Person · 1764 (per Wikipedia infobox) – 1846; his own principal Anglophone source, Saksena 1927, prints 1846 in its margin gloss on p.111 and then 1823 in its body text on p.112 — see erasure · born 1764 · Urdu poet (ghazal)

Khwāja Ḥaidar ʿAlī Ātish

Khwāja Ḥaidar ʿAlī, who took the pen name Ātish ("Fire"), was a Lucknow ghazal poet whom Ram Babu Saksena's 1927 history ranks "foremost amongst Urdu writers of ghazals after Mir and Ghalib."

What the sources did afterwards. Ātish's own principal Anglophone source contradicts its own death date within the space of one page: a margin gloss on p. 111 gives "1263 A. H. 1846 A. D.", the body text on p. 112 gives "1243 A. H. (1823 A. D.)" — and neither Hijri year converts to the Gregorian year printed next to it. The discrepancy is never flagged or resolved by the book itself.

Draft. This entry is an unreviewed first draft. It has not yet been checked by a subject reviewer — see sources and method.

A contrast to Nasikh

Ātish's family had come from Delhi to Faizabad in the time of Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula. Saksena's history records that he "was born in Fyzabad," and that "His father died when Atish was merely a boy and hence his education was neglected and he became a 'Banka'" (Saksena 1927, p. 111). Taken into the service of Nawab Muhammad Taqi, he was brought to Lucknow, where he watched the poetical combats of Insha and Mushafi and began submitting his own early verses to Mushafi for correction.

Saksena sets his manner directly against that of his great rival: "In his life, as in his writings Atish was a contrast to Nasikh... He dressed himself like a soldier and carried a sword with him even in poetical assemblies," and "He never lowered himself by making requests or writing panegyrics in praise of nobles or nawabs" (Saksena 1927, p. 111). He lived, the book adds, "in an old tumble down house, in a poor style, like a fakir."

Ranked after Mir and Ghalib — and two death dates

Saksena's verdict on the verse itself is unambiguous: "Atish writes like fire as his nom de plume signifies... He ranks foremost amongst Urdu writers of ghazals after Mir and Ghalib" (Saksena 1927, p. 112). But the same book cannot agree with itself on when its subject died. A margin gloss on p. 111 reads "Atish, died 1263 A. H. 1846 A. D." — the year modern accounts repeat (Wikipedia, 2026, gives 1846) — while the body text one page later states instead: "Atish died in 1243 A. H. (1823 A. D.) leaving a host of pupils some of whom attained the rank of a master" (Saksena 1927, p. 112).

Neither printed Hijri year converts cleanly to the Gregorian year set beside it, and the book leaves its own contradiction unreconciled on its own pages — a death date printed twice, disagreeing with itself, in the one Anglophone history most likely to be a reader's first stop.

Where this sits

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Sources

p. 111 · read as page image Khwaja Haider Ali poetically surnamed Atish (Fire) was the son of Khwaja Ali Bakhsh, and belonged to a respectable family of Delhi... Atish was born in Fyzabad. His father died when Atish was merely a boy and hence his education was neglected and he became a 'Banka'... In his life, as in his writings Atish was a contrast to Nasikh. He led an unaffected life free from all conventionalities and formalities... He dressed himself like a soldier and carried a sword with him even in poetical assemblies. He never cared for patronage or wealth... he never lowered himself by making requests or writing panegyrics in praise of nobles or nawabs. He used to receive a salary of Rs. 80 from the kings of Oudh... He lived in an old tumble down house, in a poor style, like a fakir.
p. 112 · read as page image Atish died in 1243 A. H. (1823 A. D.) leaving a host of pupils some of whom attained the rank of a master. Atish writes like fire as his nom de plume signifies... He ranks foremost amongst Urdu writers of ghazals after Mir and Ghalib.
infobox · read as web Khwaja Haider Ali Aatish (1764–1846) of Lucknow was an Urdu poet... Occupation | Urdu poet