ग़ज़ल की वर्गीकृति (Taxonomy of a Ghazal)

Those of you who know me well or who have worked with me know that as an information architect I have a passionate interest in the structure of documents and content in general, the reusability of content objects, and taxonomy. A ghazal, as a content document has excellent attributes of all of the above.

It appears that many people enjoy ghazals, but do not really know what the proper ghazal structure and rules are. As a result, there may be the tendency to unofficially classify certain shaayari as ghazals when they really are not.

I found four interesting articles that describe rules that apply to ghazals and from which I have taken this information. I am supplying the links in case you are interested in going into this more deeply.

1. ग़ज़ल श्रेणी की प्रविष्टियाँ, http://www.kaulonline.com/chittha/index.php?cat=2
2. What is a Ghazal?, http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~navin/india/songs/ghalib/ghazal.def.html
3. Bah'r: The Backbone of Shaayari, http://www.urdupoetry.com/articles/art5.html
4. Urdu Ghazal: An Introduction, http://www.urdupoetry.com/articles/art3.html

ग़ज़ल क्या है?

The following describes the structure, the taxonomy if you will, of a ghazal:

1. A ghazal is a collection of shers which follow the rules of मतला, मक़ता, बहर, क़ाफ़िया and रदीफ़.
2. A ghazal rarely has more than 10 or 12 shers, often fewer.
3. The different shers of the ghazal are not necessarily bound by a unity and consistency of thought. Each sher is a self-sufficient unit, detachable and quotable, generally containing the complete expression of an idea. (ग़ज़ल का हर शेर अपने आप में दो मिसरों की पूरी कविता होती है। यानी हर शेर को अलग से प्रस्तुत किया जा सकता है। प्रायः ग़ज़ल में एक कहानी या कविता सा लगातार प्रवाह भी नहीं होता।) शेर का पहला मिसरा मिसरा-ए-ऊला कहते हैं और दूसरा मिसरा-ए-सानी कहते हैं।
4. The shers of some ghazals are bound together by a unity and consistency of thought. Such ghazals are classified as नज़्म.
5. A ghazal always opens with a rhyming sher called a मतला. This sets the mode for the ghazal. इसकी दोनों मिसरों का समान अंत (तुकबंदी) होता है।
6. The rhyme of the मतला is repeated at the end of each succeeding sher. The pattern may be represented as AA, BA, CA, DA, and so on. वह रदीफ़ कहते हैं। Rarely a ghazal may have no radif. Such ghazals are classified as ग़ैरमुरद्दफ़.
7. रदीफ़ से पहले आनेवाले मिलते जुलते शब्द को क़ाफ़िया कहते हैं। क़ाफ़िये हमारी मिसाल में (नीचे) सबब, अब, अजब, तब, जब, आदि हैं। सब क़ाफ़िये तुकबंदी करते हैं।
8. There can be more than one matla in a ghazal. In such a case the second one is called मतला-ए-सानी या हुस्न-ए-मतला.
9. The last sher of the ghazal is the मक़ता. It often, but optionally, contains the तख़ल्लुस (शायर का उपनाम) in either the first or the second line. आजकल कई ग़ज़लें बिना मक़ते के भी लिखी जाती हैं।
10. ग़ज़ल का सब से अच्छा शेर हुस्न-ए-ग़ज़ल या बैत-उल-ग़ज़ल कहते हैं।
11. Each line of a ghazal must be of the same length and meter. इस लंबाई को बहर कहते हैं। Bahar is a complex topic itself. If anyone is interested in the details, please see reference number 3, Bah'r: The Backbone of Shaayari, above.