Meaning
A flask or decanter of wine, often of glass or enamelled ware.
Literally: glass flask, wine-decanter
How Iqbal uses it
The mina is the glass flask or decanter that holds the wine before it is poured — a glittering vessel, often paired with the cup as saaghar-o-mina to name the whole apparatus of the wine-assembly. As clear glass it also suggests transparency, the heart through which the wine of love can be seen. Iqbal keeps it as a furnishing of the tavern of love, the store of grace waiting to be poured.
See it in the verse
Mina in Iqbal’s couplets
Utha na sheeshagaran-e-farang ke ehsaan
Sifaal-e-Hind se meena o jaam paida kar
Sifaal-e-Hind se meena o jaam paida kar
Do not accept the favours of the West's glassmakers — from the humble clay of India, fashion your own goblet and cup.
Selfhood · Freedom · Action
Utha na sheesha-garaan-e-firang ke ehsaan
Safaal-e-Hind se mina-o-jaam paida kar
Safaal-e-Hind se mina-o-jaam paida kar
Do not be indebted to the glassmakers of the foreign land — fashion your goblet and cup from the clay of your own soil.
Selfhood · Freedom · Action
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