ASAD - 46

Originally posted on rec.music.indian.misc in 1995

GHazal came to India from Middle-east, perhaps Persia/Iran. It was perhaps during the 13th century. After that from Farasi, GHazal came to Urdu, called ReKHta at that time. With it, not only the structure and the syntax came, but also the standard concepts. One such concept is 'saaqi' !

A small discussion on this 'saaqi' business is in order. It's quite commonly used in GHazal. In a "maikhana", one is usually served wine by a beautiful waitress - "saaqi". And the Shayars do not get tired of comparing the wine to her beauty! I do not know, whether in Mughal India, such types of pubs existed. It doesn't seem likely. But who is complaining ? :-)

I certainly like the concept of a beautiful "saaqi" serving a "paimana". More so, as my wife rarely reads RMIM :-) :-)

Here is a typical Sher.

rang = here it dosen't mean 'colour' but rather 'style'.

koi samjhaa'iye, kya rang hai maikhaane ka,
aaNkh saaqi ki uTHe, naam ho paimaane ka

Of course, another standard concept, "aaNkhoN ki madira" is also used here.

It's sung of by GHulam Ali. The way he sings "uTHe", goes to say a lot about his efforts to bring out the meaning of the words. My memory tells me that, the Shayar is Iqbal. But my knowledge about his style says that my memory could be wrong ! Hence I haven't mentioned the name of the Shayar.

- Abhay.
ASAD _also_ stands for "A Sher A Day" !