Persian · noun phrase, masculine · The Tavern & the Cup
Tah-e-jaam
तह-ए-जाम
said tah-e-jaam
also written: Tah-e-jam, tah-e-jam, tahe-jaam
Meaning
The bottom of the cup; the last dregs left in the goblet, often a figure for the end of the feast or the lover's final share.
Literally: the bottom of the cup
How Iqbal uses it
Tah-e-jaam is the bottom of the cup — where the last of the wine and the dregs settle — and so an image of the final, most intimate portion of grace, or of the cup drained to its end. To reach the tah-e-jaam is to have drunk love to the dregs, holding nothing back. The phrase carries both the sweetness of the last drop and the ache that the cup is now empty and must be refilled.
See it in the verse
Tah-e-jaam 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