Siraj-ud-Din Ali Khan ( ur, ) (1687-1756), also known by his pen-name Arzu, was a
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
. He used to write mainly in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
Mir Taqi Mir
Mir Muhammad Taqi (February 1723 – 20 September 1810), known as Mir Taqi Mir (also spelled Meer Taqi Meer), was an Urdu poet of the 18th century Mughal era in the Subcontinent and one of the pioneers who gave shape to the Urdu language it ...
. He taught Mir Taqi Mir,
Mirza Muhammad Rafi Sauda
Mirza Mohammad rafi 'Sauda' ( ur, ),
(1713–1781) was an Urdu poet in Delhi, India. He is known for his ''Ghazals'' and Urdu ''Qasidas''.
Biography
He was born in 1713 in Shahjahanabad (i.e. Old Delhi), where he was also brought up. At the ...
,
Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan
Mirzā Mazhar Jān-i Jānān ( ur, ), also known by his laqab Shamsuddīn Habībullāh (1699–1781), was a renowned Hanafi Maturidi Naqshbandī Sufi poet of Delhi, distinguished as one of the "four pillars of Urdu poetry."And Muhammad is Hi ...
and Najm-ud-Din
Shah Mubarak Abroo
Najamuddin Shah Mubarak Ābroo (1683-1733) was an Indian poet. He was born in Gwalior, the grandson of Muhammad Ghaus Gwaliori, and hailed from a family of mystics. Born during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb he died during the reign ...
.
Arzu was born in
Agra
Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...
. He was the son of Sheikh Hisam-ud-Din, a soldier who held many high offices in the court of the Mughal emperor
Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
. He was highly proficient in Persian and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
, the two languages which he learned as a child. He also learned
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
.
Arzu started writing at the age of fourteen, and came to Delhi in 1719. He was introduced to Nawab
Qamar-ud-din Khan
Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan Siddiqi Bayafandi (11 August 16711 June 1748) also known as Chin Qilich qamaruddin Khan, Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah and Nizam I, was the 1st Nizam of Hyderabad. He was married to the daughter of a Syed nobleman of Gulbarga. H ...
by Anand Ram 'Mukhlis'. Qamar-ud-Din, who was the prime minister at that time, gave him a suitable job. Arzu used to hold '' mushaira''s at his home, and attracted many disciples including
Mir Taqi Mir
Mir Muhammad Taqi (February 1723 – 20 September 1810), known as Mir Taqi Mir (also spelled Meer Taqi Meer), was an Urdu poet of the 18th century Mughal era in the Subcontinent and one of the pioneers who gave shape to the Urdu language it ...
. He migrated to
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
in 1754, and subsequently to
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
, which was once the residence of his great-grandfather. He died in Lucknow in 1756, and was buried in the Vakilpura area of Delhi.
Literary works
Arzu's works include:
* ''Siraj-ul-Lughat'' (a lexicon of Persian which also discusses the relationship between Persian and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
)
* ''Chiragh-e-Hidayat'' (a glossary of words and idioms used by the Persian poets)
* ''Nawadir-ul-Alfaz'' (a glossary of Indic words)
* Several
ghazal
The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...
s and qasidas
* ''Diwan-e-Asar Shirazi''
* ''Mohibbat-e-Uzma'' (a treatise on prosody)
* ''Atiya-e-Kubra'' (another work on prosody)
* ''Miyar-ul-Afkar'' (a treatise on grammar)
* ''Payam-i-Shauq'' (a collection of letters),
* ''Josh-o-Kharosh'' (
masnavi
The ''Masnavi'', or ''Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi'' ( fa, مثنوی معنوی), also written ''Mathnawi'', or ''Mathnavi'', is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi, also known as Rumi. The ''Masnavi'' is one of the most ...
)
* ''Mehr-o-Mah''
* ''Ibrat Fasana''
* ''Gulzar-i Khayal'' (a long poem on
Holi
Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival ...
and the coming of the spring)
See also
*
Persian language in South Asia The Persian language in the Indian subcontinent ( fa, ), before the British colonisation, was the region's lingua franca and a widely used official language in North India. The language was brought into South Asia by various Turkic and Afghan dyna ...