Rasul Mir

Rasool Mir
Died	1870

Rasool Mir (Kashmiri: رسول مِیر) (died 1870) was one of the leading Kashmiri poets of the 19th century. He was born at Doru Shahabad, a historic town in the Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir. He was said to have been alive in 1855 AD when Mahmood Gami died. Rasul Mir died a few years before-Maqbool Shah Kralawari (d.1874). He is one of the most celebrated Kashmiri poets and is popularly called as the John Keats of Kashmir. He brought Gazal to Kashmiri poetry. Gazals with rivers, valleys, birds, fruits and imagery of Kashmir are his forte.

One of his famous poems is:

Gaste wesiye lala chhum durey
Me chhu mooreey lalvun nar

Translation:

Go, my friend, my love stays for away.
I have to nurture the fire of love everyday.

The last couplet of this poem is:

Rasul Mir chhuy Shahabad Durey,
Am chhu trovmut ashka dukan.
Yeevoo ashkow cheyiv turi turay.
Mein chu moorey lalvun naar

Translation:

Rasul Mir of Shahabad Doore
Has opened a shop of tears.
Come, lovers drink cupfuls away.
I have to nurture the fire of love everyday

It is believed that he formed his own way into the basic principles of poetry prevalent in his times and did not follow the conventional principles of poetry. He did not have any murshid (guide) but became the guide of many others following him.

See also

• Kashmiri literature
• Mahjoor