This paper will examine Munir Lahori’s (1610-1644 CE) commentaries on the development of the early modern literary style of taza-gu’i (‘Speaking Anew’), also known as sabk-i Hindi (‘Indian style’). A central focus of this paper will be Munir’s unedited commentaries on a number of qasidas by the eminent Safavid-Mughal poet, ʿUrfi Shirazi (1556-1590 CE). Although Munir is critical of the Iranian poet’s use of taza-gu’i and the overly complex nature of his style, his criticisms are qualified, grounded in the logical interrogation of metaphor, placing a premium on semantic plausibility and clarity. In addition to critiquing proponents of this style, Munir is also critical of literary and cultural developments in Mughal, Deccan, and other regional courts that began to favor Iranian poets and literati over their Indian counterparts. For Munir, ʿUrfi was symbolic of a wider emerging literary movement that emphasized the importance of a poet’s Iranian origin while simultaneously detracting from the role played by South Asian literati in the development of Persian aesthetics. By examining Munir’s philological criticism of ʿUrfi’s qasidas and the promulgation of taza-gu’i, it will be possible to determine how the discourse on early modern Persian literary developments has been influenced by the prominence of Iranian figures in South Asian courts, as well as painting a clearer picture of the methodologies at play in Safavid-Mughal literary criticism. Shining a light on the cultural and literary climate that promoted and facilitated taza-gu’i, these understudied commentaries nuance our view on the development of early modern Persian literature, pushing back on both the Iran-centrism of Persian literary history and narratives that reduce the period to a singular (and especially “Indian”) taste for ‘newness’ in poetry.