Ghazal Kya Hei

Ghazal rudaad hai naakaamiyon ki,
Ghazal mehrumiyon ki daastaan hai
Ghazal riste hue zakhmon ka marham,
Ghazal ek chaaraa-e-dard-e-nihan hai
Ghazal ka husn hi hai, husn-e-aalam,

Ghazal ka noor hi noor-e-jahan hai -

Jagdish Bhatnagar 'Hayaat'

Classical Definition of Ghazal

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Ghazal in short, is a collection of Sher's which follow the rules of'Matla', 'Maqta', 'Beher', 'Kaafiyaa' and 'Radif'. So to know whatGhazal 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 aatikoi surat nazar nahin aati

2. aage aati thi haale dil par hasiab kisi baat par nahin aati

3. hum wahan hain, jahan se humko bhikucch 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 notneed, 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 NOTa 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 ; thefamous Mukesh song from Yehoodi, "yeh mera deewaanaapan hai" ; and thetitle song of "dil apana aur preet parayi". Each stanza in these songscan 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 thelength of the Sher. Both the lines in the Sher *MUST* be ofsame 'Beher'. And all the Sher's in one Ghazal *MUST* be of thesame 'Beher'. There are 19 (!!) kinds of 'Beher'. But in simple terms,'Beher' is categorized in 3 classes. Short, medium, long.

[ The examples in [] are my additions, from Hindi Films. ]

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. "jaraaaahista chal" sung by Pankaj Udhas. On RMIM we all know one Ghazal bythe '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 inthe 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 usuallyknown after its 'Matla'. There can be more than one 'Matla' in aGhazal. 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 Asadullakhanused 'Ghalib' as his 'takhallus' and is known by that. Other examplesare '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 tohimself" like one in our example. I have lots of favourite Sher'swhich 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 themagic, and the second one is just simple, simply beautiful. ]

To summarize, Ghazal is a collection of Sher's (independent two-linepoems), in which there is atleast one 'Matla', one 'Maqta' and allthe Sher's are of same 'Beher' and have the same 'Kaafiyaa' and'Radif'.

EXCEPTIONS AND IMP. POINTS TO NOTE

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1. Ghazal is just a form. It is independent of any language.eg. in Marathi also, there can be (and there are) good Ghazals.

2. Some Ghazal's do NOT have any 'Radif'. Rarely. Such Ghazal'sare called "gair-muraddaf" Ghazal.

3. Although, every Sher, should be an independent poem in itself,it is possible, that all the Sher's are on the same theme. Whatfamous example can be other than "chupke chupke raat din aasunbahaanaa yaad hai".

4. In modern Urdu poetry, there are lots of Ghazal's which doNOT follow the restriction of same 'Beher' on both the linesof Sher.

[ My example in 'Maqta', the Sher by Shakil, is one. ]

But even in these Ghazal's, 'Kaafiyaa' and 'Radif' are present.

5. The restriction of 'Maqta' is really very loose. Many manyGhazal's do NOT have any 'Maqta'. [ I think 'Maqta' was used inthe earlier times, as a way to keep the credit. But since this istraditional, many Ghazal's do have a 'Maqta' just for the sake of it.Sometimes the name of the Shayar comes unnaturally in the lastSher of the Ghazal. ]

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So that's my long essay on Ghazal :-)

I hope it helps in clearing some doubts, and I also hope

that atleast for some, the information was interesting and new.- Abhay.http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~navin/india/songs/ghalib/ghazal.def.html