Word Meaning
निगाहें
nigāheñ
Meaning
Glances, sights, gazes, or expressions of sight.
Detailed Meaning
In Urdu poetics, 'nigāheñ' denotes the glances or looks exchanged between lover and beloved, acting as vehicles of unspoken sentiment. In this couplet, Ghalib cautions against taking these glances for the mere physical pupils of the eye, revealing them instead to be inward sighs gathered in the core of sight. The gaze is thus transformed from an instrument of external perception into an outpouring of suppressed grief.
Etymology
From Persian 'nigāh' (نگاہ), meaning glance, sight, or observation, combined with the Hindustani feminine plural ending '-eñ'.
Usage
Constantly employed in the ghazal to express either the fatal charm of the beloved's glance or the intense, yearning sight of the lover.
Examples
When those glances were raised, longing overwhelmed the soul.
The secret of the heart was conveyed merely through glances.