Sanskrit · noun · The Heart & the Body

Tarap

तड़प
said ta-RAP
also written: tarapna, tarap-e
Meaning

Writhing, throbbing; restless yearning or anguish.

Literally: writhing, throbbing, restless agony

How Iqbal uses it

Tarap is the writhing of the heart — the physical throb and flutter of a soul in the agony of longing, like a wounded bird beating its wings. It is love-pain at its most bodily and restless, the heart that cannot lie still. The ghazal cherishes this throbbing as the very pulse of love; for Iqbal the tarap of the living heart, its refusal of stillness, is far worthier than the dead calm of one who has never longed.