Lot 521

Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan Urf (alias) Mirza Ghalib (27 December 1797 – 15 February 1869), Copper Medal, 54.50 gms, 51.31 mm, Obv. Potrait of Mirza Ghalib mentioning Birth Year 1797 AD & Passing away year 1869 AD, urdu legends of his title written as "Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib", Rev. reads  kul hind sad sala Yadgaar e ghalib committee delhi from 2'o clock to 10'o clock anti clockwise, main indlab Gulshan naa-aafrida hoon in the center in a straight line from left to right, isiwi 1969 AD in the bottom, The Complete Sher (Poem) is Hoon Garmi-e-Nishat-e-Tasavvur Se Naghma-Sanj, Main andalib-i-gulshan-i-na afridah hoon. By Ghalib. Indlab means (nightingale (bulbul) bird), Na-afrida means unmanifested (yet to be born), meaning of the lines of the ghazal in my opinion. I sing with the heat (excitement) of the delights (joy) of the things I imagine and foresee. I am the nightingale of the garden that is yet to be born. The poet says I am a singer of songs that are evoked by the excitement of the happiness of the things I imagine. I am the nightingale of a garden of the future when the things I imagine would be possible and the future is bright and happy. There could be another interpretation possible. Say the poet imagined a heaven on earth so profound that he breaks into a song unprovoked. It was such a nice melodious tune that the poet says, for a nightingale to even compete with him, it would have to be singing in so majestic a garden that it has yet not been created. This Ghazal menioned in the center appeared in earlier publications of Ghalib’s divaan, but in the later versions, which have become “official” and more common, he, for whatever reason dropped it. This is dated 1812 in ‘nusKha-e bhopal’ published in 1816 i.e. Ghalib was fifteen years old when he composed this, 1st time being offered in an auction house, extra fine, rare.