Mirza Ghalib (1797 – 1869) was a poet & prose writer who wrote in both Urdu and Persian.
He was born in Kala Mahal, Agra into a family of Mughals.
Ghalib started composing poetry at the age of 11. His first language was Urdu, but Persian and Turkish were also spoken at home. He received an education in Persian and Arabic at a young age. During Ghalib's period, the words "Hindi" and Urdu" were synonyms.
His original Takhallus (pen-name) was Asad (meaning lion), drawn from his given name, Asadullah Khan. At some point early in his poetic career he also decided to adopt the pen-name of Ghalib (meaning all conquering, superior, most excellent).
In 1810, at the age of thirteen, Ghalib married Umrao Begum. After his marriage, he settled in Delhi. In one of his letters, he describes his marriage as the second imprisonment after the initial confinement that was life itself.
Ghalib was proud of his reputation as a rake. He was once imprisoned for gambling and subsequently relished the affair with pride. In the Mughal court circles, he even acquired a reputation as a "ladies' man".
Before Ghalib, the ghazal was primarily an expression of anguished love; but Ghalib expressed philosophy, the travails, and mysteries of life and wrote ghazals on many other subjects, vastly expanding the scope of the ghazal.
In keeping with the conventions of the classical ghazal, in most of Ghalib's verses, the identity and the gender of the beloved are indeterminate.
In 1850, Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar bestowed upon Mirza Ghalib the title of Dabir-ul-Mulk (lit. 'secretary of state'). The Emperor also added to it the additional title of Najm-ud-daula (lit. 'star of the state'). The conferment of these titles was symbolic of Mirza Ghalib's incorporation into the nobility of Delhi. He also received the title of Mirza Nosha from the Emperor, thus enabling him to add Mirza to his name. He was also an important courtier of the royal court of the Emperor. As the Emperor was himself a poet, Mirza Ghalib was appointed as his poet tutor in 1854. He was also appointed by the Emperor as the royal historian of the Mughal Court. Ghalib's closest rival was poet Zauq.
Being a member of declining Mughal nobility and old landed aristocracy, he never worked for a livelihood, lived on either royal patronage of Mughal Emperors, credit, or the generosity of his friends. His fame came to him posthumously. He had himself remarked during his lifetime that he would be recognized by later generations. After the decline of the Mughal Empire and the rise of the British Raj, despite his many attempts, Ghalib could never get the full pension restored. Ghalib has been described as having been concerned about receiving pensions more so than building an estate or engaging in commerce.
One of Ghalib's ambitions in life was to become the highest-ranking Ustaad for the royal Mughal Court. This position not only would prove his artistic mastership but also provide a salary of 400 rupees a month.
During the anti-British Rebellion in Delhi on 5 October 1857, three weeks after the British troops had entered through Kashmiri Gate, some soldiers climbed into Ghalib's neighbourhood and hauled him off to Colonel Brown for questioning. He appeared in front of the colonel wearing a Central Asian Turkic style headdress. The colonel, bemused at his appearance, inquired in broken Urdu, "Well? You Muslim?", to which Ghalib replied sardonically, "Half?" The colonel asked, "What does that mean?" In response, Ghalib said, "I drink wine, but I don't eat pork."
Ghalib was buried in Hazrat Nizamuddin near the tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya.
Gulzar produced a TV serial, Mirza Ghalib (1988), telecast on DD National. Naseeruddin Shah played the role of Ghalib in the serial, and it featured ghazals sung and composed by Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh.