Gani Kashmiri

Gani Kashmiri (/ˈɡɑːni kæʃˈmɪəri/ GAH-nee kash-MEER-ee; born Muhammad Tahir Gani Ashai; c. 1630 – c. 1669), was a Persian-language poet from Kashmir. His uncertain authorship, including gazals and 100,000 verses, consist of some single tazmins, ninety-two rubaʿis, two maṯnavis, and one twenty-eight couplets and some verses in rekhta. His writings have been reinterpreted by Muhammad Iqbal, Mir Taqi Mir, Saadat Hasan Manto, and by a rebellion Mughal poet, Ghalib, who is believed to have translated around forty of his couplets into Urdu language.

In Kashmiri literature besides Persian and Urdu, he is often recognized one of the greatest poets of the Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in Kashmir Valley, a place he lived his life.

He was born around 1630 as Muhammad Tahir Gani Ashai in Ashai family and lived in Rajouri Kadal, Srinagar. He produced most of his work during the reign of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. It is believed he preferably did not complete any nonformal or formal education outside Srinagar, though he received his education from Mohsin Fani, a Persian historian who taught him medicine, literature and philosophy.