Wali Dakhni, a contemporary of Siraj Aurangabad, was a great Urdu poet also known as Wali Aurangabadi or Wali Gujrati. He was born in Aurangabad (Maharashtra) in 1667 and died on October 31, 1707, in Ahmedabad where his grave was vandalised during the Gujarat riots of 2002.
R V Smith writes, “[Wali Dakhni] came to Delhi in 1700 AD while Aurangzeb was still on the throne. Delhi was at that time home to several eminent poets of Persian, Hatim, Abroo, Arzoo and Bedil among them, who swore by the Persian poetry of Saadi, Hafiz, Jami, Khaqani and Urfi. It was in this milieu that Wali Dakhni introduced his poetry, written in Dakhani, called Rekhta (language of the marketplace) that became Urdu as we know it today.”
For Bol this week, poet Chandrakant Patil recites his poem, Marsiye mein Mahfooz: Wali Dakhni ke Liye, along with an English translation of the poem by Vishnu Khare, as a tribute to Wali Dakhni.
