Persian · noun · Iqbal's Emblems

Gul-o-Bulbul

गुल-ओ-बुलबुल

said gul-o-bul-BUL

Meaning

The rose and the nightingale; the classic pair of beloved and lover.

Literally: flower and nightingale

How Iqbal uses it

Gul-o-bulbul, rose and nightingale, names the archetypal romance of Persian-Urdu poetry, beauty and the one who sings for it; Iqbal inherits this whole symbolic world even as he pushes its lament toward action and selfhood.

See it in the verse

Gul-o-Bulbul in Iqbal’s couplets

Safina-e-barg-e-gul bana lega qafila mor-e-na-tawan ka
Hazar maujon ki ho kashakash magar ye dariya se par hoga

The caravan of feeble ants will make a boat of a rose petal; though a thousand waves clash against it, this boat will cross the river.

Hope · Courage · Unity

Related words

PERSIAN

Gul

Rose; flower.

PERSIAN

Bulbul

The nightingale, the songbird that pours out its longing for the rose in the classical garden lyric.

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