Persian · noun · The Tavern & the Cup
Mai-e-gulrang
मय-ए-गुलरंग
said mai-e-gul-RANG
also written: mai-gulrang, mai e gulrang
Meaning
Rose-coloured wine; deep red wine the hue of a flower.
Literally: flower-coloured wine
How Iqbal uses it
Mai-e-gulrang is 'rose-coloured wine' — the deep red of the cup likened to the rose, fusing the two great emblems of love, the wine and the flower. The colour itself becomes a sign of love's warmth and the blush of ecstasy. It is one of the poets' ornamental names for the wine of divine love, beautiful and ardent.
See it in the verse
Mai-e-gulrang in Iqbal’s couplets
Main shakh-e-taak hun meri ghazal hai mera samar
Mire samar se mai-e-laala-faam paida kar
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
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
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