Tujh Ko Dariya-Dili Ki Qasam — Saba Afghani
7 mins
Table of Contents
tujh ko dariya-dili ki qasam, saqiya!
mustaqil daur par daur chaltaa rahe!
raunaq-e-meyqada yuñ hi badhti rahe—
ek girtaa rahe, ek sambhaltaa rahe!
ek shabnam hi shaan-e-gulistaañ nahi,
shola-o-gul ka bhi daur chaltaa rahe,
ashq bhi chashm-e-purnam se behte raheiñ—
aur dil se dhuaañ bhi nikaltaa rahe!
tere qabze meiñ hai ye nizaam-e-jahaañ,
tu jo chaahe to sehraa bane gulistaañ,
har nazar par teri, phool khilte raheiñ—
har ishaare pe mausam badaltaa rahe!
tere chehre pe ye zulf bikhri hui,
neend ki god meiñ subah nikhri hui,
aur iss par sitam ye adaayein teri—
dil hai aakhir, kahaan tak sambhaltaa rahe!
iss meiñ khoon-e-tamanna ki taaseer hai,
ye wafa-e-mohabbat ki tasveer hai,
aisi tasveer badle, ye mumkin nahi—
rang chaahe zamaana badaltaa rahe!
woh ho shamm-e-ferozañ ke gulhaa-e-tar,
dono se zeenat-e-anjuman hai magar,
ai ‘saba’ apni-apni ye taqdeer hai,
koyi ho sej par, koyi jaltaa rahe!
Sung by Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh. Written by Saba Afghani.
Sher 1 #
تجھ کو دریا دلی کی قسم، ساقیا!
مستقل دور پر دور چلتا رہے!
مستقل دور پر دور چلتا رہے!
| Word | Roman | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tujh ko | tujh ko | to you |
| dariya-dili | dariya-dili | generosity, large-heartedness (lit. river-heartedness) |
| ki qasam | ki qasam | I swear by |
| saqiya | saqiya | O cupbearer |
| mustaqil | mustaqil | continuous, unbroken, constant |
| daur | daur | a round (of wine); also an era, a cycle |
| par daur | par daur | round upon round |
| chaltaa rahe | chaltaa rahe | may it keep going |
The poet opens by swearing an oath — not to God or fate, but to the saqiya's own generosity. *Dariya-dili* literally means "river-heartedness": the capacity to give without measure, like a river that does not count what it gives. The demand is simple and absolute: keep the rounds flowing, one after another, without pause. The radif *chaltaa rahe* (may it keep going) will run through the entire ghazal, asking that everything — the drinking, the beauty, the feeling — continue uninterrupted.
Sher 2 #
رونق مے کدہ یوں ہی بڑھتی رہے—
اک گرتا رہے، اک سنبھلتا رہے!
اک گرتا رہے، اک سنبھلتا رہے!
| Word | Roman | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| raunaq | raunaq | liveliness, brightness, festive atmosphere |
| meyqada | meyqada | the winehouse, the tavern |
| yuñ hi | yuñ hi | just like this, in this very way |
| badhti rahe | badhti rahe | may it keep growing |
| ek | ek | one |
| girtaa rahe | girtaa rahe | keeps stumbling, keeps falling |
| sambhaltaa rahe | sambhaltaa rahe | keeps steadying himself, keeps composing himself |
The winehouse is not a place of uniform joy — one person stumbles, another steadies himself. This is not a flaw; this is precisely what makes the winehouse alive. The poet asks that this dynamic continue: the falling and the recovering, the losing and the finding of balance. It is a picture of life itself — and the ghazal's request is not that everyone stand upright, but that the motion never stop.
Sher 3 #
اک شبنم ہی شانِ گلستاں نہیں،
شعلہ و گل کا بھی دور چلتا رہے،
اشک بھی چشمِ پُرنم سے بہتے رہیں—
اور دل سے دھواں بھی نکلتا رہے!
شعلہ و گل کا بھی دور چلتا رہے،
اشک بھی چشمِ پُرنم سے بہتے رہیں—
اور دل سے دھواں بھی نکلتا رہے!
| Word | Roman | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| shabnam | shabnam | dew |
| shaan | shaan | glory, splendour |
| gulistaañ | gulistaañ | rose garden, garden |
| shola | shola | flame |
| gul | gul | flower, rose |
| ashq | ashq | tears |
| chashm-e-purnam | chashm-e-purnam | eyes full of moisture, tear-filled eyes |
| behte raheiñ | behte raheiñ | may they keep flowing |
| dhuaañ | dhuaañ | smoke |
| nikaltaa rahe | nikaltaa rahe | may it keep rising |
This is a four-line band — rare in ghazals, signalling a more sustained thought. Dew alone does not make a garden glorious; it takes both the gentle and the burning, the flower and its flame. The poet asks that tears keep flowing from wet eyes and smoke keep rising from the heart — not as complaints, but as signs that feeling is alive. To grieve is to be present. The band asks that grief, like joy, be allowed its unbroken continuity.
Sher 4 #
تیرے قبضے میں ہے یہ نظامِ جہاں،
تو جو چاہے تو صحرا بنے گلستاں،
ہر نظر پر تیری، پھول کھلتے رہیں—
ہر اشارے پے موسم بدلتا رہے!
