Maikhaana
A tavern, the wine-house; the mystic gathering-place opposed to the mosque's austerity.
Literally: the tavern; wine-house
The maikhana is the tavern — but in Sufi verse it is the assembly of lovers, the shrine of love, the very opposite of the mosque-as-formalism: here the wine of divine love is poured freely and the heart, not the rule-book, is the law. The poet flees the cold sermon for the warm tavern because there the living God is tasted, not merely discussed. Iqbal makes the maikhana the school of the self, where one learns courage and love — and complains when the tavern has gone cold and the saqi negligent, a figure for a faith that has lost its fire.
Maikhaana in Iqbal’s couplets
Mire samar se mai-e-laala-faam paida kar
Ho jaate hain sab daftar gharq-e-mai-e-naab aakhir
Mere samar se mai-e-lala-fam paida kar
Wo nikle mere zulmat-khana-e-dil ke makinon mein
Khum
A large wine-vat or jar in which wine is aged; emblem of the source of endless intoxication.
Kharaabaat
The tavern quarter, the ruined haunt of drunkards; in Sufi verse the station of ecstatic self-loss.
Maikada
A tavern or wine-house; the abode of intoxicated lovers of the Divine.
Saaqi
The cup-bearer who pours the wine; in mystic verse the giver of spiritual ecstasy, and the beloved.
Rind
The libertine or free-spirited reveller who flouts pious convention; in Sufi verse, the true lover of God.
Pir-e-mughaan
The old Magian, master of the tavern who dispenses the wine of wisdom; the true spiritual guide.