Jigar Moradabadi

Ali Sikandar (1890–1960), known by his takhallus **Jigar Moradabadi**, was one of the great Urdu ghazal poets of the twentieth century. Born in Moradabad, he lost his father at an early age, received an oriental education in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, and briefly worked as a travelling salesman. Still in his teens he moved to Gonda, near Lucknow, where he befriended the poet Asghar Gondvi and made the town his permanent home. His first lessons in poetry came from his father Ali Nazar, a poet himself; he later sought guidance from Dagh Dehlavi. An iconic mushaira poet famed for musical, romantic verse on love and wine, he published *Daagh-e-Jigar* (1928), *Shola-e-Toor* (1932) and *Aatish-e-Gul* (1954), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1958. He was the second poet after Muhammad Iqbal to receive an honorary D.Litt. from Aligarh Muslim University, and a mentor to Majrooh Sultanpuri. He is known as *Rais-ul-Mutaghazzileen* — the prince of ghazal writers.