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AN ANALYTICAL OVERVIEW OF ALL THE PARTS OF 'A DESERTFUL OF ROSES'

*ABOUT THIS PROJECT* -- An overview and history of the project, with a brief introduction to Ghalib; and credits and acknowledgements.

*DISCUSSION POINTS* -- Discussion of some of the issues that come up when people analyze these ghazals.

*EVOCATIONS* -- Some images of the poet's life and times (actually from "Indian Routes")

*ABOUT THE IMAGES* -- An account of the Berger Collection, its organization, and the details of those parts of it from which architectural images of Ghalib's Agra and Delhi have been drawn for this site.

*ABOUT THE GHAZALS* -- The most detailed description of exactly what material is presented here, what sources it is drawn from, and how it is organized. This section has various technical sub-pages.

*ON DATING* -- A chart extrapolated from the work of Kalidas Gupta Raza, since his work offers, in general, the best attempt that can presently be made to date the individual ghazals.

*A TIMELINE* -- Some of the main literary and other events of Ghalib's life

*ON METER* -- A chart of the various meters used by Ghalib, and an explanation of how they are designated on the ghazal pages.

*MUCH MORE ON METER* -- Urdu Meter: A Practical Handbook, an independent book that's presented within this website.

*ON TRANSLITERATION* -- A chart showing the 'plain roman' transliteration system that was devised for this project (and that forms the basis for all its other script displays); with a pronunciation index.

*A NOTE FOR DEVANAGARI READERS* -- An explanation and discussion of some of the peculiarities of the Devanagari script display on this site.

*S. R. FARUQI'S SELECTIONS* -- A chart showing Ghalib's finest verses, both published and unpublished, from divan ghazals, as chosen by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi (and some by FWP too). There's also a similar chart for the unpublished ghazals.

*ON GHALIB'S STRUCTURAL POETICS* -- an overview article by FWP

*ABOUT THE GENRE* -- Some attempts to describe the ghazal genre, and especially the vexations and difficulties of understanding and translating classical ghazal (and Ghalib in particular). This will be a series of rather free-form essays, with some links to other sites. It will also rely on some sub-pages of its own:

*AN OVERVIEW OF THE URDU GHAZAL* -- A general introduction to the genre, especially meant for teachers and students; followed by a list of basic ghazal terminology.

*TRANSLATION ANTHOLOGY FOR {20}* -- The famous yih nah thii hamaarii qismat kih vi.saal-e yaar hotaa -- a large number of translations presented in chronological order, without comment.

*TRANSLATION ANTHOLOGY FOR {111}* -- Ditto for the even more famous sab kahaa;N kuchh laalah-o-gul me;N numaayaa;N ho ga))ii;N -- an anthology of translations.

*SOUNDFILES* -- Some recordings of recited and sung versions of various ghazals.

*GHALIB'S OWN CALLIGRAPHY* -- A sample of his elegantly patterned (and thus semi-illegible) calligraphic handwriting, as he quotes some of his own verses in one of his letters; *another such sample*.

*CALLIGRAPHY* -- A few examples Ghalib's verses as calligraphed by others.

*THE MAIN GHAZAL INDEX* -- The all-purpose comprehensive access point for all the ghazal pages, which in turn are the only comprehensive access points for all the individual verse pages. There are 234 ghazal pages and 1,459 verse pages (not counting unpublished verses, marked with 'x'). This main index provides the first verse of each ghazal in the whole divan, in traditional order (based specifically on Hamid). In order to minimize scrolling, this main index consists of five sub-indices that together contain the whole divan in order:

* ghazals {1} - {48} * -- ending in aa
* ghazals {49} - {83} * -- ending in b through m
* ghazals {84) - {129} * -- ending in n through h
* ghazals {130} - {180} * -- ending in e and ii == part one
* ghazals {181} - {234} * -- ending in e and ii == part two

* ALPHABETICAL INDEX -- The Alphabetical Index is in absolute alphabetical order by rhyming elements. It's the one that I use myself when looking for a particular ghazal. If you understand the structure of the ghazal (especially how radiif and qaafiyah work) and want to look for a particular ghazal in the most efficient way, this is the one to check. It too consists of five sub-pages:

* ghazals ending in aa * -- i.e., ghazals {1} - {48}
* ghazals ending in b through m * -- i.e., ghazals {49} - {83}
* ghazals ending in n through h * -- i.e., ghazals {84} - {129}
* ghazals ending in hai *-- i.e., a subset of ghazals {130} - {234}
* ghazals ending in ii * -- i.e., a subset of ghazals {130} - {234}
* ghazals ending in e * -- i.e., a subset of ghazals {130} - {234}

UNPUBLISHED GHAZALS are textually available through the index below; I have numbered them (starting where the published divan ends) according to their order in Raza 1995, and have added an x after the number to make their status clear. Commentary is provided where it is available. There is also an overview page for these ghazals:

*xx ghazals ending in aa* [numbered as 235x-273x]
*xx ghazals ending in b through m* [numbered as 274x-314x]
*xx ghazals ending in n through h* [numbered as 315x-356x]
*xx ghazals ending in hai * [numbered as 357x-402x]
*xx ghazals ending in ii * [numbered as 403x-417x]
*xx ghazals ending in e * [numbered as 418x-441x]

*INDEX OF NAMES* -- The proper names used in the ghazals, and all the significant ones used in the commentary; with brief identifications. This list aspires to completeness.

*INDEX OF TERMS* -- The genuinely significant literary and technical terms used by Ghalib and by the commentators. Definitions and further references are provided as seems suitable. Over time this index has given rise to two crucial offspring:

*SETS* -- Selected verses grouped according to common structural devices or patterns of imagery, designed for comparative study.

*GRAMMAR NOTES* -- Some material that might be helpful to students and teachers: examples of some of Ghalib's standard, idiomatic, and archaic usages. Also included are some terms related to patterns of imagery that are conventional in the ghazal world.

*GHALIBIANA* -- How can we talk about Ghalib without adding a few good anecdotes? Hali's are of course the best, but Azad has his rather snide contribution to make, too.

*BIBLIOGRAPHY* -- The main Bibliography contains works specifically referred to in this site. At present it has two sub-pages. These sub-pages add further readings for those interested in making a more serious study of the classical ghazal.

*FURTHER SOURCES IN ENGLISH* -- The list contains both translations, and critical and historical works; this is a select list, not by any means a comprehensive one.

*FURTHER SOURCES IN URDU* -- A select list of some relevant commentaries, monographs, etc.

The BIBLIGRAPHY also provides links to various complete texts of commentarial and other materials that have been made available on the website. Two particularly important ones, equipped with analytical indices:

*Hali's 'YADGAR-e GHALIB' (1897)* -- The original 1897 edition of the only biography based on personal acquaintance.

*Kalidas Gupta Raza's 'NUSKHAH-e RAZA' (1995)* -- The best chronologically arranged source, including both published and unpublished ghazals.

*MIR sitemap* -- A similar analytical page on 'A Garden of Kashmir'

[[for my own purposes]]

-- Ghalib index page -- ghazal index page -- FWP's main page --