Word Meaning
लंगर
Langar
Meaning
An anchor; ballast; a heavy weight providing stability or restraint.
Detailed Meaning
Literally referring to an anchor or heavy ballast used to moor a ship, 'langar' carries the metaphorical sense of a weight that grounds or arrests motion. In this couplet, Ghalib envisions his vast wilderness as the ultimate anchor that stabilizes and contains even the wild, restless wandering of Majnun's insanity. It denotes an immense gravitational center of grief and solitude.
Etymology
From Persian 'langar' (لنگر), derived from Ancient Greek 'ágkȳra' (ἄγκυρα, anchor).
Usage
In classical ghazal imagery, 'langar' often denotes an anchor of endurance, heavy grief, or that which restrains the soul's erratic tempest.
Examples
The anchor held the drifting ship amidst raging winds.
The weight of grief was an anchor to his wandering heart.