Kharaabaat
The tavern or wine-quarter, literally 'the ruins'; in Sufi poetry the place of self-annihilation where the wine of divine love is served.
Literally: ruins, the ruined places
Inherited from Hafiz, the kharabat is the ruin where the ego is laid waste and the spirit set free. Iqbal draws on this paradox of ruin-as-illumination, the wrecking of the false self that frees the true one.
Maikhaana
The tavern or wine-house; in Sufi symbolism, the place of mystical gathering and divine intoxication, set against the mosque and seminary.
Pir-e-mughaan
The 'Elder of the Magians', the old Zoroastrian wine-seller and master of the tavern; in Sufi symbolism the true spiritual guide who dispenses the wine of love.
Mughbachcha
A young Magian; the youthful attendant or cup-bearer of the fire-temple turned tavern, who serves the wine of love.