Shamsur Rahman Faruqi (1935-2020) was an Indian Urdu language poet, author, critic, and translator. Faruqi-saab, as he was known to his admirers, was immersed in Mir’s divan, its testimony to love, doubt, irony, torment, and the fear of mortality crafted even as the Mughal empire collapsed under the pressure of invaders from the northwest and the British East India Company.
Extract from the work of Mir Taqi Mir: Mir’s poetry abounds in bawdiness, the pain and enjoyment of life, instances of homosexuality, Sufi themes, close and wise observation of the world, and insistence on man’s dignity. Translated by: Shamsur Rahman Faruqi