Word Meaning
दजला
dajla
Meaning
The Tigris river; metaphorically used for a vast river or deep flood.
Detailed Meaning
Literally refers to the River Tigris flowing through modern-day Iraq. In classical Persian and Urdu poetry, it frequently serves as a metaphor for immense water, an overflowing river, or a torrent of tears. In this couplet, it represents the vast whole or macrocosm that a truly perceptive eye can discern even within a single drop (qatra).
Etymology
Arabic (دِجْلَة, Dijlah), historically derived from Akkadian 'Idiglat' / Sumerian 'Idigna', the name for the Tigris River.
Usage
Often paired with 'qatra' (drop) to articulate Sufi concepts of the part containing the whole, or with 'Furat' (Euphrates) in elegiac contexts.
Examples
Seeing the vast Tigris in a single dewdrop
Tears that flowed like the swelling Tigris