Word Meaning
ज़हमत
zehmat
Meaning
Trouble, affliction, pain, or burdensome distress.
Detailed Meaning
In classical Urdu, 'zahmat' denotes physical or spiritual suffering, disease, hardship, or an onerous burden. In this couplet, it represents the chronic agony of love or existential pain whose treatment ('chaara') proved to be an exhausting trial. The poet laments that the very effort to alleviate this affliction consumed the heart completely.
Etymology
Derived from Arabic root z-ḥ-m (زحم), originally conveying pressure, crowding, or friction, which came to mean trouble, illness, and hardship in Persian and Urdu.
Usage
In ghazals, 'zahmat' frequently describes the torment of existence or unrequited love, often used in phrases like 'zahmat uthaanaa' to denote bearing profound hardship.
Examples
Why did you take the trouble to visit?
There was no deliverance from the affliction of love.