KarunaIntermediate

मोहब्बत तर्क की मैंने गरेबाँ सी लिया मैं

Mohabbat Tark Ki Maine Gareban See Liya Main

Sahir Ludhianvi

1 min read 4 versesLove Longing Dreams

4 verses · ~1 min

मोहब्बत तर्क की मैंने गरेबाँ सी लिया मैं ज़माने अब तो ख़ुश हो ज़हर ये भी पी लिया मैं ने

अभी ज़िंदा हूँ लेकिन सोचता रहता हूँ ख़ल्वत में कि अब तक किस तमन्ना के सहारे जी लिया मैं ने

उन्हें अपना नहीं सकता मगर इतना भी क्या कम है कि कुछ मुद्दत हसीं ख़्वाबों में खो कर जी लिया मैंने

बस अब तो दामन-ए-दिल छोड़ दो बेकार उम्मीदो बहुत दुख सह लिये मैंने बहुत दिन जी लिया मैंने

इति

Rasa: Karuna
Stanzas: 4
Lines: 8
Reading time: ~1 min
Form: Ghazal
Metre: ghazal
Rhyme: AA BA CA DA

The poem radiates a profound sense of karuna (pathos), evoking a heavy, melancholic atmosphere defined by the finality of severed desires and the resignation of a weary soul. A painting would depict a solitary, shadow-draped figure sitting in a sparse, dimly lit room, their hand clutching a tattered collar as if sealing off the heart from a world that demands a slow, bitter sacrifice. The imagery suggests a narrative of quiet disintegration, where the lingering ghosts of "beautiful dreams" contrast with the cold reality of a life sustained only by the hollow habit of existence. The overall tone is one of tragic renunciation, capturing the moment an individual chooses to abandon the pursuit of love to survive the suffocating weight of unfulfilled longing.

मोहब्बत तर्क की मैंने गरेबाँ सी लिया मैं (Mohabbat Tark Ki Maine Gareban See Liya Main), by Sahir Ludhianvi runs to 8 lines across 4 stanzas, set as Two-line stanzas (couplets). Its governing rasa is Karuna, shaded by Shanta. The metre is ghazal. Rhyme falls as AA BA CA DA.

It belongs to the 1921 · 1980 span of Sahir Ludhianvi's working life, and keeps the plain, spoken register that period is known for.

Read it for प्रेम का परित्याग और वैराग्य and अधूरी उम्मीदों का दर्द और समझौता. 4 words in it carry older or regional senses, so the poem rewards a second pass.

The verse is hung beside Forsaken: Bathed in a heavy, contemplative stillness, the painting evokes a profound mood of loneliness, quiet melancholy, and internalized grief. Within a dimly lit domestic interior, a woman draped in a muted blue sari is…

Words worth pausing on

तर्क की: छोड़ दी, त्याग दी
गरेबाँ: कॉलर, गिरेबान
ख़ल्वत: एकांत, तनहाई
मुद्दत: लंबा समय, अवधि

Threads

Love Longing Dreams

The Poet

साहिर लुधियानवी

Sahir Ludhianvi

1921 · 1980

Sahir Ludhianvi possessed a voice that refused to separate the agony of romance from the brutal inequalities of the world. Born Abdul Hayee in 1921 in Punjab, he adopted the pen name Sahir, meaning magician, and proved it entirely accurate through a lifelong mastery of Urdu poetry. As a prominent figure in the Progressive Writers Movement, he rejected the traditional obsession with the idealized beloved. Instead, he forced his readers to look at the poverty, the exploitation, and the hypocrisies of society that destroy love before it can even bloom. When he entered the Hindi film industry, he fundamentally changed the stature of the lyricist. Directors and composers adapted their music to his words, rather than the other way around. Through films like Pyaasa and Kabhi Kabhie, he brought profound literary dignity and fierce anti establishment critique to mainstream cinema. He passed away in 1980, but his poetry remains a burning torch. Sahir remains the ultimate poet of the disenchanted, a man who wrote beautiful verses to express an absolute refusal to accept an ugly world.