Mulla Mohd Tahir Ashai or Gani Kashmiri was the most famous persian poet of the subcontinent who was widely read in Iran .He was a student of another unsung persian poet of kasmir known as mulla Hassan Fani. Ghani belonged to the highly respected Ashai family of Kashmir.He never attended any Darbar or wrote any Qasida ( poetry of Praise ) for any ruler of his time.He even refused to visit Aurangzeb’s Court when summoned repeatedly by the Mughal King.
Due to his superb Persian poetry, Gani Kashmiri became famous in Iran also. His philosophical Persian poetry prompted Saib, a famous Persian poet, to travel all the way from Iran to Kashmir in order to see Gani and have a deeper insight into his philosophy. On his arrival the Persian poet went to meet Gani a number of times but was disappointed to find the doors of his house locked. Still he didn’t give up his mission and at one occasion found the doors open. With great enthusiasm he went inside the house but found Gani missing and the house without any human being inside it. Ultimately when through some local contact Saib succeeded in meeting Gani Kashmiri, he inquired about the philosophy of locking the door while Gani himself was inside and keeping it open when he was not in the house. At this Gani is believed to have said, “I am the only treasure in this house. In order to protect this treasure the doors have to be locked. Once the treasure is not in the house there is no need to lock its doors”. The Iranian poet was deeply impressed and eulogized Gani Kashmiri for his wit and intelligence.
Gani Kashmiri wrote Persian poetry because during his times Persian was the official language and Persian literature was at its zenith. His poetry, because of its artistic merits, has a distinct place in the entire Persian literature.
Among other Kashmiri poets Rasul Mir enjoys a distinguished position due to his poetic thought and excellent craftsmanship. Even Wahab Khar, a great mystic poet, surpassed in artistic merits to the poets of his time.
Gani Kashmiri lived during the reign of Aurangzeb and till this day he is considered one of the great masters of Persian poetry. This Kashmiri poet exerted a great influence on the development of persian and urdu poetry in India . He is considered a great master of SABAK E HINDI or THE INDIAN STYLE OF PERSIAN POETRY patronized by Mughals ..Mirza Ghalib translated more than 40 of his couplets into urdu. Kashmir Poet Ghulam Ahmed Mahjoor refers to him in his famous poem ‘Arise, O’ Gardener’:
Litterateurs of Iran will bow
To you in reverence
if you create a poet with powers of
magical narration like Ghani.
Ghani also wrote in urdu . I quote one of his couplets as under
“Dil yun khayale zulf mein phirta hai n’ara zan
Taarik shab mein jaise koi pasban phire”
Allama Iqbal refers to this incident thus:
That nightingale of poetry, Ghani,
Who sang in Kashmir’s paradisal land,
Used, while at home, to shut up all the doors,
But leave them open while away from home.
Somebody questioned him concerning this.
“O charming bard,” he said, “Why do you do
This strange thing, which nobody understands
The meaning of ?” Ghani, who had no wealth
Except his gift of poetry, replied:
“What people see me doing is quite right.
There is nothing of any value in my house
Except myself. When I am in, the house
Is to be guarded like a treasure-house.
When I am out, it is an empty place,
Which nobody would care to walk into.”
Peerzada Ghulam Ahmed Mahjoor, a great modem Kashmiri poet following the footsteps of Dr. Iqbal, has very aptly said:
“At an opportune time Kashmir will awaken the East
Let me put this prophecy in the ears of Kashmiris”