Urdu Dictionary

Persian · noun · Love & Longing

Dilruba

दिलरुबा

said dil-ru-BAA

also written: dil-ruba, dilrubaa

Meaning

Heart-ravishing beloved; one whose beauty seizes the heart.

Literally: heart-ravisher, enchanting beloved

How Iqbal uses it

Dilruba means heart-ravisher — the beloved who seizes the heart and carries it off, a touch more forceful and bewitching than dilbar. It paints beauty as an irresistible power that plunders the lover at a glance. The word (also the name of a stringed instrument) carries a music in it: the heart-ravisher whose presence is itself a kind of melody the lover cannot stop hearing.

See it in the verse

Dilruba in Iqbal’s couplets

Khuda agar dil-e-fitrat-shanaas de tujh ko
Sukoot-e-laala-o-gul se kalaam paida kar

If God gives you a heart that can read Nature, then draw speech out of the silence of the tulip and the rose.

Self-Knowledge · Aspiration · Awakening

Main jo sar-ba-sajda hua kabhi to zameen se aane lagi sada
Tera dil to hai sanam-aashna tujhe kya milega namaz mein

Whenever I bowed my head in prostration, a voice rose from the earth: your heart is in love with idols — what will you gain from prayer?

Self-Knowledge · Humility

Jis se jigar-e-laala mein thandak ho wo shabnam
Daryaon ke dil jis se dahel jaayein wo toofan

To the tulip's heart he is the dew that cools it; to mighty rivers he is the storm that makes their hearts tremble.

Courage · Justice · Selfhood

Dil se jo baat nikalti hai asar rakhti hai
Par nahin taaqat-e-parvaaz magar rakhti hai

What comes from the heart carries power; it has no wings, and yet it has the strength to fly.

Love · Awakening · Self-Knowledge

Suni padi hui hai muddat se dil ki basti
Aa ik naya shiwala is des mein bana den

The dwelling of the heart has lain desolate for ages — come, let us build a new temple in this land.

Unity · Hope · Love

Keh raha hai mujh se ae joya-e-asrar-e-azal
Chashm-e-dil wa ho to hai taqdeer-e-aalam be-hijab

He says to me: O seeker of the secrets of eternity, if the eye of the heart opens, the destiny of the world stands unveiled.

Self-Knowledge · Awakening · Aspiration

Related words

Dilbar

The beloved; literally the one who carries off the heart.

Mashuq

The beloved; the one who is loved and desired.

Sanam

Beloved, sweetheart; literally an idol, the beloved worshipped like one.

Yaar

Friend, companion, beloved; the intimate word for the loved one or dear comrade.

Mehboob

'Beloved', 'darling' — one who is loved.

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