The inscription on Ghalib’s tomb-stone in Arabic and Persian followed by translation:
a hai’yii ya qaiyuum
rashk-e-‘Urfi va faKhr-e-Talib murd Asadullah Khan Ghalib murd
kal maiN Gham-o-andoh meN baa khaatir-e-maHzuuN
tha turbat-e-ustaad pe baiTha hua Ghamnaak
dekha jo mujhe fikr meN taareeKh ke, Majruuh
haatif ne kahaa *ganj-e-ma’ani hai tah-e-Khaak*
the qita (composed four verses) Â is by Mir Mahdi Majruuh; the phrase contains the chronogram of 1285 AH
—
The Alive, The Eternal [these are two of the names of Allah]
the envy of Urfi and the pride of Talib has died, Asadullah Khan Ghalib has died
[Urfi and Talib were Persian-Indian poets]
yesterday in sadness and mourning, grief-afflicted too
I sat by the Master’s grave with sorrow profound
seeing me thinking of a tareeKh, Majruuh [taareeKh = chronogram]
a heavenly voice said, “treasury of meanings is under the ground”
details of inscription from Ghulam Rasul Mehr’s book.
translated into English by Vasmi Abidi
