Daagh

Nawab Mirza Khan, born in the year 1831, was commonly known as Daagh Dehlvi. He was an outstanding Mughal poet celebrated for his Urdu Ghazals and belonged to the Delhi school of Urdu poetry. He wrote poems and Ghazals under the takhallus (Urdu word for nom de plume) Daagh Dehlvi (the meanings of Daagh, an Urdu noun, include stain, grief and taint while Dehlvi means belonging to or from Delhi).

Life of Nawab Mirza Khan
Nawab Mirza Khan lost his father at the age of six and was brought up by his stepfather, Mirza Muhammad Fakhroo, who was heir to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor. In the year 1865, when Fakhroo died, Daagh left Delhi for Rampur where he went into government service and lived comfortably for 24 years. There followed a period of wandering and discomfort which ended when he was invited to Hyderabad in 1891. There he won his fame as an Urdu poet and lived a life of luxury. Hyderabad was a cradle to many poets of that period following the decline of Mughal Empire in Delhi. He died in 1905 at the age of 74 in Hyderabad.

Poetry of Nawab Mirza Khan
Daagh started reciting poetry at the age of ten and his forte was the Ghazal. His work comprises four volumes consisting of 16,000 couplets.

Daagh mostly wrote Ghazals which are sets of two-line couplets. Some of his couplets are highly quotable.

Having remained under patronage of highly established poet like Zauq, Nawab Mirza Khan had numerous disciples including the poet of the East Allama Iqbal, Jigar Moradabadi, Seemab Akbarabadi and Ahsen Marehravi, though a widely quoted anecdote relates that when asked to designate his successor as the leading Urdu poet of his age, he replied Bekhudain, referring to Bekhud Badayuni and Bekhud Dehlvi.

His Ghazals have been sung by noted Ghazal singers including Noor Jahan, Ghulam Ali, Malika Pukhraj, Mehdi Hassan and Abida Parveen.

Nawab Mirza Khan died in the year 1905.

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