idE praSna nAku cAlA sArlu vaccimdi.
i knew that si.nA.re has popularised
this prakriya in telugu, but i never
came to know what it is. ee madhya
rec.music.indian.misc(RMIM) newsgroup
FAQ(Frequently Asked Questions) caduvutunnappuDu,
nA praSnaki kluptamgA samAdhAnam labhimcimdi.
given the interest in chamdassu on
this group, i am posting an extract
from the RMIM FAQ. may be we can
compare it to our own dvipada and
discuss more about it.
5.1 What are Ghazals?
[This is a summarised version of an article posted by Abhay Avachat]
[see 14.2 for further details about this article]
Classical Definition of Ghazal: Ghazal in short, is a collection of
Shers which follow the rules of 'Matla', 'Maqta', 'Beher', 'Kaafiyaa'
and 'Radif'. So to know what Ghazal is, it's necessary to know what
these terms mean. Ghazal is necessarily a collection of two-line-poems
called Sher.
What is a Sher ?
It's a poem of two lines. This definition is deceptively simple.
Please note that, every Sher is a poem in itself ! A Sher does not
need, anything around it, to convey the message.
All the 4 stanzas in our example are independent poems, Shers.
What is 'Beher' ?
'Beher' is the 'meter' of the Shers. It can be considered as the
length of the Sher. Both the lines in the Sher *MUST* be of
same 'Beher'. And all the Shers in one Ghazal *MUST* be of the
same 'Beher'. There are 19 (!!) kinds of 'Beher'. But in simple terms,
'Beher' is categorized in 3 classes. Short, medium, long.
What is 'Radif' ?
In a Ghazal, second line of all the Shers *MUST* end with the *SAME*
word/s. This repeating common words is the 'Radif' of the Ghazal.
What is 'Kaafiyaa' ?
'Kaafiyaa' is the rhyming pattern which all the words before 'Radif'
*MUST* have.
What is 'Matla' ?
The first Sher in the Ghazal *MUST* have 'Radif' in its both lines.
This Sher is called 'Matla' of the Ghazal and the Ghazal is usually
known after its 'Matla'. There can be more than one 'Matla' in a
Ghazal. In such a case the second one is called 'Matla-e-saani' or
'Husn-e-matla'.
What is 'Maqta' ?
A Shayar usually has an alias i.e. 'takhallus' e.g. Mirza Asadullakhan
used 'Ghalib' as his 'takhallus' and is known by that. Other examples
are 'Daag' Dehlvi, 'Mir' Taqi Mir, Said 'Rahi', Ahmed 'Faraz' etc.
There is a Sher in a Ghazal, the last one, which has the Shayar's
'takhallus' in it.
To summarize, Ghazal is a collection of Shers (independent
two-line poems), in which there is atleast one 'Matla', one
'Maqta' and all the Shers are of same 'Beher' and have the
same 'Kaafiyaa' and 'Radif'.
5.3 Where can I get Ghalib ghazals?
These are currently available through WWW (see 16.3).
URL address is: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~navin/india/india.html
Maintainer: Navin (navin@cs.wisc.edu)
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