Arts: To be a Ghazal

All of us in India have listened to or heard about Ghazals. Few of us though understand what exactly is a Ghazal. The points below throw some light on the definition of a Ghazal.

1. To begin with, a Sher is a poem of 2 lines.

2. Ghazal is ‘necessarily’ a collection of 2 line poems called shers. But just being a collection of shers is not enough. Here’s a list of ‘must-haves’ for a ghazal to be a ghazal:

a.Beher: Length of the sher. All shers in a ghazal must be of the same beher

     b. Radif: A rule which states that second line of all shers must end with same words for a ghazal to be a ghazal

     c. Kaafiya: It is the rhyming pattern which the words before radif must have

     d. Matla: The first sher of the ghazal is called Matla. The first sher (Matla) must have the same last words in both the lines

     e. Maqta – Takhalus – Names of writers of shers in the last sher.


Now that you are aware of what a Ghazal is, I hope you would be able to appreciate it better. Happy listening!

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