Word Meaning
स्वाद
sawād
Meaning
Blackness, darkness, or the environs and outskirts of a territory.
Detailed Meaning
Originating from Arabic, 'sawād' fundamentally denotes blackness, darkness, or soot, and metaphorically the cultivated dark earth or environs outside a town. In this verse, 'swād-e-khutan' evokes the deep dark pigment associated with the musk of Khotan, mirroring the inner wounded dark scar (dāgh) of love. It is often distinguished in poetry from the taste-related Sanskrit homograph 'swād'.
Etymology
Arabic سَوَاد (sawād), derived from the root s-w-d denoting blackness or dark color.
Usage
In classical Urdu verse, it is prized as a poetic double-image for both dark beauty (like musk or hair) and geographical outskirts.
Examples
lost in the blackness of the beloved's tresses
the quiet outskirts of the desolate town