Word Meaning
बरात
bara'at
Meaning
Draft, assignment of income, warrant of subsistence, or bill of exchange.
Detailed Meaning
In classical terminology, 'bara'at' refers to an official assignment or grant of revenue or allowance drawn upon a specific source. In this famous couplet by Ghalib, 'baraat-e-ma'ash-e-junoon' denotes the daily allowance or sustenance of love's madness, which ironically consists of stones pelted by children. The poet laments that to sustain this madness, one must remain obligated to the pelting children.
Etymology
Arabic via Persian, from the root b-r-' (ب-ر-ء) meaning clearance, exemption, or acquittance; in Persian administrative usage, it came to mean a draft or warrant of payment.
Usage
In Urdu ghazal poetry, this Arabic administrative term is employed metaphorically to describe fate's allocation of pain, grief, or madness to the lover.
Examples
baraat-e-ma'ash (allowance or warrant of subsistence)
likhi hai sang pe aakhir baraat-e-khaatir-e-shorida (the allowance of the troubled mind is assigned upon stones)