Zauq - Life & Poems

ZAUQ: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Mohammad Ibrahim took Zauq (meaning 'taste') as his takhallus or pen-name. He was born at Delhi in 1788. His father was a lowly paid soldier. Zauq, not having proper treatment on account of the poverty of his family survived attacks of small-pox nine times during his childhood. Shah Naseer was the most famous master poet of Delhi. Naseer recognised natural talent and made him his pupil. Gradually, Zauq began participating in readings. His natural way with poetry and his obsession to excel in it eventually brought fame and fortune. He was the Poet-lauraete and Spiritual Master of the last Mughal Emperpr of India, the Sufi Poet Badhar Shah Zafar.He was a prominent contemporary of Ghalib and in the history of Urdu poetry the rivalry of the two is well known and during his lifetime Zauq was more popular than his now much more famous rival. He was a religious man and in his ghazals he often dealt with mystical (Sufi) themes. Most of his poems were lost during the mutiny of 1857. He had passed away two years earlier in 1855. His Urdu Divan is composed of ghazals and ruba'is and qasidas. This is the largest translation of his poems into English in the correct form. 103 pages. Introduction to Sufi Poets Series AATISH, ASHGAR, 'AISHAH Al-BA'UNIYAH, AMIR KHUSRAU, ANSARI, ANVARI, AL-MA'ARRI, 'ARIFI, 'ATTAR, ABU SA'ID, AUHAD UD-DIN, BABA FARID, BABA AZFAL, BABA TAHIR, BEDAR, BEDIL, BULLEH SHAH, DARA SHIKOH, DARD, FAIZI, GHALIB, GHANI KASHMIRI, HAFIZ, HALI, HASAN DEHLAVI, HATEF, HUMA, IBN 'ARABI, IBN YAMIN, IBN AL-FARID, IQBAL, INAYAT KHAN, 'IRAQI, JAHAN KHATUN, JAMI, JIGAR, KAMAL AD-DIN, KABIR, KHAQANI, KHAYYAM, LALLA DED, MAHSATI, MAKHFI, MANSUR HALLAJ, MIR, MOMIN, MU'IN UD-DIN CHISHTI, NAZIR, NESIMI, NIZAMI, NUND RISHI, OBEYD ZAKANI, PAUL, QUTUB SHAH, RABI'A, RAHIM, RAHMAN BABA, RUMI, SADI, SA'IB, SANA'I, SARMAD, SAUDA, SEEMAB, SHABISTARI, SHAH LATIF, SHAH NI'MAT'ULLAH, SHEFTA, SULTAN BAHU, URFI, WALI, YUNUS EMRE, ZAFAR, ZAUQ, EARLY ARABIC, PERSIAN, URDU, TURKISH, AFGHAN SUFI POETS. 90-120 pages Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Lalla Ded, Mahsati and others, and his own poetry, fiction, biographies, plays, children's books and screenplays.