Occupation Urdu poet Subject Love, Philosophy Nationality Indian subcontinent Name Baksh Nasikh | Period Mughal era Role Poet Genre Ghazal Died 1838, Lucknow | |
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Pen name Nasikh (meaning obliterator or amanuensis) | ||
Imam Baksh Nasikh’s Naat - Audio Archives of Lutfullah Khan
Baksh Nasikh (Urdu: امام بخش ناسخ) (1776–1838) was an Urdu poet of the Mughal era.
Imam Baksh Nasikh was the founder of the Lucknow school of Urdu poetry. He was born in Faizabad in 1776. In his early days he had joined the darbar of Nawab Mohammed Khan. He migrated to Lucknow also to continue his studies. He succeeded in gaining the patronage of Meer Kazim Ali whose property he inherited. Nasikh who offended the nawab of Awadh by contemptuously refusing his patronage was driven out from Lucknow. Nasikh finally returned from exile after the death of Hakim Mehdi in 1837. He died in the year 1838.
The Lucknow school of ghazal, which included Mir Hasan, Jur’at, Mashafi, Insha, Rangeen, Aatish, Shah Nasir, Nasikh and Rind, tried to establish a separate poetic identity. Poets like Nasikh took pains to purify Urdu by replacing all words, phrases and expressions of Indian origin by Persian counterparts which exercise resulted in extravagant verbosity, unexpected comparisons and conceits, superabundance of similes and metaphors along with a craze for graphic and erotic descriptions of the beloved’s body. The glory of ghazal was restored to Delhi under the patronage of Bahgadur Shah Zafar.