Art Shrines of Ancient India

Ghalib (1797-1869) is generally considered to be the greatest poet of the Urdu language along with Mir who preceded him. Widely known and of quoted his ghazals sometimes appear difficult and inaccessible to those whose mother tongue is not Urdu.

Attempts have been made to translate his ghazals into English Roman & Devanagri Scripts Devanagri Script has been added to the present translation.

After school days in Dehra Dun and Mussoorie at the foot of the Himalayas followed by medical studies in New Delhi and some years of Medical work, the translator of these poems received a French Government scholarship for further medical research in immunobiology with the INSERM the French Medical Research organization.

Since her retirement she has returned to her literary preoccupations. Her translation into English of 100 poems of Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) which appeared in 2002 was well received at a special evening of the India international Centre New Delhi. Her Complete translation of the Diwan-e-Ghalib (1797-1869) was published by the Ghalib Institute New Delhi in 2003 and is the first of its kind. It is still very much in demand.

By her translations Sarvat Rahman wishes to make known the humanistic and liberal ideas inspired by Sufism in Particular which were and are the heritage which we have received from the great poets of the Urdu language. India has a very large publics who appreciates the Urdu Ghazal even without knowing the language properly. The English translation was meant for this immense public. Having lived for so long in France the author of the French translation wished to make available this poetry to the French public also.