Urdu Dictionary

Persian · noun · Nature & the Garden

Shaakh

शाख़

said shaakh

also written: shakh, shaakh, branch

Meaning

A branch or bough of a tree, the limb that bears leaf and blossom.

Literally: branch, bough

How Iqbal uses it

The shaakh is the branch or bough — the limb of the tree on which the bird perches, the bud opens, and the nest is built, classical fixture of the garden where the nightingale sings and the flower blooms. It is the support of song and bloom. Iqbal uses the branch within his garden and bird imagery: the bough that holds the nest (aashiyana) and the singing bird, the green limb of the tree of life from which the self ventures into flight.

See it in the verse

Shaakh in Iqbal’s couplets

Main shakh-e-taak hun meri ghazal hai mera samar
Mire samar se mai-e-laala-faam paida kar

I am the vine-branch; my ghazal is my fruit — from my fruit, press out the rose-red wine.

Aspiration · Action · Youth

Shakh-e-gul par chahak wa-lekin
Kar apni khudi mein aashiyana

Sing, by all means, on the rose-branch — but build your nest within your own selfhood.

Selfhood · Self-Knowledge

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

Tumhari tahzib apne khanjar se aap hi khud-kushi karegi
Jo shakh-e-nazuk pe aashiyana banega na-paedar hoga

Your civilisation will take its own life with its own dagger; a nest built on a fragile branch will never last.

Adversity · Self-Knowledge · Justice

Related words

Barg

A leaf, the green blade of the tree or plant.

Samar

Fruit, the ripened yield of a tree; figuratively the result or reward of effort.

Aashiyan

A bird's nest, the small home woven of straw to which the bird returns.

Chaman

Garden.

Bulbul

The nightingale, the songbird that pours out its longing for the rose in the classical garden lyric.

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