यक-जहाँ

Meaning

A whole world; an immense quantity or extent; world-full.

Detailed Meaning

Literally meaning 'one world', 'yak-jahan' functions idiomatically in Persianized classical Urdu poetry as an intensifier denoting an enormous, boundless quantity or vastness. In this couplet, it modifies 'qamash-e-hawas' (the fabric of desire), describing the amassing of a whole universe of worldly ambition. This vast accumulation of greed is sharply contrasted with the speaker's own ascetic capital of pure wonder.

Etymology

Persian: compound of 'yak' (one, a single) + 'jahān' (world, universe).

Usage

Used in the ghazal tradition as a hyperbolic quantifier to evoke an overwhelming measure of pain, desire, or spectacle.

Examples

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Related Words