Word Meaning
पाबंदी
pābandī
Meaning
Restriction, constraint, limitation, or adherence to rules.
Detailed Meaning
In classical Urdu poetry, 'pābandī' denotes confinement, obligation, or strict adherence to existential and formal boundaries. In the cited couplet, it highlights the inescapable constraints imposed on souls, contrasting inevitable mortality in this world with inevitable immortality in the next. Thus, it serves as an antonym to absolute spiritual freedom.
Etymology
Persian: from 'pā' (foot) + 'band' (bound/tied) + noun suffix '-ī', literally meaning the state of being fettered.
Usage
In the ghazal, it is frequently contrasted with 'āzādī' (freedom) to highlight the restrictions of social customs, fate, or worldly life.
Examples
here is the restriction of dying, there of living
there is a strange freedom within the restrictions of love