Ashob is regarded by scholars as an important historical genre in Persian, Urdu and Turkish literature used by the writers to express their anguish and sorrows over political and social shifts.

[4][5] The Ashobs generally describe emotional and thoughts of a writer in a narrative poetic format based on several features.

It was first introduced in south Asia by the Mughal poets, including Masud Sa'd Salman, who started writing Ashobs during his literary career.

Some ashobs were also written by Shakir Naji who served in the Army of the Mughal Empire during Muhammad Shah's reign.

His writing covered civil–military relations, mainly military aid between the sixteenth Mughal ruler Shah Alam II and Maratha Empire in order to defeat Zabita Khan in 1772.

[7][8][9] Later (around 1708–1710), ashob was merely used after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, and since then it began disappearing until the British rule made several people flee across the Indian subcontinent to the neighboring states or countries.