Word Meaning
ख़ूँ-बस्ता
khūñ-basta
hiadjective
Meaning
Congealed or clotted with blood; caked with dried blood.
Detailed Meaning
Literally signifies something bound, frozen, or clotted with blood. In Urdu ghazal aesthetics, it typically portrays wounds or eyelashes encrusted with dried tears of blood due to intense agony. In this couplet, it describes the lover's eyelashes, which, having wept blood for so long, have hardened and become caked with gore.
Etymology
Persian: compound of 'khūn' (blood) and 'basta' (tied, bound, congealed; from 'bastan', to bind).
Usage
A classical trope used in ghazals to depict extreme lamentation where ordinary weeping escalates into tears of clotted blood.
Examples
a wound caked with clotted blood
eyelashes matted with blood-red tears
Synonyms
ख़ून-आलूदामुंजमिदलहू-लुहान
Related Words
ख़ूँबस्तामिज़ाख़ूँ-फ़िशाँ