Meaning
'Servant', 'humble self' — used as a modest first-person self-reference.
Literally: servant, slave
See it in the verse
Bandah in Iqbal’s couplets
Jamhooriyat ik tarz-e-hukoomat hai ki jis mein
Bandon ko gina karte hain tola nahin karte
Bandon ko gina karte hain tola nahin karte
Democracy is a mode of government in which people are counted, not weighed.
Justice · Leadership · Awakening
Tu qadir-o-aadil hai magar tere jahan mein
Hain talkh bahut banda-e-mazdoor ke auqat
Hain talkh bahut banda-e-mazdoor ke auqat
You are all-powerful and just — and yet, in Your world, the hours of the labouring man are very bitter.
Justice · Adversity · Awakening
Jamhuriyat ek tarz-e-hukumat hai ki jis mein
Bandon ko gina karte hain, tola nahin karte
Bandon ko gina karte hain, tola nahin karte
Democracy is a mode of governance in which people are counted, not weighed.
Justice · Awakening
Asar kare na kare, sun to le miri faryad
Nahin hai daad ka talib ye banda-e-azad
Nahin hai daad ka talib ye banda-e-azad
Whether it has an effect or not — at least hear my plea. This free soul is not asking for any applause.
Freedom · Courage · Selfhood
Tere azad bandon ki na ye duniya na wo duniya
yahan marne ki pabandi wahan jeene ki pabandi
yahan marne ki pabandi wahan jeene ki pabandi
Neither this world nor that one truly belongs to your free spirits — here there are restrictions on dying, there restrictions on living.
Freedom · Justice · Restlessness
Fitrat ke maqasid ki karta hai nigehbani
Ya banda-e-sehrai ya mard-e-kohistani
Ya banda-e-sehrai ya mard-e-kohistani
It is the one who keeps watch over nature's purposes — either the dweller of the desert, or the man of the mountains.
Adversity · Freedom · Self-Knowledge