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Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mirza Mazhar was a renowned poet of Urdu in its early stages. He was also a great poet of Persian. He is also regarded as a Sufi Saint by some Sufi orders.
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He was born in 1699 in Delhi India. His father was a poet in the king's court. The king loved his father and titled him "Janaan" (lifes/beloved). When Mirza grew up and went to the court for the first time, the king was excited to see him and asked as a joke as to who he was. His father replied he is my "Jaan" (life/love). The king laughed and said, "So he is Jan-e-Janaan (Life of the Lives or Love of the Beloved). Hence he was known as Jan-e-Janaan.
In his prime, he was advised by his instructor to start poetry in Urdu instead of Persian as the days of Persian poetry in India were numbered in his view. His initial experiment of Urdu poetry was a disaster. The Urdu poets of his time did not take the arrival of this new comer in their domain with joy. He was barraged with insults and one such poetic insult "Hijo" by Mirza Saud became proverbial:
Urdu:
Mirza ka share Farsi aur Reekhta kay beech,
Sauda yaqeen jaan keh rora hai baat ka.
Al garz is ka haal yahi hai jo such kahoon,
kutta hai dhobi ka keh na gher ka na ghaat ka
English Translation:
Mirza's couplet in between Persian and Reekhta,
Sauda trust me is the scale weight.
In short his status is, if I speak the truth,
like the dog of the washer who is allowed in neither home or wash bay.
In 1781 he wrote a Manqabat (praise) of Caliph Ali. An fanatic Sunni Pathan, on hearing this, thought Mirza has converted to Shia method and stab him with his dagger. Upon seeing the face of his murderer, he uttered the famous couplet in Persian which was inscribed on his tombstone. Todate, this couplet is written on the graves of innocent murder victims.
Persian:
Bina kardan, aye khoosh rasmay, ba khaak o khoon ghalteedand
Khuda rehmat kunad een ashiqaan e pak teenat ra
English translation:
Without crime, o righteous one, you have mixed me in blood and dust
God, please have mercy on these lovers of clean intention)
He forgave his murderer before his death sighting misunderstanding by a righteous person.
Aab-e-Hayaat by Mohammed Hussain Azaad