Persian · noun · Nature & the Garden
Banafsha
बनफ़्शा
said ba-NAF-sha
also written: Banafsa, banafsa, violet
Meaning
The sweet violet, a fragrant purple flower used as a cooling medicinal herb.
Literally: violet
Usage & notes
The banafsha is the violet, low to the ground with its head bowed — classically the emblem of humility, modesty and the bent posture of one in grief or meditation, its blue-purple hue suggesting a hidden, inward sorrow. The drooping flower becomes the figure of the contemplative or the mourner. Iqbal draws on this image of the lowered head and self-effacement within the garden's spectrum of postures and moods.