Word Meaning
ख़र्ज
kharj
Meaning
Expense, expenditure, outlay, or cost.
Detailed Meaning
'Kharj' refers to expenditure, outlay, or consumption of wealth and effort. In this couplet, it appears in the Persian izafat construction 'kharj-e-la-hasil' (futile expenditure or unproductive cost), signifying the vain, exhausting demands of love and wine. The poet contrasts the material wealth required for such ruinous passions with the austerity of the dervish life.
Etymology
Arabic root خ-ر-ج (kh-r-j), denoting exit, outgo, issue, or expenditure; naturalized in Urdu/Persian poetry alongside its common variant 'kharch'.
Usage
In classical ghazals, it is used both in literal monetary contexts and metaphorically to depict the toll or emotional cost exacted upon the lover's life.
Examples
Bearing the daily expenditure of life.
Wasting youth in unproductive expense.