aaj ik aur baras biit gayā us ke baġhair
jis ke hote hue hote the zamāne mere
In the earliest of memoirs, Lal Tek Chand Bahaar’s name appears as one of the very first Non-Muslim poets of Urdu. Born around 1687 in Delhi, he was one of the contemporaries to Mir Taqi Mir’s maternal uncle Sirajuddin Ali Khan Arzoo. Extremely cheerful and lively, Bahaar, was so well versed in Persian literature that scholars and critics, alike, revered him greatly. He also compiled the widely credible and prestigious Persian lexicon, ‘Bahaar-e-ajam’. Such was his passion for unearthing the nuances of the language that when Nadir Shah’s invasion was shedding blood everywhere, he was inquiring the meanings of idioms and proverbs from Nadir Shah’s Irani Soldiers. In 1766, at the age of 80, he passed away in Delhi.
Jashn-e-Rekhta | 13-14-15 December 2024 - Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium , Gate No. 1, New Delhi
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