@Gazal
Many a times this question has been thrown at me by my friends,What is a Ghazal?
I’m making an attempt to answer this question on my blog here for all the Ghazal lovers.
Short and sweet, a Ghazal is a composition of multiple Sher’s which follow a particular rhythm, technically speaking a Ghazal is a composition which abides to the rules laid by these five fundamental elements Matla,Beher,Radeef,Kaafiya, Makta.
To understand Ghazal writing better we have to understand what do these terms signify. I’ll try to explain by exemplification as it makes life easier for the reader and helps in better understanding.
What is a Sher ?
A sher is a poem in itself, it does not need anything around it to convey it’s message, all the couplets mentioned below are independent poems, when weaved together they make a Ghazal
aa ki merii jaan me.n qaraar nahii.n hai
taaqat-e-bedaad-e-intazaar nahii.n hai
dete hai.n jannat hayaat-e-dahar ke badale
nashshaa baa_andaazaa-e-Khumaar nahii.n hai
giriyaa nikaale hai terii bazm se mujh ko
haaye! ki rone pe iKhtiyaar nahii.n hai
ham se abas hai gumaan-e-ranjish-e-Khaatir
Khaak me.n ushshaq kii Gubaar nahii.n hai
dil se uThaa lutf-e-jalvaa haaye ma_anii
Gair-e-gul aa_iinaa-e-bahaar nahii.n hai
qatl kaa mere kiyaa hai ahad to baare
vaaye! agar ahad ustavaar nahii.n hai
tuu ne qasam mai_kashii kii khaa_ii hai ‘Ghalib’
terii qasam ka kuchh aitabaar nahii.n hai
In a nutshell,a Ghazal is a collection of two line poems called Sher. However,any collection of Sher’s is not ghazal,to understand why ? we have to know the importance of Kaafiyaa and Radeef
- Beher
- Radeef
- Kaafiya
- Matla
- Makta
Beher is the ‘length’ of the sher, Both the lines in a sher must be of same Beher and all the Sher’s in one ghazal must be of the same Beher.
The no of Beher’s has always been a question for me as every source I bumped into gave me a different number, however what’s important is that they are generally categorized into 3 broad categories. Short, medium, long.
Short:
ahale dairo-haram reh gaye
tere deewane kam reh gaye
Medium:
umr jalwo me basar ho, ye zaruri to nahin
har shab-e-gam ki seher ho, ye zaruri to nahin
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
Thus we can say a Ghazal is a collection of Sher’s of same Beher.
In any Ghazal, the first two lines [misra’s] and subsequent second line of all the sher’s must end with the same word(s).This repeating common word is the `Radeef` of the Ghazal.
In our example the Radeef is “nahii.n hai”
However,there is an exception to this and it is not necessary to use radeef in all the Ghazals,such Ghazals are called “gair-muraddaf” ghazals,having said that,this is not something the tradition of ghazal writing allows.
Kaafiya is the rhyming pattern which all the words before `radeef` must have.
In essence it’s the common sounding word used before the radeef.
In our example Kaafiya is ‘qaraar’ ‘intazaar’ ‘dahar’ ‘Khumaar’ etc..
So as of now, Ghazal is a collection of Sher’s of same beher, ending with the same Radeef and having same Kaafiya,this definition will change as you further read.
The first Sher in the Ghazal must have ‘Radeef’ in both it’s 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’s` in a Ghazal. In such a case the second one is called `Matla-e-saani` or `Husn-e-matla`.
In the example I have quoted above,the matla is the first couplet [quoted below]
aa ki merii jaan me.n qaraar nahii.n hai
taaqat-e-bedaad-e-intazaar nahii.n hai
Any Shayar usually has an alias a.k.a `takhallus` a.k.a `nom-de-plume`.
Eg. Mirza Asadullah Khan used ‘Ghalib’,famous Bollywood lyricist Sampooran Singh Kalra uses ‘Gulzar’ and I use `aazad`.
There is a sher , usually the last one, which has the shaayar’s ‘takhallus’ in it.
A Shayar, can use the ‘Maqta’ very intelligently to leave his signature on his composition,It’s always advisable not to have a makta than having a meaningless one.
It’s one of those finer points of shayri where a shayar expresses himself or his feelings using the rhythm of the ghazal.
So,we can conclude saying that a Ghazal is a collection of Sher’s which has atleast one ‘Matla’, one ‘Maqta’ and all the Sher’s are of same ‘Beher’ having the same ‘Kaafiya’ & ‘Radeef’.
I would end my note saying that writing a ghazal is not at all rocket science, once you get the knack of it, after you have written a few .It would serve as intoxication and you will feel like doing it again and again, it’s a great way to hold up the flood of emotions in your heart by constructing a dam of words.
So guys n gals , happy gazal-ing !
