KarunaIntermediate

सावन-भादों साठ ही दिन हैं

Sawan-Bhadon Sath Hi Din Hain

Ibn-e-Insha

1 min read 5 versesRain Tears Love

5 verses · ~1 min

सावन-भादों साठ ही दिन हैं फिर वो रुत की बात कहाँ अपने अश्क मुसलसल बरसें अपनी-सी बरसात कहाँ

चाँद ने क्या-क्या मंज़िल कर ली निकला, चमका, डूब गया हम जो आँख झपक लें सो लें ऎ दिल हमको रात कहाँ

पीत का कारोबार बहुत है अब तो और भी फैल चला और जो काम जहाँ को देखें, फुरसत दे हालात कहाँ

क़ैस का नाम सुना ही होगा हमसे भी मुलाक़ात करो इश्क़ो-जुनूँ की मंज़िल मुश्किल सबकी ये औक़ात कहाँ

(रचनाकाल: )

इति

Rasa: Karuna
Stanzas: 5
Lines: 9
Reading time: ~1 min
Form: Ghazal
Metre: ghazal
Rhyme: AA BA CA DA

The poem evokes a heavy, melancholic atmosphere steeped in the sorrow of separation and the agonizing brevity of life's fleeting monsoon seasons. Visually, a painting of this scene would depict a desolate, tear-streaked night where a solitary figure sits awake under a starless sky, mirroring the relentless downpour outside with their own continuous weeping while the indifferent moon crosses the heavens. Symbolic of hopeless yearning and the insurmountable trials of legendary lovers like Qais, the imagery contrasts the indifferent, bustling commerce of the world with the protagonist's paralyzed, sleepless grief. Its artistic tone is deeply tragic and elegiac, capturing the crushing weight of unrequited love and the timeless pain of longing within a dark, weeping night.

सावन-भादों साठ ही दिन हैं (Sawan-Bhadon Sath Hi Din Hain), by Ibn-e-Insha runs to 9 lines across 5 stanzas, set as Four couplets (Sher). Its governing rasa is Karuna, shaded by Shringara. The metre is ghazal. Rhyme falls as AA BA CA DA.

It belongs to the 1927 · 1978 span of Ibn-e-Insha's working life, and keeps the plain, spoken register that period is known for.

Read it for निरंतर दुःख और विरह and प्रेम का कठिन मार्ग. 4 words in it carry older or regional senses, so the poem rewards a second pass.

The verse is hung beside Lady in the Moonlight: Drenched in a serene, nocturnal melancholy, the painting evokes an atmosphere of profound introspection and quiet solitude. A young woman draped in traditional attire sits gracefully upon a rocky riverbank, her gaze…

Words worth pausing on

मुसलसल: लगातार
अश्क: आँसू
क़ैस: मजनूँ का वास्तविक नाम
औक़ात: हैसियत या सामर्थ्य

Threads

Rain Tears Love Night

The Poet

इब्ने इंशा

Ibn-e-Insha

1927 · 1978

Sher Muhammad Khan, immortalized under the pen name Ibn-e-Insha, was a literary wanderer who observed the world with a brilliant mix of deep melancholy and razor sharp wit. Born in 1927 in the Jalandhar district of Punjab, he migrated to Pakistan and became one of the most beloved Urdu poets and travelogue writers of his generation. His most famous ghazal Insha Ji Utho Ab Kooch Karo carries an overwhelming sense of world weariness and final departure, sung beautifully by generations of classical vocalists. Yet, alongside this intense sorrow, he authored travelogues filled with hilarious, biting satire that dissected human follies across the globe. He served in the United Nations, traveling extensively before his premature death in London in 1978. He remains the poet of the restless soul, wrapping profound existential grief inside breathtaking lyrical beauty.