تو جو چاہے تو صحرا بنے گلستاں،
ہر نظر پر تیری، پھول کھلتے رہیں—
ہر اشارے پے موسم بدلتا رہے!
| Word | Roman | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| qabze meiñ | qabze meiñ | in the grasp of, in the control of |
| nizaam-e-jahaañ | nizaam-e-jahaañ | the order of the world |
| sehraa | sehraa | desert, wilderness |
| gulistaañ | gulistaañ | garden, rose garden |
| har nazar | har nazar | every glance, every gaze |
| phool khilte raheiñ | phool khilte raheiñ | may flowers keep blooming |
| ishaare | ishaare | gesture, signal |
| mausam badaltaa rahe | mausam badaltaa rahe | may the season keep changing |
The address shifts from the saqiya to the beloved — or perhaps they are the same figure. The beloved holds the entire order of the world in their grip. A desert becomes a garden at their wish; flowers bloom on every glance; seasons turn on a gesture. This is the language of total surrender to beauty — the beloved's power is not political or divine but purely aesthetic, the power of presence that transforms everything it touches.
Sher 5 #
تیرے چہرے پے یہ زلف بکھری ہوئی،
نیند کی گود میں صبح نکھری ہوئی،
اور اس پر ستم یہ ادائیں تیری—
دل ہے آخر، کہاں تک سنبھلتا رہے!
نیند کی گود میں صبح نکھری ہوئی،
اور اس پر ستم یہ ادائیں تیری—
دل ہے آخر، کہاں تک سنبھلتا رہے!
| Word | Roman | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| zulf | zulf | hair, lock of hair |
| bikhri hui | bikhri hui | scattered, dishevelled |
| neend ki god | neend ki god | the lap of sleep |
| subah nikhri hui | subah nikhri hui | a morning that has glowed, a radiant dawn |
| sitam | sitam | cruelty, tyranny, oppression |
| adaayein | adaayein | elegance, graces, mannerisms |
| dil hai aakhir | dil hai aakhir | it is the heart after all |
| kahaan tak | kahaan tak | till when, how long, how far |
| sambhaltaa rahe | sambhaltaa rahe | can it keep composing itself |
The ghazal turns intimate. Scattered hair on the face, a morning glowing in the lap of sleep — two images of the beloved caught in an unguarded moment, more devastating for their ordinariness. And then *sitam* — cruelty — applied to elegance and grace, because beauty that simply exists without intending harm is the most merciless kind. The sher ends with a question, not a demand: it is the heart after all — how long can it keep holding itself together? The radif shifts from wish to exhausted query.
Sher 6 #
اس میں خونِ تمنا کی تاثیر ہے،
یہ وفائے محبت کی تصویر ہے،
ایسی تصویر بدلے، یہ ممکن نہیں—
رنگ چاہے زمانہ بدلتا رہے!
یہ وفائے محبت کی تصویر ہے،
ایسی تصویر بدلے، یہ ممکن نہیں—
رنگ چاہے زمانہ بدلتا رہے!
| Word | Roman | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| khoon-e-tamanna | khoon-e-tamanna | the blood of desire, desire’s very essence |
| taaseer | taaseer | effect, potency, the power to affect |
| wafa | wafa | faithfulness, loyalty |
| mohabbat | mohabbat | love |
| tasveer | tasveer | picture, image, portrait |
| badle | badle | may change, should change |
| mumkin nahi | mumkin nahi | not possible |
| rang | rang | colour |
| zamaana | zamaana | the world, time, the age |
| badaltaa rahe | badaltaa rahe | may keep changing |
*Khoon-e-tamanna* — the blood of desire — is an ezafa compound: desire so deep it has entered the bloodstream. This image, whatever it is, carries that potency and is the very picture of love's faithfulness. Such a picture cannot change, even as the world's colours shift endlessly around it. The sher makes a distinction between surface and substance — the world changes its colours constantly, but the essential image of true love holds. It is both a declaration of faith and a small defiance of time.
Maqta #
وہ ہو شمعِ فروزاں کے گلہائے تر،
دونوں سے زینتِ انجمن ہے مگر،
اے 'صبا' اپنی اپنی یہ تقدیر ہے،
کوئی ہو سیج پر، کوئی جلتا رہے!
دونوں سے زینتِ انجمن ہے مگر،
اے 'صبا' اپنی اپنی یہ تقدیر ہے،
کوئی ہو سیج پر، کوئی جلتا رہے!
| Word | Roman | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| shamm-e-ferozañ | shamm-e-ferozañ | the radiant lamp, the blazing candle |
| gulhaa-e-tar | gulhaa-e-tar | dew-covered flowers, moist blooms |
| zeenat | zeenat | adornment, beauty, ornament |
| anjuman | anjuman | gathering, assembly, congregation |
| apni-apni | apni-apni | each one’s own |
| taqdeer | taqdeer | destiny, fate |
| sej | sej | bed, marriage bed, bridal bed |
| jaltaa rahe | jaltaa rahe | may keep burning |
The maqta brings the takhallus *Saba* — Saba Afghani signs his own ghazal. The candle blazes and the dew-covered flowers glisten: both adorn the gathering, both are necessary, but their destinies are entirely different. One lies on the bridal bed; another keeps burning. This is fate — *apni-apni taqdeer* — not justice, not fairness, just the way things are distributed. It is a sober, almost rueful close to a ghazal that had been asking, all along, that everything keep flowing and blooming and continuing. Some things do not continue. Some things just burn.