Urdu Dictionary

Arabic · noun · The Tavern & the Cup

Saaqi

साक़ी

said SAA-qi

also written: Saaqi-e-bazm, saqi, saaki

Meaning

The cup-bearer who pours the wine; in mystic verse the giver of spiritual ecstasy, and the beloved.

Literally: the cup-bearer

How Iqbal uses it

The saqi is the one who pours the wine of the assembly — and in Sufi verse the beloved, the spiritual guide, or the Divine itself dispensing the wine of grace. Poets address the saqi to beg for the intoxication of love, for the cup to come round again, for the assembly never to end. Iqbal's saqi-namas turn the figure into a summoner of nations: he calls on the saqi for a wine that wakes the self and a sleeping people into action, not one that drowns them in soft surrender.

See it in the verse

Saaqi in Iqbal’s couplets

Nahin hai naumeed Iqbal apni kisht-e-veeran se
Zara nam ho to ye mitti badi zarkhez hai saqi

Iqbal is not without hope, even from his barren field — let there be a little moisture, cupbearer, and this soil is wonderfully fertile.

Hope · Aspiration

Bhari bazm mein raaz ki baat keh di
Bada be-adab hun saza chahta hun

In the crowded gathering I blurted out the secret — I am terribly insolent; I ask for my punishment.

Courage · Love

Bohat dekhe hain main ne mashriq-o-maghrib ke maikhane
Yahan saqi nahin paida wahan be-zauq hai sahba

I have seen many a wine-house in both East and West: here no cup-bearer worth the name, there a wine with no savour at all.

Awakening · Self-Knowledge

Bahut dekhe hain maine mashriq-o-maghrib ke maikhane
Yahan saaqi nahin paida, wahan be-zauq hai sahba

I have seen many a tavern of the East and the West — here no cup-bearer is born, and there the wine itself is without relish.

Awakening · Self-Knowledge

Nasha pila ke girana to sab ko aata hai
Maza to jab hai ki girton ko thaam le saqi

Anyone can pour the wine and let people fall — the real worth is when the cup-bearer catches those who are falling.

Leadership · Humility · Action

Digar-gun hai jahan taron ki gardish tez hai saqi
Dil-e-har-zarra mein ghaugha-e-rusta-khez hai saqi

The world is changing, the wheeling of the stars is swift; in the heart of every atom there is the tumult of a rising.

Awakening · Hope · Restlessness

Related words

Mai

Wine; emblem of divine love, ecstasy, and the annihilation of the ego.

Paimaana

A wine-cup or goblet; also a measure, hence the measure of one's life or capacity.

Jaam

A goblet or wine-cup; the fabled cup of Jamshed that showed the whole world within it.

Maikhaana

A tavern, the wine-house; the mystic gathering-place opposed to the mosque's austerity.

Saaqi-naama

A 'Book of the Cup-bearer'; a poetic genre addressed to the saqi, calling for wine and reflecting on life, fate, and the spirit.

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