Remembrances

<p><b>A rare and remarkable example of Indo-Persian autobiography by the poet Mir Taqi Mir.</b> <p/>Mir Muhammad Taqi Mir (1723-1810) is the author of six collections of Urdu poetry and widely regarded as the finest <i>ghazal</i> poet in that language. However he also wrote one volume of verse and three prose works in Persian including <i>Zikr-e Mir</i> or <i>Remembrances</i> a rare and remarkable example of Indo-Persian autobiography. <p/><i>Remembrances</i> recounts Mir's ancestry his father's spiritual quest and his own struggles to find education and patronage both in his native Agra and in Delhi. While the work may offer few glimpses into the author's private life or professional literary activity it presents a vivid picture of political events and intrigues between 1760 and 1789 when north India witnessed extensive warfare. <p/>The Persian text presented here in the Naskh script includes all the author's additions and alterations properly identified and chronologically arranged along with a newly revised English translation. Mir concludes his autobiography with a series of jokes and witty anecdotes some of them quite risqué that are printed here for the first time.</p>