Persian · noun · The Tavern & the Cup

Sabu

सबू
said sa-BOO
also written: Saboo, subu, saboo, sabu-kashi
Meaning

An earthen wine-jar or pitcher; a common image in Persian and Urdu poetry.

Literally: earthen wine-jar, pitcher

Usage & notes

The sabu is the large clay jar that holds the tavern's wine — so it figures the abundant, inexhaustible store of divine grace from which the cup is filled again and again. Where the jaam is a single draught, the sabu is the source. Iqbal uses the contrast of cup and jar to hint that the wine of love is never rationed by the Divine; the limit is only the smallness of the vessel we bring.