Urdu · verb · Love & Longing
Tarsaana
तरसाना
said tar-SAA-na
also written: Tarsana, tarsana, tarsaa
Meaning
To make one pine; the beloved's keeping the lover in unfulfilled longing.
Literally: to make (someone) yearn, to tantalize
Usage & notes
Tarsaana is the act of tantalizing — keeping the lover hungry, holding the longed-for thing just out of reach. The beloved who does this teases hope without satisfying it, and the lover is left to thirst. It names a sweet torment central to the ghazal: desire deliberately prolonged, the cup shown but not given, longing kept alive precisely by being denied.
Related words
ARABIC
Intezaar
Waiting or expectation.
ARABIC
Hasrat
Unfulfilled longing, wistful regret for what is desired but denied.
ARABIC
Taghaful
Deliberate inattention or feigned negligence by the beloved, who pretends not to notice the lover.
PERSIAN
Tishnagi
Thirst, craving; the unquenched thirst of the lover for the beloved.