Urdu original · Six official UN languages
Ghazal, nazm, afsana and more—in Urdu and the six official UN languages.
Explore Urdu literature in the original, with translations in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish—the six official languages of the United Nations. Read line by line beside the Urdu text, with audio, Roman Urdu and Hindi script.
غالبؔ صریرِ خامہ نوائے سروش ہے
Ghalib, the reed’s faint rasp is the angel’s melody.
Ten new couplets every day, each on a classical painting.
آئے ہیں میرؔ کافر ہو کر خدا کے گھر میںپیشانی پر ہے قشقہ زنار ہے کمر میں
aa.e haiñ 'miir' kaafir ho kar KHudaa ke ghar meñpeshaanii par hai qashqa zunnaar hai kamar meñ
Mir has come to God's house an infidel:the caste-mark on his forehead, the sacred thread about his waist.
Painting: A Princess on a Terrace with Attendants at Night (recto), c. 1760. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
افسوس دنیا میں بہت تم پر ہوئے جور و جفاحق تلفیاں تم نے سہیں، بے مہریاں جھیلیں سدا
afsos duniyaa meñ bahut tum par hu.e jaur-o-jafaahaq-talfiyaañ tum ne sahiiñ, be-mehriyaañ jheliiñ sadaa
Alas, in the world great wrong and cruelty were done to you;you suffered injustice, you endured unkindness always.
Painting: Posthumous portrait of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (reigned 1719–1748) holding a falcon (recto), 1764. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
پوچھتے ہیں وہ کہ غالبؔ کون ہےکوئی بتلاؤ کہ ہم بتلائیں کیا
puuchhte haiñ vo ki 'Gaalib' kaun haikoii batlaa.o ki ham batlaa.eñ kyaa
She asks, "Who is Ghalib?"Will someone tell me what to tell her?
Painting: Yusuf and Zulaykha meeting, c. 1764. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
اے خاصۂ خاصانِ رسل وقتِ دعا ہےامت پہ تری آ کے عجب وقت پڑا ہے
ai KHaasa-e-KHaasaan-e-rusul vaqt-e-duaa haiummat pe tirii aa ke ajab vaqt pa.Daa hai
O chosen one of the chosen among the messengers, it is time for prayer;a strange time has come upon your community.
Painting: A blindfolded suitor is brought before a princess (recto), 1755. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
کیوں زیاں کار بنوں، سود فراموش رہوںفکرِ فردا نہ کروں، محوِ غمِ دوش رہوں
kyuuñ ziyaañ-kaar banuuñ, suud-faraamosh rahuuñfikr-e-fardaa na karuuñ, mahv-e-Gam-e-dosh rahuuñ
Why should I choose loss, and forget my gain?Why not think of tomorrow, and stay lost in yesterday's grief?
Painting: The Dream of Zuleykha, c. 1770. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
یارو مجھے معاف رکھو میں نشے میں ہوںاب دو تو جام خالی ہی دو میں نشے میں ہوں
yaaro mujhe muaaf rakho maiñ nashe meñ huuñab do to jaam KHaalii hii do maiñ nashe meñ huuñ
Friends, forgive me, I am drunk;now if you give, give only an empty cup; I am drunk.
Painting: Layla and Majnun in the wilderness with animals, from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi, c. 1590–1600. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
ایسے وحشی کہاں ہیں اے خوباںمیرؔ کو تم عبث اداس کیا
aise vahshii kahaañ haiñ ai KHuubaañ'miir' ko tum abas udaas kiyaa
Where are there such wild ones, O beautiful ones?You have saddened Mir for nothing.
Painting: Tiered Court Scene, c. 1735. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
بارے دنیا میں رہو غم زدہ یا شاد رہوایسا کچھ کر کے چلو یاں کہ بہت یاد رہو
baare duniyaa meñ raho Gam-zada yaa shaad rahoaisaa kuchh kar ke chalo yaañ ki bahut yaad raho
Live in the world in grief or in joy,but do something here before you go, that you may be long remembered.
Painting: Bhairava Raga, early 1800s. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
فارغ مجھے نہ جان کہ مانندِ صبح و مہرہے داغِ عشق، زینتِ جیبِ کفن ہنوز
Do not think me idle, for like the dawn and the sunthe scar of love still adorns the collar of my shroud.
Painting: Lovers and beloveds: A composite of scenes from Persian, Urdu, and Sanskrit literature, c. 1735. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
ذکر میرا بہ بدی بھی، اُسے منظور نہیںغیر کی بات بگڑ جائے تو کچھ دُور نہیں
She does not accept being reminded of me even with ill words:if the stranger's case is spoiled, it would be no wonder.
Painting: Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil window, c. 1765. Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
Learn Urduاردو سیکھیے
For absolute beginners and for heritage learners who understand a little but cannot speak with confidence or read the script. Interactive lessons with audio on every word.
Try the course freeLearn Urdu Poetryاردو شاعری سیکھیے
Ghazal, nazm and the metres of Urdu verse, with a metre checker that scans any line you type. Free.
