Word Meaning
ख़स्ता-जानी
khasta-jaani
Meaning
Brokenness of spirit; profound distress, exhaustion, or suffering of the soul.
Detailed Meaning
The term refers to an afflicted, broken, or wounded state of one's inner being and soul. In this couplet by Mir Taqi Mir, it captures the utter exhaustion of surviving constant spiritual and emotional torment. It represents a living death where endurance itself becomes an agonizing ordeal.
Etymology
Persian: compound of 'khasta' (خستہ, meaning wounded, broken, weary) + 'jaan' (جان, meaning life, soul) + abstract suffix '-i' (ی).
Usage
A frequent motif in classical Urdu ghazal, particularly in Mir's poetry, expressing the prolonged existential grief and fatal weariness of the lover.
Examples
What explanation can one offer for this brokenness of soul?
My broken spirit bears witness to unending grief.