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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 Shers which follow the rules of Matla, Maqta, Beher, Kaafiyaa and Radif. So to know what Ghazal is, its 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 ? Its 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, Shers. 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 Shers 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 Ghazals. To understand, why, we have to wait till Kaafiyaa, Radif. ] What is Beher ? Beher is the meter of the Shers. It can be considered as the length of the Sher. Both the lines in the Sher *MUST* be of same Beher. And all the Shers 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 Shers of SAME Beher. What is Radif ? In a Ghazal, second line of all the Shers 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, dont 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 Shers of same Beher, ending in same Radif and having same Kaafiyaa. [ Thats 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 Shayars 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 Shers 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 Shers (independent two-line poems), in which there is atleast one Matla, one Maqta and all the Shers are of same Beher and have the same Kaafiyaa and Radif |
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