With thanks to Francesca Orsini, Alok Rai and his family, and Fran Pritchett, we have a scan of the only photo portrait of Mirza Asadullah Ghalib. Incredible.
Mirza Ghalib
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With thanks to Francesca Orsini, Alok Rai and his family, and Fran Pritchett, we have a scan of the only photo portrait of Mirza Asadullah Ghalib. Incredible.
Previous post: On Worldview
Next post: Thousands of Years
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wow, never knew there was an existing photo, this is awesome!
what eyes!
Oriental STUD!
“Uncle” Ghalib, preserved for posterity!
The link also has a picture of Munshi Hargopal Tufta, Uncle’s favorite pupil, familiar to anyone who has read Uncle’s collection of letters…
Thanks Sepoy!
…….meharbaaN ho ke bulaa lo mujhe chaaho jis waqt
maiN gayaa waqt nahiN hooN ke phir aa bhi na sakooN……..
Can you please provide link to Tufta’s pic
See here: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1800_1899/ghalib/portraits/ghalibtaftahphoto.jpg
This photo is incredibly similar to one published in my grand mother’s family history book, supposedly scanned from the original. Ghalib was related by marriage to the Loharo family to which my maternal grand mother belongs. The links below are scans from that book named “Khandan-e-Loharo” by Tahira Bano. I am not an expert in photography, but I think the photo in the book is retouched or entirely hand drawn.
A comparison shows that both are very similar but not exactly. A slight crack across the forehead in the Loharo photo is captured in the scan, something that is not found in the scan posted by Sepoy. Also the face is slightly more elongated in Sepoy’s photo.
http://www.ezdoc.net/faraz/ghalib_small.png
http://www.ezdoc.net/faraz/ghalib.png
What sort of a topi is he wearing? Or is that a distortion due to picture quality or something like that?
this has been around for some time and a touched up enlargement was included in the new delhi ghalib commemorative exhibition in 1969 on the centenary of his death. there is also a portrait in the red fort museum, delhi.
The topi he is wearing is called “Papakh” made from sheep skin coat called posteen.
It is an honor to see the real portrait of Ghalib. I am a fan of his poetry
Ate hain Ghaeb se ye mazameen khayal me
Ghlib sareer-e-khama nawa-e-saroosh he
Ustad will live for ever
whenever i read him i feel sad very sad.How on earth a man of his calibre could live so little.He wanted the world in his lifetime and he knew he was the best yet no one, except few, could understand him.I guess pain do bring the best in men of letter.But for him the end was too much.I was very surprised to read abouthim in a religious book, tazkara ie ghausia, where the Ghaus Ali Shah Sahib,the Qalandar, admired him as a excellent humanbeing and a fanatastic poet.What a pity every thing had to end.
@5 maujkar
Haan bula lena mujhko waqt se pehla
ke agar che der huwi
to bula na sako
क्यों न फिरदोस को दोज़ख में मिला लें यारब
सैर के वास्ते थोड़ी सी फ़ज़ा और सही
Dear Faraz Bhai,
hope u r doing great. Well good to know that u r related to Mirza Ghalib Saheb. As we are also related to Saheb as my ancestor married his elder sister ‘Choti Khanum’. Choti Khanum daughter was married in the family of nawab of loharu and other marriages as well. Well take care brother, b in touch.
Urs,
Mirza.
the photograph was taken by Rahmat Ali in 1867 few months before Ghalib’s death
reference : ghalib and the mirs of gujrat by mir jafar imam 2006
ghalib …. great poet of all times
puchte hai woh ki ghalib kaun hain
koi batlao ke ham batlayen kya
( they ask who is Ghalib … someone please tell them … for i can’t praise myself
the unique thing is not the photograph of Ghalib … which we see very often … but the photograph of Hargopal Tufta or Tafta as he was called … the formost shagird of Ghalib … some very beautiful letters were written by Ghalib to Tufta his student … in one of the letters he mentions that Tufta is writing too much … literally thousands of verses … but with no quality … and if he continues to do so … i will not correct them hence forth …
Tufta remained loyal to Ghalib till the end … always worried about his mastre’s health and the monitory conditions … further in those troubled times a great example of hindu muslim unity …
I paste below a link to an essay on pictures – photographic and other – of Ghalib:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6873897/Mirza%20Ghalib%20ki%20Taswerein-1.pdf
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