کلامِ غالب میں لفظ دل
The word 'Dil' in Ghalib's Poetry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56276/tasdiq.v8i01.151Keywords:
Ghalib, Heart (Dil), Epiphany, Cultural Relativism, Meaning Construction, Cognitive Dissonance, Symbolism, Urdu PoetryAbstract
This study examines Ghalib’s poetic use of the word heart (dil) to challenge the assumption that his thought lacks philosophical coherence. Drawing on cultural relativism, the social construction of meaning, and theories of cognition, it argues that the apparent fragmentation in Ghalib is not intellectual inconsistency but rather a dynamic mode of thought. The article shows that meaning in poetry is not fixed but emerges across dispersed images, contexts, and repetitions. Ghalib’s frequent use of *dil* functions as an epiphanic device through which ordinary experiences reveal deeper existential insights. The heart becomes a symbolic site where emotion, cognition, desire, and metaphysical reflection intersect. Through this lens, Ghalib’s poetry reveals a coherent inner system grounded in multiplicity rather than linear philosophy.
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1. Cultural Relativism is a sociological and anthropological theory that holds that the beliefs, values, and customs of any culture should be understood only within the context of that culture itself, rather than judged by external standards or another cultural framework. This concept was first introduced by the American anthropologist Franz Boas, who emphasised in the early twentieth century that every culture possesses its own internal logic, and that considering any culture superior or inferior is incorrect in every respect.
2. “Mental fragmentation” is essentially a psychological term whose central idea is that an individual’s consciousness, thoughts, and emotions exhibit a particular kind of disorder or internal disintegration, where different layers of consciousness appear scattered rather than unified. This concept is primarily derived from the psychological theories of Carl Gustav Jung and Sigmund Freud, in which the analysis of the unconscious, the conscious mind, and mental attitudes provides a way to understand human personality.
3. James Joyce, Dubliners, Grant Richards, London 1914, p. 37
4. According to Michel Foucault, power is not a static or centralised entity; rather, it is a process that continuously circulates at the social level through relationships, discourses, and knowledge. It becomes a means of controlling individuals, shaping their identities, and producing what is accepted as truth.
Note: All references to Ghalib’s verses are taken from Diwan-e-Ghalib, edited by Hamid Ali Khan, Punjab University Press, Lahore, 1969.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Qasim Yaqoob (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
