ShringaraIntermediate

रात आँखों में ढली पलकों पे जुगनूँ आए

Raat Aankhon Mein Dhali Palkon Pe Jugnu Aaye

Bashir Badr

1 min read 6 verses

6 verses · ~1 min

रात आँखों में ढली पलकों पे जुगनूँ आए हम हवाओं की तरह जाके उसे छू आए

बस गई है मेरे अहसास में ये कैसी महक कोई ख़ुशबू में लगाऊँ तेरी ख़ुशबू आए

उसने छू कर मुझे पत्थर से फिर इंसान किया मुद्दतों बाद मेरी आँखों में आँसू आए

मेरा आईना भी अब मेरी तरह पागल है आईना देखने जाऊँ तो नज़र तू आए

किस तकल्लुफ़ से गले मिलने का मौसम आया कुछ काग़ज़ के फूल लिए काँच के बाजू आए

उन फ़कीरों को ग़ज़ल अपनी सुनाते रहियो जिनकी आवाज़ में दरगाहों की ख़ुशबू आए

इति

Rasa: Shringara
Stanzas: 6
Lines: 12
Reading time: ~1 min
Form: Ghazal
Metre: ghazal
Rhyme: AA BA CA DA EA FA

The poem evokes a tender, luminous shringara atmosphere where the boundaries between the lover’s physical presence and the speaker’s interiority dissolve into a dreamlike landscape. A painting of this scene would depict a solitary, contemplative figure gazing into a cracked or shimmering mirror, seeing not their own reflection but the phantom silhouette of their beloved amidst a swirling, ethereal dance of fireflies. This imagery explores a transformative intimacy, suggesting that the beloved’s touch has awakened the speaker from a petrified state of existence, imbuing their senses with a lingering, spiritual fragrance that manifests as both a haunting memory and a devotional obsession. The overall tone is one of melancholic romanticism, bridging the gap between the tactile world of paper flowers and glass arms and the transcendental, meditative stillness of a dervish’s prayer.

रात आँखों में ढली पलकों पे जुगनूँ आए (Raat Aankhon Mein Dhali Palkon Pe Jugnu Aaye), by Bashir Badr runs to 12 lines across 6 stanzas, set as Two-line stanzas (Sher). Its governing rasa is Shringara, shaded by Karuna. The metre is ghazal. Rhyme falls as AA BA CA DA EA FA.

It belongs to the 1935 · 1999 span of Bashir Badr's working life, and keeps the plain, spoken register that period is known for.

Read it for प्रेम के स्पर्श से हृदय का पिघलना and सूफ़ी संतों और दरगाहों की रूहानियत का प्रभाव. 5 words in it carry older or regional senses, so the poem rewards a second pass.

The verse is hung beside Lady at her Toilet: This evocative portrait breathes with a gentle, hushed atmosphere of intimate solitude as a woman is captured from behind, her hair elegantly braided while she sits before an oval mirror to adorn herself with bangles.…

Words worth pausing on

तकल्लुफ़: औपचारिकता या दिखावा
अहसास: अनुभव या संवेदना
मुद्दतों: लंबे समय तक
आईना: दर्पण या शीशा
फ़कीरों: संत या दरवेश

The Poet

बशीर बद्र

Bashir Badr

1935 · 1999

Bashir Badr achieved something exceedingly rare in the modern literary landscape by bringing the Urdu ghazal out of the exclusive courts of intellectuals and directly into the hearts of the common people. Born Syed Muhammad Bashir in 1935 in Ayodhya, he cultivated a poetic voice that used the simplest, most everyday Hindustani vocabulary to express the deepest nuances of love, heartbreak, and social tragedy. His couplets are universally recognized and frequently quoted by individuals who may never have read a formal poetry book. His life was marked by profound personal tragedy, most notably when his home and decades of literary archives were burned to ashes during the communal riots of 1992 in Meerut. Yet, instead of responding with hatred, he channeled his grief into verses that pleaded for communal harmony and human empathy. Honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri in 1999, he later relocated to Bhopal. Bashir Badr stands as a living legend whose ghazals are permanently etched into the cultural memory of the subcontinent.