Poets

Modern · 1890–1960

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

Modern · 1846–1921

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

Modern · 1875–1951

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

Modern · 1879–1941

The poet of sorrow, whose ghazals make grief itself a kind of music.

Modern · 1884–1956

A fierce iconoclast of Lucknow, who set his own voice against Ghalib’s shadow.

Modern · 1880–1951

A prolific poet and teacher of Agra, who carried classical craft into the modern age.

Modern · 1884–1936

A Sufi poet of Gonda, who made the ghazal a vessel for mystical love.

Modern · 1882–1926

A Kashmiri-Hindu master of Urdu, whose patriotic nazms stirred a generation.