Word Meaning
मुश्किल-पसंद
mushkil-pasand
Meaning
Fond of difficulties; fastidious, demanding, or drawn to arduous challenges.
Detailed Meaning
Describes an individual who rejects ease and is attracted to complex, demanding, or arduous matters. In this couplet, it serves as an epithet for the beloved ('but-e-mushkil-pasand') who is notoriously difficult to please and delights in challenging feats of charm, such as taking a hundred hearts in a single grasp. Metaphorically, it often reflects a poet's own aesthetic preference for abstruse and intricate thought.
Etymology
Compound of Arabic 'mushkil' (difficult/problematic) and Persian 'pasand' (from the verbal root of pasandīdan, meaning 'to like' or 'to choose').
Usage
In classical Urdu ghazal, it characterizes either an aloof, hard-to-please beloved or the poet's own inclination toward complex, philosophical modes of expression.
Examples
A difficult beloved who scorns the ordinary path
The exacting heart that always seeks what is hard to win