Remembering Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor and one of the first freedom fighters on 157th anniversary of the revolt of 1857 against the British empire.


Mirza Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah, the last Mughal emperor was more a poet than a ruler. He used Zafar as his takhallus(pseudonym). He was a lover of poetry and great Urdu poets like Mirza Ghalib and Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim Zauq were a member of his court.

As the Indian rebellion of 1857 spread, Sepoy regiments seized Delhi. Seeking a figure that could unite all Indians most rebelling Indian kings and the Indian regiments accepted Zafar as the Emperor of India under whom the smaller Indian kingdoms would unite until the British were defeated. Zafar was the least threatening and least ambitious of monarchs, and the legacy of the Mughal Empire was more acceptable a uniting force to most allied kings than the domination of any other Indian kingdom. Zafar was captured by the British army after the rebellion failed and was sent to Rangoon prison, Burma in 1959 where he remained until his death. Zafar remained sorrowful and wrote a number of ghazals in prison which became one of the masterpieces of Urdu language. Here is a very popular and one of the best ghazals which Zafar wrote in Rangoon:



لگتا نہیں ہے جی مِرا اُجڑے دیار میں
کس کی بنی ہے عالمِ ناپائیدار میں

بُلبُل کو پاسباں سے نہ صیاد سے گلہ
قسمت میں قید لکھی تھی فصلِ بہار میں

کہہ دو اِن حسرتوں سے کہیں اور جا بسیں
اتنی جگہ کہاں ہے دلِ داغدار میں

اِک شاخِ گل پہ بیٹھ کے بُلبُل ہے شادماں
کانٹے بِچھا دیتے ہیں دلِ لالہ زار میں

عمرِ دراز مانگ کے لائے تھے چار دِن
دو آرزو میں کٹ گئے، دو اِنتظار میں

دِن زندگی کے ختم ہوئے شام ہوگئی
پھیلا کے پائوں سوئیں گے کنج مزار میں

کتنا ہے بدنصیب ظفر دفن کے لئے
دو گز زمین بھی مل نہ سکی  کوئے یار میں


"Lagta nahi hai ji mera ujde dayaar me
Kiski bani hai aalam e na'payedar me

Bulbul ko hai pasban se na sayyad se gila
Qismat me qaid likhi thi fasl e bahar me

Keh do in hasraton se kahin aur ja basein
Itni jagah kahan hai dil e daaghdar me

Ik shaakh e gul pe baith ke bulbul hai shaadman
Kaante bicha diye hain dil e lala zaar me

Umr e daraz maang ke laaye the chaar din
do aarzu me kat gaye, do intezar me

Din zindagi ke khatm hue shaam ho gayi
Phaila ke paanv soyenge kunj e mazar me

Kitna hai badnaseeb "zafar" dafn ke liye
Do gaz zameen bhi mil na saki ku e yaar me"


Translation:

"My heart has no repose in this despoiled land
Who has ever felt fulfilled in this futile world?

The nightingale complains about neither the sentinel nor the hunter
Fate had decreed imprisonment during the harvest of spring

Tell these longings to go dwell elsewhere
What space is there for them in this besmirched heart?

Sitting on a branch of flowers, the nightingale rejoices
It has strewn thorns in the garden of my heart

I asked for a long life, I received four days
Two passed in desire, two in waiting.

The days of life are over, evening has fallen
I shall sleep, legs outstretched, in my tomb

How unfortunate is Zafar! For his burial
Not even two yards of land were to be had, in the land of his beloved."