to write a Timurid history; given khitab and annual pension of Rs. 600; given titles of Najm ud-daulah, dabir ul-mulk, nizam jang

1851 == 'sihra incident' (Bahadur Shah takes umbrage on behalf of Zauq)

1852 == his wife's nephew Zain ul-'Abidin Khan Arif, whom he truly loves, dies of an illness; Arif's wife Zainab had died only a few months before; Ghalib and his wife end up adopting both their young sons, Baqir Ali Khan and Husain Ali Khan

1853 == panj aahang , a second edition, 444 p. (orig. 1849)

1854, Nov. 15th == becomes the royal Ustad, after Zauq dies; heir apparent Mirza Fakhr ud-Din  ('Mirza Fakhru') also starts paying him Rs. 400 a year; another prince, Mirza Khizr Sultan, also patronizes him

1854/55 == mahr-e niim-roz , first part of Timurid history (creation of the world up to Humayun), published by Matba Fakhr ul-Mataba, Delhi, 116 p.

1854/55 == is asked by Sir Sayyid to write a preface to his new edition of A'in-e Akbari, but instead writes Persian poem deprecating Akbar's rule by comparison to that of the British

1855 == awarded pension of Rs. 500 a year by Vajid Ali Shah, Navab of Avadh

1856, Feb. == Vajid Ali Shah dethroned, Avadh annexed

1856, July == Mirza Fakhr ud-Din dies of plague

1856 == qaadir naamah , mnemonic rhymes for children, Matba-e Sultani, Red Fort, 8 p.

1856 == composes qasidah to Queen Victoria

1857, Feb. 5 == becomes Ustad of Navab Yusuf Ali Khan 'Nazim', of Rampur

1857, May 10 == rebellion; protection through Maharaja of Patiala; all valuables lost when wife secretly sends them to Miyan Kali Sahib's house for safekeeping; Khizr Sultan shot dead by Hudson, Bahadur Shah exiled

1857, Oct.18 == his younger, mad brother Yusuf dies of a fever

1857 == Ziya ud-Din Ahmad Khan gives pension of Rs. 50 a month to Umra'o Begam

1858 == sends various qasidahs of the Queen and officers to officialdom, but they are returned as mere useless flattery

1858, Nov. == dastanbuu , Persian account of 1857, Matba Mufid-e Khala'iq, Agra, 80 p.; much admired by  British officers

1859, July == begins to receive a pension of Rs. 100 a month from the Navab of Rampur; also, mss. collections of his poetry have survived only there after Delhi ones lost in 1857

1860, Jan. 19-27 == travels to Rampur

1860, Mar. 17-24 == travels back to Delhi at instigation of the two children; stops at Moradabad in a sarai but Sir Sayyid offers him hospitality

1860, Mar. 24 == British pension reinstated through Sir Sayyid and/or Navab of Rampur's help, Rs. 2250 paid as arrears

1861, July 28 == diivaan-e ;Gaalib , Urdu, third edition, Matba Ahmadi, Shahdara, Delhi; full of misprints and inaccuracies, rejected by Ghalib

1861, Oct. == qaa:ti((-e burhaan , Persian polemic, Naval Kishor, Lucknow, 98 p.

1862 == diivaan-e ;Gaalib , Urdu, revised third (fourth?) edition, Nizami Press, Kanpur; 104 p.

1863, Mar. 3 == his official durbar honors restored

1863, June ==  kulliyaat-e na:zm-e faarsii , Munshi Naval Kishor, Lucknow, 562 p.; 10,424 shi'rs

1863 == diivaan-e ;Gaalib , Urdu, fourth (fifth?) edition, Matba Mufid-e Khala'iq, Agra, 146 p.

1864/65 == la:taa))if-e ;Gaalib , Urdu pamphlet, part of qaa:ti(( controversy, published under the name of Dad Khan Sayyah

1865, Apr. == Navab Yusuf Ali Khan of Rampur dies, succeeded by Kalb-e Ali Khan; Ghalib travels to Rampur to attend the coronation, falls sick at Moradabad during the return journey

1865 == naamah-e ;Gaalib , Urdu pamphlet, part of qaa:ti(( controversy, Matba-e Muhammadi, Delhi, 16 p.; now included in ((uud-e hindii

1865 == dastanbuu , second ed. (orig. 1858), Rohilkhand Literary Society Press, Bareilly

1865, Dec. == darafsh-e kaaviyaanii , a revised ed. of qaa:ti((-e burhaan , Akmal ul-Mataba, Delhi, 154 p.

1866, May == health begins to decline, sight and hearing begin to fail

1867 == te;G-e tez , Urdu pamphlet, part of qa:ti(( controversy, Akmal ul-Mataba, Delhi, 32 p.

1867 == sabad-e chiin , Persian masnavi already published in kulliyaat ; Matba Muhammadi, Delhi

1867 == ruq((aat-e ;Gaalib , Persian letters selected for schoolboys, Siraji Press, Delhi, 16 p.; published together with nikaat-e ;Gaalib

1867, Dec. 2 == lodges a complaint of defamation against M. Aminuddin, author of the most scurrilous of the polemical tracts that resulted from qaa:ti((-e burhaan

1868, Mar. 22 == a settlement is arranged and the complaint is dropped

1868 == kulliyaat-e na;sr , Persian prose ( panj aahang , mahr-e niim-roz , dastanbuu ), Naval Kishor Press, Lucknow, 1868, 212 p.

1868, Oct. 27 == ((uud-e hindii , collection of his Urdu letters made by Munshi Mumtaz Ali and others, initially against his opposition; Matba Mujtaba'i, Meerut, 188 p.; he objects to many errors and works on a new edition

1869, Feb. 15 == dies, after falling into a coma on Feb. 14; buried at Nizamuddin in the plot of the Loharu family

1869, Mar. 6 == urduu-e mu((allaa , Part I; revised ed. of ((uud-e hindii with errors corrected; Akmal ul-Mataba, Delhi, 464 p.

1870, Feb. 4 == Umra'o Begam dies

1899 == urduu-e mu((allaa , Parts I and II; Matba Mujtaba'i, Delhi, 1899

1955 == present tomb built