Word Meaning
यक-आलम-अफ़्सुर्दगाँ
yak-ālam-afsurdagāñ
Meaning
A whole world of dejected, sorrowful, or dispirited people.
Detailed Meaning
This Persian compound phrase denotes an entire multitude or universe of dispirited, withered, or melancholic souls. In the couplet, the speaker personifies the collective despair and sorrowful intent of all who are broken-hearted. It amplifies individual melancholy to a cosmic, all-encompassing scale.
Etymology
Persian 'yak' (one, a whole) + Arabic 'ālam' (world) + Persian 'afsurdagān' (plural of afsurda, meaning frozen, withered, or dejected).
Usage
Used in high-register classical ghazals to evoke an immense, boundless landscape of shared grief and psychological desolation.
Examples
He carries in his breast the silence of a whole world of the dejected.
A world of dispirited souls looked on in mute despair.