Bahadur Shah Zafar and His Contemporaries

If the reign of Bahadur Shah Zafar was the time of the decay and decline of the Moghul empire, it was also the golden period of Urdu poetry. The court of Zafar was studded with several poetic jewels such as Ghalib, Zauq, Momin, Shefta and Azurda. And Zafar himself was a poet of ample merit, apart from being a patron of poets and a great patriot. This book contains the best of the poetry of Zafar and his contemporaries, with their translations in English and transliterations in the Roman script. The transliteration is meant to help those readers who are not familiar with Urdu in the Persian script. The poems (mostly ghazals) have been carefully chosen and thoughtfully translated into simple and appropriate English. The translation is made in rhymed verse so as to retain the flavour of the original. It is a compendious anthology of the poetic masterpieces of the age of Zafar. It is hoped that the lovers of poetry will find the book both useful and delightful.