Urdu Dictionary

Persian · noun · Nature & the Garden

Jira

जीरा

said JUR-aa

also written: Jura, jura, jurra, jur'a-e-mai

Meaning

A young hawk or nestling falcon; a fledgling bird of prey not yet flown.

Literally: a sip; a single draught

How Iqbal uses it

Jur'a is a single sip or mouthful of wine — and so the smallest measure of grace, the one draught the thirsty lover prizes. A jur'a-e-mai, one sip of the wine of love, can intoxicate the worthy heart; the tradition even speaks of the jur'a poured on the earth (the share given to the dust). It names how even a drop of divine love is more than the abstainer's whole sober life.

See it in the verse

Jira in Iqbal’s couplets

Main shakh-e-taak hun meri ghazal hai mera samar
Mire samar se mai-e-laala-faam paida kar

I am the vine-branch; my ghazal is my fruit — from my fruit, press out the rose-red wine.

Aspiration · Action · Youth

Kya dabdaba-e-nadir kya shaukat-e-taimuri
Ho jaate hain sab daftar gharq-e-mai-e-naab aakhir

What of Nadir's dread power, what of Timur's splendour? In the end every such record is drowned in the pure wine of time.

Humility · Self-Knowledge · Adversity

Main shakh-e-tak hun meri ghazal hai mera samar
Mere samar se mai-e-lala-fam paida kar

I am a branch of the vine, my song is my fruit; from that fruit press out the tulip-red wine.

Action · Aspiration · Youth

Related words

Baz

A falcon or hawk; a trained bird of prey, emblem of nobility and swift pursuit.

Mai

Wine; emblem of divine love, ecstasy, and the annihilation of the ego.

Durd

The dregs or lees at the bottom of the wine-cup; in mystic humility, the very draught the lowly lover treasures.

Jaam

A goblet or wine-cup; the fabled cup of Jamshed that showed the whole world within it.

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