Meeras — A living archive of South Asian poetry

Modern · 1890–1960

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

Modern · 1896–1982

Professor-poet of Allahabad who gave the Urdu ghazal a sensuous, Indian inflection all his own.

Modern · 1837–1914

Reformer-poet and critic, disciple of Ghalib, whose "Musaddas" turned Urdu poetry toward social purpose.

Modern · 1910–1975

Pioneer of the Urdu free-verse nazm, whose difficult, sensuous modernism remade the language of poetry.

Modern · 1928–2006

Poet of strange twilights and delayed regrets — "hamesha der kar deta hoon main" — in Urdu and Punjabi.

Modern · 1919–2001

Prolific romantic poet of Haripur whose singable ghazals travelled the world through film and ghazal singers.

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 · 1853–1934

The "poet of the wine-house": master of the khumriyat ghazal who never touched a drop himself.

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 · 1852–1933

Lucknow-born scholar-poet of Hyderabad, famed for his commentary on Ghalib and a polished classical ghazal.

Modern · 1882–1926

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