subject: What is Ghazal ? [print this page] What is Ghazal ? What is Ghazal ?
Ghazal ! The word originates from arabic, meaning, "way or mannerism of talking to or talking about women." Thus in fact it s an expression of love! But in this ever changing world the ghazal has become a reflection of the life around us, and now there is hardly any sphere of human interaction which the ghazal hasn't touched.
To better understand the finer nuances of Urdu ghazal it is imperative to understand the structure around which a ghazal is woven!
Classical Definition of Ghazal
Briefly stated Ghazal is a collection of Sher's which follow the rules of Matla', Maqta', Beher', Kaafiyaa' and Radif'. So to know what Ghazal is, it's necessary to know what these terms mean.
To understand these terms easily , we will take an example.
1. koi ummid bar nahin aati
koi surat nazar nahin aati.
2. aage aati thi haale dil par hasi
ab kisi baat par nahin aati
3. hum wahan hain, jahan se humko bhi
kucch hamaari khabar nahin aati
4. kaabaa kis muh se jaaoge Ghalib'
sharm tumko magar nahin aati
What is a Sher ?
It's a poem of two lines. This definition is deceptively simple. Please note that, every Sher is a poem in itself ! A Sher does not need, anything around it, to convey the message. All the 4 stanzas in our example are independent poems, Sher's.
So Ghazal is necessarily a collection of two-line-poems called Sher. [ So the Rafi solo "rang aur noor ki baaraat kise pesh karu" is NOT a Ghazal, as every stanza is of 3 lines, and not 2. ]
What are other restrictions ? Many, and important ones.
[ Any collection of Sher's is not Ghazal. Some good examples are ; the famous Mukesh song from Yehoodi, "yeh mera deewaanaapan hai" ; and the title song of "dil apana aur preet parayi". Each stanza in these songs can be considered as an independent Sher, but they are NOT Ghazal's. To understand, why, we have to wait till Kaafiyaa, Radif'. ]
What is Beher' ?
Beher' is the meter' of the Sher's. It can be considered as the length of the Sher. Both the lines in the Sher *MUST* be of same Beher'. And all the Sher's in one Ghazal *MUST* be of the same Beher'. There are 19 (!!) kinds of Beher'. But in simple terms, Beher' is categorized in 3 classes. Short, medium, long.
Small :
ahale dairo-haram reh gaye
tere deewane kam reh gaye
[ Also Talat song, "dil-e-nadan tuze hua kya hai" ]
Medium :
umr jalwo me basar ho, ye zaruri to nahin
har shab-e-gam ki seher ho, ye zaruri to nahin
[ And by Gulzar, "ruke ruke se kadam, ruk ke baar baar chale" ]
Long :
ai mere humnashin, chal kahin aur chal, is chaman me ab apanaa guzaaraa nahin
baat hoti gulon ki, to seh lete hum, ab to kaaton pe bhi haq hamaaraa nahin
[ The filmfare winner, "Manzile apani jagah hai" !! Yes ! It IS a Ghazal. And the Shayar is Prakash Mehra !! surprise , surprise !! ]
So Ghazal is a collection of Sher's of SAME Beher'.
What is Radif' ?
In a Ghazal, second line of all the Sher's MUST end with the SAME word/s. This repeating common words is the Radif' of the Ghazal. In our example, the Radif' is "nahin aati". [ Sometimes, the Ghazal becomes known by its Radif'. eg. "jaraa aahista chal" sung by Pankaj Udhas. On RMIM we all know one Ghazal by the Radif' as "aahista aahista", don't we ? or is it 2 or 3 ?
What is Kaafiyaa' ?
Kaafiyaa' is the rhyming pattern which all the words before Radif' MUST have. In our example the Kaafiyaa' is "bar", "nazar", "par", "magar" etc. This is a necessary requirement. Something which is followed even in the exceptions to all these rules.
So Ghazal is a collection of Sher's of same Beher', ending in same Radif' and having same Kaafiyaa'. [ That's the reason, why "yeh mera diwanapan hai" etc. are NOT Ghazals. There is no common thing which can be called Kaafiyaa' and Radif'. ]
What is Matla' ?
The first Sher in the Ghazal *MUST* have Radif' in its both lines. This Sher is called Matla' of the Ghazal and the Ghazal is usually known after its Matla'. There can be more than one Matla' in a Ghazal. In such a case the second one is called Matla-e-saani' or Husn-e-matla'. In our example, the first Sher is the Matla'.
What is Maqta' ?
A Shayar usually has an alias ie. takhallus' eg. Mirza Asadullakhan used Ghalib' as his takhallus' and is known by that. Other examples are Daag' Dehlvi, Mir' Taqi Mir, Said Rahi', Ahmed Faraz' etc. There is a Sher in a Ghazal, the last one, which has the Shayar's takhallus' in it. [ A Shayar, can use the Maqta' very intelligently. He can "talk to himself" like one in our example. I have lots of favourite Sher's which are Maqta' of some Ghazal. Some gems are
koi nam-o-nishan puchhe to ai kaasid bataa denaa,
takhallus Daag' hai, aur aahiqon ke dil me rehte hai
and
jab bhi milte hain, to kehte hain, "kaise ho Shakil'",
iske aage to koi baat nahin hoti hai
The first one uses the meaning of the takhallus' to create the magic, and the second one is just simple, simply beautiful. ]
To summarize, Ghazal is a collection of Sher's (independent two-line poems), in which there is atleast one Matla', one Maqta' and all the Sher's are of same Beher' and have the same Kaafiyaa' and Radif'
