INDEX TO GHAZALS WITH COMMENTARY

A great shi'r to begin with: {6,2}, or {49,3}, or maybe the deservedly famous {1740,1}, or {1741,3} with its pointed disdain for immortality; there's also the slightly more complex {17,8}, the gloriously multifarious {64,6}, the haunting {64,12}, the surprisingly brusque and arrogant {69,7}, or the mystically potent {75,2}. And don't forget the enigmatic {96,7}, the grimly magnificent {121,2}, the brilliantly multivalent {144,7}, the paradoxical {178,3}, the elegantly witty {220,1}, the indecipherably moody {429,7}, the morbidly funny {669,2}, the subtle {700,11}, the ultimately pithy and funny {775,5}, the ambiguously elegiac {1001,9}, the poetically sophisticated {1039,1}, the austerely sober {1040,1}, the cosmically crazy {1200,1}, the morbidly sarcastic {1219,1}, the romantically fatalistic {1224,4}, the real-estate-advising {1226,5}, the sinister, frightening {1231,5}, the snake-fancier's delight {1237,5}, the moving and flowing {1370,3}, the endlessly generative {1419,1}, the gloriously Sufistic {1469,3}, the gallant {1712,5}, the extremely funny {1723,6}, the mystically sharp-edged {1757,2}, the cruelly threatening {1781,4}. If you're interested in theoretical discussion, you could also take a look at {869,5}, or consider the relative easiness of life and death in {396,9}, or contemplate the Lord's bad behavior in {1050,7}, or plumb the multivalent depths of the ocean of existence in {904,13}, or of the search for the One in {1469,3}, or of the deceptive smoothness of {1584,4}, or of the cosmic chaos of {1740,1}. And in the whole of Ghalib, you'll never find a Blakean vision like {1688,4}.

Great whole ghazals to begin with: {7} (complete, and with translation anthology); the remarkably imaginative {11}; and the astonishing *{256}. There's also the radically mystical and/or atheistic set of five verses that start with {307,1}. And for a brilliantly self-mocking (and quite funny) 'verse-set', see {1031,8-9}. Whole ghazals included in SSA: *{52}; *{256}. Any commentary about a whole ghazal is located within the discussion of its first verse.

Please note: A straightforward ghazal for beginners, with comprehensive commentary, is {485}. Another one that's quite accessible is {775}. In general, if you have no background in the ghazal world, you might want to start by taking a look at the *Ghalib* website, which is more user-friendly and provides more hyperlinked explanatory material. Counterpart material on the Mir website, though it usually exists, is not so extensively hyperlinked, and assumes a certain amount of prior knowledge.

In this index ghazals with the whole text provided (because SRF has chosen half or more of their verses, or because translations are provided) are in large type; those with commentary on all verses are in bold and are also marked with an asterisk. A 'T' means that select translations, mostly made especially for this website, are also provided '=T' means that only translations are available.

PROGRESS REPORT: I've just completed another read-through, for minor revisions and major enjoyment.