Word Meaning
गालियाँ
gāliyāñ
Meaning
Abuses, curses, harsh insults, or verbal rebukes from someone.
Detailed Meaning
In Urdu poetry, 'gāliyāñ' refers to insults, verbal abuses, or tart reproaches often uttered by the beloved or directed toward rivals. In this couplet, it represents the casual curses or barbs the beloved pours upon the rival ('ġhair'), contrasted with the lover's wariness of receiving such harsh treatment directly. It captures the complex interplay between the beloved's speech, the rival, and the long-suffering lover.
Etymology
From Sanskrit 'गाली' (gālī, meaning execration, abuse, or reproach) via Middle Indo-Aryan/Prakrit.
Usage
In the classical ghazal, abuses from the beloved's lips are often celebrated with paradoxical delight as an intimate form of attention.
Examples
To bear curses from those delicate lips was itself an ecstasy.
Do not mind the abuses, for even in anger she remembered you.