Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 12:07:09 +0800
From: Ramesh Hariharan (rameshh@tp.ac.sg)
Subject: Syed Amanullah Meer Taqi 'Meer' - A brief introduction!

One would think that Ghalib was the greatest poet of them all, but
actually Meer was considered the shahenshah of ghazals. Meer has been
called the Imam (leader/pioneer) of Urdu shayari and this was accepted
by the greatest Urdu poets. Shayars of the stature of NaasiKH, GHalib
and Zauq used to call him Ustaad. Consider this sher of Ghalib or the
following one by Zauq:

rekhta ke tum hi ustaad nahiN ho "GHalib"
kehte haiN agle zamane meN koi Meer bhi thA

[rekhta = Urdu]

[You are not the only master/genius of Urdu "Ghalib"
They say that someone called Meer already existed in the past]

na huA par na huA Meer ka andAz naseeb
"Zauq" yaaroN ne bohot zor GHazal meN mara

[Everybody tried but none(including I) could adopt the style of Meer
"Zauq", everyone(including I) has tried hard in ghazals(to copy
Meer's style)]

Instead of using high-falutin' Faarsi, Meer would use a common and easy
to understand style of narration which not only increased the simplicity
and beauty of GHazal, but also magnified it's effect to an extent that
would leave the listener spell-bound.

Syed Amanullah Meer Taqi was the only son of a Sufi saint, Meer Muttaqi.
His father, while on death bed, instructed Meer to "Adopt the path of
love. A life without love is an ordeal and losing one's heart in love is
the real art. Though this path is riddled with difficulties, love is
what drives the world." This is a philosophy reflected by Meer in most
of his works. After his father's death, at the age of 11 years, Meer
left his home town of Akbarabad for Delhi. He found his patrons among
the Rajas and Nawabs there, but the circumstances did not allow him much
rest. After Delhi was ruined, he went to Lucknow. Even here, he got no
respite. He spent all his life like a wanderer in search of peace.

For those who are interested in Meer's works, there is a wonderful site
at http://mama.indstate.edu/users/shakil/meer.html, maintained by Shakil
Langha. I have picked up this entire article from his site. I will also
be posting some ghazals that I picked from his site. All thanks and
credits to him.

regards
Ramesh Hariharan