KarunaIntermediate

ये चांदनी भी जिन को छूते हुए डरती है

Ye Chandni Bhi Jin Ko Choote Hue Darti Hai

Bashir Badr

1 min read 6 versesMoon Flowers

6 verses · ~1 min

ये चाँदनी भी जिन को छूते हुए डरती है दुनिया उन्हीं फूलों को पैरों से मसलती है

शोहरत की बुलंदी भी पल भर का तमाशा है जिस डाल पे बैठे हो वो टूट भी सकती है

लोबान में चिंगारी जैसे कोई रख दे यूँ याद तेरी शब भर सीने में सुलगती है

आ जाता है ख़ुद खींच कर दिल सीने से पटरी पर जब रात की सरहद से इक रेल गुज़रती है

आँसू कभी पलकों पर ता देर नहीं रुकते उड़ जाते हैं ये पंछी जब शाख़ लचकती है

ख़ुश रंग परिंदों के लौट आने के दिन आये बिछड़े हुए मिलते हैं जब बर्फ़ पिघलती है

इति

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

The poem breathes with a fragile, melancholic karuna rasa, contrasting the ethereal beauty of moonlight with the harsh, crushing indifference of a world that tramples delicate flowers. Visually, the scene depicts a desolate railway track at night where the distant hum of a passing train draws the heart toward a longing for connection, set against the cold, lingering embers of memory that burn like frankincense in the chest. Through symbols of snapping branches, migrating birds, and melting snow, the imagery shifts from the fragility of human ambition to the fleeting nature of grief, suggesting a narrative of inevitable parting and the desperate, rhythmic pulse of waiting. The emotional tone is profoundly transient and sorrowful, capturing the exact moment when the quietude of a moonlit night is pierced by the ache of solitude and the quiet, persistent instability of all things held dear.

ये चांदनी भी जिन को छूते हुए डरती है (Ye Chandni Bhi Jin Ko Choote Hue Darti Hai), by Bashir Badr runs to 12 lines across 6 stanzas, set as Two-line stanzas (Sher). Its governing rasa is Karuna, shaded by Shringara. 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 संसार की क्रूरता और कोमल भावनाओं का कुचलना and यादों की सुलगती हुई वेदना. 8 words in it carry older or regional senses, so the poem rewards a second pass.

The verse is hung beside Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana in the Jungle: Bathed in a serene yet poignant emotional atmosphere, this Kangra school miniature captures the quiet melancholy of divine exile as Prince Rama, his devoted wife Sita, and his loyal brother Lakshmana traverse the…

Words worth pausing on

लोबान: एक सुगंधित गोंद जिसे जलाया जाता है
चाँदनी: चाँद की रोशनी
शोहरत: प्रसिद्धि या नाम
बुलंदी: ऊँचाई
शब: रात
सरहद: सीमा

Threads

Moon Flowers

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.