Persian · noun · The Tavern & the Cup

Maikada

मैकदा

said mai-ka-DA

also written: maikada, maykada, meykadah, maikadah, mai-kada, maekada

Meaning

A wine-house or tavern; the abode of the wine-drinkers.

Literally: the tavern; wine-house

How Iqbal uses it

Maikada is a near-synonym of maikhana for the tavern of love — the gathering where the wine of divine grace is served and the seeker is initiated into ecstasy. It is the sacred counter-space to the dry pulpit, a 'temple' whose worship is the drinking of love. Iqbal uses it for the true house of the spirit, contrasting its living warmth with the lifeless correctness of the orthodox.

See it in the verse

Maikada in Iqbal’s couplets

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

PERSIAN

Maikhana

A tavern or wine-house; the place where wine is served.

PERSIAN

Maikhaana

The tavern or wine-house; in Sufi symbolism, the place of mystical gathering and divine intoxication, set against the mosque and seminary.

PERSIAN

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.

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