Word Meaning
ख़स
khas
Meaning
Dry grass, weeds, straw, or worthless rubbish.
Detailed Meaning
'Khas' literally denotes dry grass, weeds, or vetiver, and metaphorically signifies insignificance, frailty, and worthlessness. In this couplet, it appears within the classic Persian hendiadys 'khas-o-khāshāk' (straw and sweepings), contrasting petty prey with the sublime and grand fury of lightning. The poet declares that an elevated spirit refuses to waste its destructive grandeur on trivialities.
Etymology
Persian (خس, khas), meaning weeds, rubbish, or dry straw.
Usage
In classical ghazals, 'khas' frequently couples with 'khāshāk' as fodder for the lightning of fate or love's consuming blaze.
Examples
The lightning reduced all the dry weeds (khas) of the meadow to ash.
Before the fire of passion, worldly sorrows are merely khas-o-khashak.