Word Meaning
बे-कसों
be-kasoñ
Meaning
Helpless, friendless, or destitute people (oblique plural).
Detailed Meaning
Refers to those who have no protector, friend, or supporter, leaving them utterly powerless. In this couplet, Ghalib laments that the helpless have no power over the world or their critics, so their frustration inevitably turns inward, taking it out on their own collars. It captures the essence of deep vulnerability and self-directed grief in classical verse.
Etymology
Persian compound: 'be-' (without) + 'kas' (person, someone), followed by the Urdu plural/oblique suffix '-oñ'.
Usage
Frequently deployed in Urdu poetry to depict lovers or oppressed souls who lack external power and channel their anguish into self-destruction.
Examples
The cries of the helpless go unheard in the alley of love.
Night and day, the helpless endure the tyranny of fate.