17 Facts About Daagh Dehlvi

Nawab Mirza Khan, popularly known by his takhallus Dagh Dehlvi was an Indian poet known for his Urdu ghazals.

Daagh Dehlvi belonged to the old Delhi school of Urdu poetry.

Daagh Dehlvi wrote romantic and sensuous poems and ghazals in simple and chaste Urdu, minimising usage of Persian words.

Daagh Dehlvi laid great emphasis on the Urdu idiom and its usage.

Daagh Dehlvi wrote under the takhallus Daagh Dehlvi.

Daagh Dehlvi was considered one of the best romantic poets of his time by some commentators.

Daagh Dehlvi was born in Kucha Ustad Dagh, Chandni Chowk in Delhi to Nawab Shamsuddin Ahmed Khan, the ruler of Loharu and Ferozepur Jhirka and Wazir Khanum, daughter of a Delhi jeweller.

Daagh Dehlvi's father was hanged under charges of conspiracy in the murder of William Fraser.

Hence, Daagh Dehlvi had the privileged education at the Delhi Red Fort, There he received best of education and was later under tutelage of poet laureate, Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq.

Daagh Dehlvi belonged to the Dabistan-e-Dehli and never allowed western influences on his poetry.

Daagh Dehlvi started reciting poetry at the age of ten and his forte was the romantic version, the ghazal.

Daagh Dehlvi went into government service there and lived well for 24 years.

Daagh Dehlvi left Hyderabad after not being invited to the court by the Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI's court, as access to his court was very limited.

Daagh Dehlvi then was invited immediately and was appointed as the court poet and mentor, in 1891, to the Sixth Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, at the age of 60.

Daagh Dehlvi died in 1905 at the age of 74 in Hyderabad Deccan after a paralytic stroke.

Daagh Dehlvi's students included Allama Iqbal, Hassan Raza Khan, Jigar Moradabadi, Seemab Akbarabadi and Ahasan Marharavi, though a widely quoted anecdote relates that when asked to designate his successor as the leading Urdu poet of his age, he replied Bekhudain [the two Bekhuds], referring to Bekhud Badayuni and Bekhud Daagh Dehlvi.

Daagh Dehlvi's selected ghazals are rendered by contemporary ghazal singers, Jagjit Singh, Noor Jahan, Iqbal Bano, Ghulam Ali, Adithya Srinivasan, Malika Pukhraj, Mehdi Hassan, Abida Parveen, Begum Akhtar, Pankaj Udhas and Farida Khanum.