Wali Mohammed Wali
Indian poet
Wali Muhammad Wali (1667–1707), also known as Wali Dakhani, Wali Gujarati, and Wali Aurangabadi, was a classical Urdu poet from the Indian subcontinent.
He is considered by many scholars to be the father of Urdu poetry, being the first established poet to have composed ghazals in the Urdu language and compiled a divan (a collection of ghazals where the entire alphabet is used at least once as the last letter to define the rhyme pattern).
Before Wali, Indian Ghazals were composed in Persian, almost being replicated in thought and style from the original Persian masters like Saa'di, Jami and Khaqani. Wali began, using not only an Indian language, but Indian themes, idioms and imagery in his ghazals. It is said that his visit to Delhi in 1700, along with his divan of Urdu ghazals created a ripple in the literary circles of the north, inspiring them to produce stalwarts like Zauq, Sauda and Mir.
Early life
He was born in 1667 at Aurangabad, an important city in present-day Maharashtra which was then part of the Mughal Empire. He loved travelling, which he regarded as a means of education. He visited Delhi, Surat, Burhanpur and also undertook the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.
Career
Wali Mohammed Wali's visit to Delhi in 1700 is considered to be of great significance for Urdu Ghazals. It was believed that he introduced deccani mushaira to Delhi.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as indian poet. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q905327. VIAF identifies the subject as 250687891. The Library of Congress control number is n85338256. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1667, 1707 and 1700.
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This entry incorporates text from “Wali Mohammed Wali” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.