Abdul-Qādir Bēdil

Bēdil was born in Azimabad (present-day Patna) in India to Mirza 'Abd al-Khaliq (d. 1648), a former Uzbek Turkic soldier who belonged to the Barlas tribe of the Chagatai Tajiks. The descendants of the family had originally lived in the city of Bukhara in Transoxiana, before moving to India. Bēdil's native language was Bengali, but he also spoke Hindustani (i.e., Hindi-Urdu; then known as Rekhta), Sanskrit and Turkic, as well as Persian and Arabic, which he learned in elementary school. Bēdil mostly wrote ghazal and ruba'is (quatrains) in Persian (the language of the royal court), which he had learned during his childhood. He was the author of 16 books of poetry, which contained nearly 147,000 verses and included several masnavi in that language. He is considered one of the prominent poets of Indian School of Poetry in Persian literature, and is regraded as having his own unique style. Both Mirza Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal were influenced by him. His books include Ṭilism-i Ḥayrat (fa), Ṭūr-i Ma'rifat (fa), Čahār 'Unṣur (fa) and Ruqa'āt (fa). Possibly as a result of being brought up in such a mixed religious environment, Bēdil had considerably more tolerant views than his poetic contemporaries. He preferred freethought to accepting the established beliefs of his time, siding with the common people and rejecting the clergy who he often saw as corrupt. Bēdil's work is highly regarded in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and India. Bēdil came back to prominence in Iran in 1980s. Literary critics Mohammad-Reza Shafiei Kadkani and Mohammad Shams Langeroodi were instrumental in Bēdil's re-emergence in Iran. Iran also sponsored two international conferences on Bēdil. The Indian school of Persian poetry, especially Bēdil's poetry, is criticised for its complex and implicit meanings. As a result, it is better regarded in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and India than in Iran. In Afghanistan, a unique school in poetry studying is dedicated to Bēdil's poetry called Bēdilšināsī (Bēdil studies), and those who have studied his poetry are called Bēdilšinās (Bēdil experts). His poetry plays a major role in Indo-Persian classical music in central Asia. Many Afghan classical musicians (e.g. Mohammad Hussain Sarahang and Nashenas) have sung Bēdil's ghazals.

His grave, called Bāġ-i Bēdil (Garden of Bēdil) is situated across Purana Qila, at Mathura Road next to the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium gates and the pedestrian bridge over Mathura Road in Delhi.

• Bıdil, ‘Abd al-Qadir. Avaz-ha-yi Bidil: Nasri adabi (Ruq‘at - Nukat – Isharat – Chahar - ‘Unsur). Edited by Akbar Bihdarvand. Tehran: Nigah, 1386 [2007]. • Bıdil, ‘Abd al-Qadir. Kullıyat. Lucknow: Naval Kishor, 1287 [1870 or 1871]. • Bıdil, ‘Abd al-Qadir. Ghazaliyati Bidil Dihlavi. Edited by Akbar Bihdavand. Shiraz: Navid-i Shiraz, 1387 [2008 or 2009].