NEW DELHI: IN a bid to strengthen ‘Brand Delhi’, the city government is set to inaugurate a new chapter of literary festivities with the celebration of Urdu poet Mir Taqi Mir whose 300th birth anniversary was commemorated last year. According to officials, the government is planning to celebrate Urdu language luminaries and their great works; the first in this series is likely to be a three-day festival commemorating the great Urdu lyricist, Mir.
“Mir is regarded as the complete Urdu poet; an expert in ghazals and ‘masnavi’– a long poem in rhyming couplets. The idea is to understand his great works and why he is regarded as ‘Khuda-e-Sukhan’, god of Urdu poesy. His relevance in our times should also be discussed, especially among the youth. We all know about the political ideas of Mirza Ghalib but what were Mir’s thoughts? The government has proposed seminars and other literary programmes on Mir,” an official said.
Born as Mir Mohammad Taqi in Agra in 1723, the great lyricist spend a considerable part of his life in the city before he moved on to Lucknow, where he died in 1810. According to historical accounts, the poet lived in Kucha Chelan in Daryaganj. Gopi Chand Narang, literary critic and noted Urdu scholar holds. “Among the great poets like Nasikh and Ghalib, there was a consensus that Mir was a pathfinder, a master poet.”
The celebrations are proposed around September and cultural activities may be organised at sites associated with the poet in Shahjahanabad.