L ike a damsel whose heart is difficult to win Ruba'yee is a unique genre of Oriental Poetry. Not many poets have tried their hand on it. Josh Malihabadi is an undisputed king of Rubai'yat in the Indo-Pakistan Sub-Continent. He has tamed the wild genre of Ruba'yee and used it to express his illuminating philosophic thoughts about anguish, pains, deprivations and vulnerability of life, social behaviour, love, beauty, solitude, courage, contentment, power, wisdom, expression, superstitions, irrational beliefs, spiritualism, religious paradoxes and values of life.