ख़ूँ-बहा

Meaning

Blood-money; compensation paid for a murder or slaying.

Detailed Meaning

In classical legal and poetic terminology, 'khoon-baha' signifies blood-money or financial restitution (diyah) owed to the victim's kin for a slaying. In this couplet, Ghalib envisions the lover slain by neglect ('kushta-e-taghaful') as an adversary who paradoxically rises to claim compensation for his spilled blood. It elevates the tragic death of the lover from unrecorded suffering into a formal, legalistic demand for justice.

Etymology

Persian compound formed from 'khoon' (blood) and 'baha' (price, value).

Usage

In ghazal aesthetics, poets commonly invoke blood-money to dramatize the beloved's tyranny, either by graciously forgiving it or audaciously demanding it as a legal right.

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