Meeras — A living archive of South Asian poetry

Mirza Ghalib

Classical · 1797–1869

The towering Urdu and Persian poet of the late Mughal era, celebrated for his ghazals on love, loss, and existence.

Allama Iqbal

Classical · 1877–1938

Poet-philosopher whose Urdu and Persian verse fused spirituality with a vision of self-realization.

Amir Khusro

Classical · 1253–1325

The father of Urdu/Hindavi poetry — a thirteenth-century polymath who wove Persian and the language of Delhi into song.

Jigar Moradabadi

Modern · 1890–1960

A master of the romantic ghazal, whose mushaira recitations made him a legend in his lifetime.

Noor Jahan Sahar

Contemporary

A fictional contemporary poet of the city dawn — original Meeras verse on memory and migration.

Mir Taqi Mir

Classical · 1723–1810

The leading Urdu poet of the eighteenth century, revered as Khuda-e-sukhan — the god of poetry.

Sheikh Ibrahim Zauq

Classical · 1789–1854

Poet laureate of the last Mughal court and tutor to Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Momin Khan Momin

Classical · 1800–1851

Delhi ghazal poet famed for the intimate, romantic intensity of his verse.

Khwaja Mir Dard

Classical · 1721–1785

Sufi mystic and one of the three pillars of the eighteenth-century Urdu ghazal.

Nazeer Akbarabadi

Classical · 1735–1830

The people’s poet of Agra, who brought fairs, festivals and ordinary life into Urdu verse.

Bahadur Shah Zafar

Classical · 1775–1862

The last Mughal emperor and a tender ghazal poet, whose verse carries the ache of a vanishing world.

Mirza Mohammad Rafi Sauda

Classical · 1713–1781

Eighteenth-century master of the qasida and satire, a pillar of classical Urdu poetry.

Wali Dakhani

Classical · 1667–1707

The "father of Urdu poetry", whose Deccan diwan brought the ghazal into the language.

Nawab Mirza Khan Daagh

Classical · 1831–1905

Delhi-born ghazal poet celebrated for clarity, fluency and a distinctly idiomatic Urdu.

Insha Allah Khan Insha

Classical · 1756–1817

Versatile poet and linguist of the Lucknow court, known for his wit and inventive wordplay.

Akbar Allahabadi

Modern · 1846–1921

The great satirist of Urdu, who turned wit on colonial modernity and a changing society.

Ghulam Hamdani Mushafi

Classical · 1747–1824

A bridge between the Delhi and Lucknow schools, credited with first naming the language “Urdu”.

Haidar Ali Aatish

Classical · 1778–1847

A founding master of the Lucknow school, whose ghazals fuse craft with a dervish’s detachment.

Hasrat Mohani

Modern · 1875–1951

Poet of “Inquilab Zindabad”, who joined a freedom-fighter’s fire to the tenderest ghazal.

Imam Bakhsh Nasikh

Classical · 1776–1838

Co-founder of the Lucknow school, who reformed and polished the language of the Urdu ghazal.