Mirza Mohammed Raft Sauda was born in Delhi. His father, Mirza Mohammed Shaft, had come from Kabul to India in search of some business, and had settled down permanently in Delhi. Sauda showed signs of a poetic genius quite early in life. His talent got ample opportunity to develop under the guidance of his poetic mentor, Shah Hatim. The boy poet initially wrote poetry in Persian, but under the influence and advice of Khan Aarzoo, he switched over to Urdu and soon acquired unusual popularity as a poet, so much so that even King Shah Aalam took pride on being included among Sauda's poetic disciples. Later in life, Sauda was compelled by the social and political tensions of Delhi to migrate to Lucknow, where his poetry found a favourable soil under the patronage of Nawab Shaja-ul-Daula and Asaf-ul-Daula. Sauda died in Lucknow in 1781. 
Sauda's name is generally mentioned along with Mir's in any discussion of Urdu poetry. Both are the poets of the Delhi School of Poetry, both are contemporaries (Sauda was elder to Mir by eight years), both migrated to Lucknow in the later part of their life, both are counted among the classics of Urdu poetry, and both made a remarkable contribution to the enrichment of poetry and poetic diction.