Bahadur Shah Zafar’s court was adorned, amongst others, by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, Hakim Momin Khan Momin, Shaikh Ibrahim Zauq, Mufti Sadruddin Aazurdah, Imaam Bakhsh Sehbaai and Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta. Mushairas at the Fort, presided over by Zafar himself, were a literary treat. In a rather less than ordinary ghazal, Mughal Prince-poet, Mirza Qadir Bakhsh Saabir described how he had benefitted from the company of some brilliant poets at Zafar’s court :
pehle ustaad thay Ehsaan-o-Naseer-o-Momin
hui Ehsaan se pur-islaah tabiyat meri
phir hua Hazrat-e-Sehbaai ki islaah ka faiz
taba baareek hui unki badaulat meri
aur hum-bazm rahey Momin-o-Zauq-o-Ghalib
ustaadon se hi hardam rahi sohbat meri
munaqid hoti hai jab sheher mein bazm-e-Insha
kartey hain ehl-e-sukhan waqat-o-izzat meri
Earlier my teachers were Ehsaan, Naseer and Momin
It was Ehsaan who guided my ideology
Then I benefitted from the guidance of Sehbaai
My thinking became delicate because of him
And I my companions were Momin, Zauq and Ghalib
I had always been in the company of masters
Whenever a gathering is organized in the name of ‘Insha’
People of literature accord me stature and respect”