Dastan · 1804
First two chapters freeباغ و بہار
Mir Amman
The classic of Urdu prose, written in 1801 at Fort William College, Calcutta, for John Gilchrist. Mir Amman retold the Persian Tale of the Four Darvesh in the plain spoken Urdu of Delhi, and for two centuries the book has been where learners of the language begin. Azad Bakht, emperor of Constantinople, has no heir; wandering in disguise one stormy night among the tombs, he finds four darvesh, each a prince or a merchant's son ruined by love, and listens to their stories: the merchant of Yemen and the wounded princess in the chest, the prince of Persia and the sorrowing lady of Basra, the prince of Ajam who follows a black deer, the prince of China and his wicked uncle. Within them nest the tales of Hatim Tai and of the emperor himself. Urdu text with a facing English translation; the first two chapters are free to read.
25 chaptersEnglishEspañolFrançaisالعربية中文Русский
Novel · 1936
First two chapters freeگئودان
Munshi Premchand
Premchand's last completed novel (1936), and the greatest novel of Indian village life. Hori, a farmer with five bighas of land, a sharp-tongued, loyal wife named Dhaniya and a mountain of debts, wants only one thing: a cow tied at his door. Around his small hope Premchand builds a whole society: the landlord Rai Sahib with his theatricals and his worries, the moneylenders and priests of the village, and the city of Lucknow with its mill-owners, doctors, editors and philosophers. Tender, comic and unsparing, it is the classic of Hindustani realism. Urdu text with a facing English translation; the first two chapters are free to read.
36 chaptersEnglishEspañolFrançaisالعربية中文Русский
Novel · 1888
First two chapters freeابن الوقت
Deputy Nazir Ahmad
Nazir Ahmad's comic novel of 1888. During the uprising of 1857 Ibn-ul-Waqt, steward to a Mughal princess and a scholar of Arabic and Persian, hides a wounded Englishman, Mr Noble. When Delhi falls, his reward is a place in English society, and he throws himself into it: a bungalow, a table with knives and forks, a hat, a dog and a new conviction that the rulers are better than the ruled in every way. His cousin Hujjat-ul-Islam is sent to bring him back to his senses. Written in the age of Sir Syed, this is the first great Urdu satire of colonial mimicry, and still very funny. Urdu text with a facing English translation; the first two chapters are free to read.
28 chaptersEnglishEspañolFrançaisالعربية中文Русский
Novel · 1931
First two chapters freeغبن
Munshi Premchand
Premchand's novel of 1931. Jalpa, a village girl, grows up wanting one thing: a chandan-haar, the gold necklace she saw in a pedlar's box at the swing. Her husband Ramanath, a clerk in the Allahabad municipal office with a weakness for show, borrows, lies and finally dips into the public money to keep her in ornaments. What follows is a story of debt, flight, police informers and a woman's slow discovery of her own strength. One of the great social novels of Urdu and Hindi. Urdu text with a facing English translation; the first two chapters are free to read.
52 chaptersEnglishEspañolFrançaisالعربية中文Русский
Nazm · 1905
First two chapters freeچپ کی داد
Altaf Hussain Hali
Hali's poem of 1905 addressed to the women of India: eight stanzas on what women give the world, what they endure in their fathers' and husbands' houses, the ages of injustice they were made to bear in silence, and the dawn of their right to learning. Written by the reformer who gave Urdu the Musaddas, it remains the most moving plea for women's education in the language. Urdu text with a facing English translation; the note on the poet and the first stanza are free to read.
9 chaptersEnglishEspañolFrançaisالعربية中文Русский
Afsana · 1922
First two chapters freeبیگمات کے آنسو
Khwaja Hasan Nizami
Tales of the Mutiny of 1857. Khwaja Hasan Nizami gathered the last princes and princesses of the Mughal house, turned out of the Red Fort into a Delhi in flames, and let them tell what became of them: a prince who serves as a hotel butler, princesses begging in the bazaars, a daughter of Bahadur Shah. Reissued in many editions in the author's lifetime, this is Urdu prose at its most tender. Translated here in full, with the author's 1930 afterword; the preface and the first story are free to read.
19 chaptersEnglishEspañolFrançaisالعربية中文Русский
The Great Urdu Poets: From Wali and Mir to Faiz and Faraz
Three centuries of Urdu poetry in one list, with where to read each poet.
Classic Urdu Novels to Read in English Translation
From the first Urdu novel to Premchand: the classics, in order, with where to read them.
Umrao Jan Ada: Summary, Characters and Themes
Ruswa's 1899 novel of a Lucknow courtesan, the most celebrated novel in Urdu.
Mirza Ghalib: Life, Poetry and Letters
The most quoted poet of Urdu, and the witness of Delhi's fall in 1857.
What Is a Ghazal? The Urdu Ghazal Explained
How a ghazal is built, what it is about, and who wrote and sang the greatest ones.
How to Learn Urdu: A Practical Guide for Beginners
A step-by-step route from your first Urdu sounds to reading real literature.
Long-form fiction.
13 works
The modern Urdu short story.
6 works
Plays and dramatic writing.
1 work
Epic tales of adventure and wonder.
14 works
Essays and articles.
13 works
The personal, playful essay.
1 work
Accounts of journeys.
4 works
Lives told by themselves and by others.
3 works
