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Nawab
Mirza Dagh (1831-1905) was born in Delhi and received his
early education and training in the Red Fort. His poetic talent blossomed
under Zouk and earned him tributes from the Mughal emperor
Bahadur Shah Zafar, who was himself a poet. After the upheaval
caused by the First War of Independence, Dagh spent about twenty-four
years at the court of Rampur, pilgrimaging to Mecca and visiting various
parts of India. He spent the last two decades of his life at the court
of the Nizam of Hyderabad, receiving titles such as Ustan-us-Sultan,
Nazim yar Jung, Dabir-ud-daulah, Faish-ul-mulk and
Jahan Ustad. Genial but self-respecting, popular at royal courts
but above politics, Dagh enjoyed celebrity-status. He had more than 1,500
disciples. He was basically a master of love-poems, as collected in his
Gulzar Dagh, Aftab Dagh, Mahtab Dagh, Yadgar Dagh and Zamima
Yadgar Dagh. He refrained from complicated constructions and Persianization.
His verses are terse and bright, vivacious and vigorous. They do not have
much philosophy or originality. They are not sublime, and sometimes are
not quite in keeping with decorum. But Dagh remains a high-ranking
Urdu poet because of his avoidance of bombastic words, his treatment of
tough subjects in melodious language, and his cleverness in composing
piquant verses, and because of his being ustad to many distinguished
poets of the future.
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