Persian · noun, feminine · The Tavern & the Cup
Mai-noshi
मय-नोशी
said mai-no-shee
also written: Mainoshi, mai-noshee, maynoshi, mai noshi
Meaning
Wine-drinking, the act of quaffing wine; figuratively, partaking of divine love.
Literally: wine-drinking
How Iqbal uses it
Mai-noshi, like mai-kashi, names the drinking of wine — and so, in Sufi verse, the imbibing of the wine of divine love at the assembly of the lovers. The word carries the convivial warmth of the shared cup, devotion as a thing drunk in company. It belongs to the poet's celebration of love-soaked living over dry abstention.
See it in the verse
Mai-noshi 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
Related words
PERSIAN
Mai-kashi
Wine-drinking; the practice of imbibing, used metaphorically for the pursuit of divine love.
PERSIAN
Badah-khwaar
A wine-drinker; one devoted to the cup, often the free-spirited lover of the tavern.
PERSIAN
Maikhaana
A tavern, the wine-house; the mystic gathering-place opposed to the mosque's austerity.