Word Meaning
यक-बयाबाँ
yak-bayaabaaN
Meaning
An entire desert; wilderness of immense, vast proportion.
Detailed Meaning
Literally translating to 'one desert' or 'a desert-full', this Persian compound serves as a unit of measurement for immense desolation or expanse. In Ghalib's couplet, it quantifies the shadow cast by the mythical Huma bird's wing, signifying an expanse so magnificent that it blankets an entire wilderness to comfort a boundless spirit of madness. It exemplifies the poet's preference for hyperbole and cosmic proportions when measuring grief or psychological longing.
Etymology
Persian: compound of 'yak' (one) + 'bayābān' (desert, barren waste).
Usage
Frequently deployed in Persian and classical Urdu ghazal as an exaggeration of scale to parallel the boundless wandering of the forlorn lover.
Examples
a shadow covering an entire desert
the desolation of a whole wilderness