Maqta’ Zafar on Zafar

Bahadur Shah Zafar (1775-1862) was the last Mughal King of India. When he was 82, the First War of Independence started in 1857. After Delhi was recaptured by the British Army on 14 September 1857, Zafar was captured and later tried by a Military Court on charges of treason and murder. Next year, he was exiled to Rangoon along with his wife Zinat Mahal and the remaining members of the family. He languished the last few years of his life in prison in an alien land, always yearning to return to his homeland.  Zafar was an accomplished and prolific Urdu Poet. Under his patronage Urdu poetry flourished and reached its Zenith. It is said that this was a Golden Era of Urdu Ghazal into which Ghalib introduced Philosophy, Zauq, Life, Momin, Romance and Zafar, Tragedy. Zafar’s poetry successfully captures the melancholy of his life and documents the contemporary state of affairs, both social and political. In Urdu poetry Ghazal is one of the most popular metrical compositions in which the Maqta’ (or the last couplet) is admittedly the dearest She’r of the poet, and hence the name of this series. This Maqta’s series, presented by Sanjay Garg, seeks to bridge the gap between the poetry of the Great Urdu Masters and the milieu of its lovers, who had been separated by the language or the script barrier. Other forthcoming titles in this series include: Ghalib on Ghalib (Mirza Asad-Ullah Khan ‘Ghalib’), Akbar on Akbar (Syed Akbar Hussain ‘Akbar’ Ilahabadi) and Jigar on Jigar (Ali Sikandar ‘Jigar’ Moradabadi). This book presents a selection of one hundred Maqta’s of Bahadur Shah ‘Zafar’ chosen from his choicest Ghazals. In this unique anthology, Zafar could be seen addressing himself occasionally as a critic, sometimes as a sympathiser and a counsellor, and yet some other times as his own eulogiser. On the occasion of the 150 Anniversary of India’s First War of Independence, this book presents a poetic tribute to its immortal martyrs.