The Ghazal is essentially an ancient Persian form of romantic poetry that consists of recurring rhyme in Urdu language. It was developed and enriched in India during the great Moghul period. Though it is believed that Ghazal is a form of very special romantic poetry in Urdu language but in broader sense it has no barrier of language if essence of poetry includes recurring rhymes and romance or any other thought that gives poetry a depth of sentiments and substance.

Rich History: Ghazal has a rich history of it’s development and popularity. In ancient days it was a synonym of romantic poetry and wine but in modern world, face of Ghazal has changed. From Hindi, Bhojpuri to english ghazals, one can find a variety of it. One thing that will never change is the beauty of Ghazal, irrespective of it’s place and form.

Ghazal is a special poetry: Ghazal is a poetry that structurally contains collection of "Sher". Shers are written with cirtain rules and they are known as " Matla", "Maqta", "Beher", "Kafiyaan" and "Radif".It is interesting to know that each "Sher" itself is a poem and contains two lines of poetry. Distinction between a Ghazal and Geet may be marked by the virtue that Ghazal is a collection of "Sher" that is always written in multiples of "2" lines and not 1,3 and 5 lines Whereas a Geet often contains odd recurring lines.

Now to understand these technical terms of a Ghazal it is necessary to know about the function of Beher, Kafiyaan and Radif.

Beher: Beher is the measure of distribution of number of words or "Matra" in a line. In a Ghazal "Beher" of both lines must be same.

Following example of Ghazal would explain it more clear:

Kal Chaudhawin ki raat thi, Sab bhar raha charcha tera,

In the above set of lines, each line contains 27 "Matras", a measure of singing length of each word. matras can not be demonstrated in english but in Urdu and Hindi we can calculate it. For example the word "Kal" has a 2 matra and "Chaudhawin" has 5 matras.

Radif: In the above example, last word of lines are "Tera". This repeating word is known as Radif. This is a must to create a Ghazal.

Kafiyaan: Kafiyaan is a collection of words and is a set pattern of "Raaga" or Rhyme that precedes "Radif". A Ghazal must have "Beher", "Radif", and "Kafiyaan". These components make the structure of a Ghazal. There are some terminology in the Ghazal that defines the distinction of Ghazals like "Matla" and "Maqta".

Matla: Usually first Sher of Ghazal that contains same Radif in both the lines is termed as "Matla’. If thereis more than one Matla in a Ghazal then it is known as "Husn-e-Matla" or "Figure of Matla".

Maqta: Maqta is often known as the concluding sher or message Sher in which the poet or "Shayar" speaks to himself and drops a final message. For example in the very famous Ghazal:

In the concluding Sher of this ghazal legend shyar great Janab Mirza Asadulla Khan alias Mirza Ghalib wrote:

Kahan Maikhane ka darwaza waise aur kahan Ghalib....... This very touching message in which Shayar speaks to himself is known as "Takhallus".

Jewelers of Ghazal: There are endless milestones in creation of Ghazals. Long list of great jewelers of Ghazal those who molded the words with devotions and creativity are:

Quli Qutub Shah (1565 - 1611), Wali Deccani (1635 - 1707), Siraj Aurangabadi (1715 - 1763), Khwaja Mir Dard (1721 - 1785) , Mir Taqi Mir (1723 - 1810), Ghulam Hamdani Mushafi (1725 - 1824), Inshallah Khan Insha (1757 - 1817), Khwaja Haidar Ali Atish (1778 - 1846), Iman Baksh Nasikh (1787 - 1838), Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869), Momin Khan Momin (1801 - 1852), Mir Babr Ali Anis (1802 - 1874), Mirza Salamat Ali Dabir (1803 - 1875), Nawab Mirza Khan Dagh (1831 - 1905), Mohammad Husain Azad (1830 - 1910), Altaf Husain Hali (1837 - 1914, Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), Josh Malihabadi (1898 - 1982), Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911 - 1984) and modern marvels like Sahir Ludhyanavi, Gulzar, Mazrooh Sultanpuri & Zaved Akhtar etc.

Ghazal on Globe: Ghazal is culture in itself. It reflects the mood and thoughts of contemporary romanticism and intensity of emotions. Popularity of Ghazal does not need any evidence. It has got a global presence and international recognition. Indian Ghazal singers have given the "Ghazal Gayaki" (Art of singing Ghazal) a new dimension. Janab Mehndi Hasan, Ghulam Ali Sahab, Jagjeet Singh, Hariharan, Talat Aziz, Chandan Das and Pankaj Udhas has taken Ghazals in to the new world of melodrama. One of the popular pop music singer Najama performs Ghazals with a unique style. English Ghazals has emerged in USA and accepted well there. Artist like Bly and Rich has given new dimensions to English Ghazals.

Though the language and form of Ghazals are changing with time and place but essence is intact. Any Ghazal if performed with music will always have rythems of "Tabla" and melody of harmonium or Saxophone. We can hear and enjoy the very soul of Ghazals at any corner of the world and it may be a tantalizing truth that Ghazals are still more than capable to float our senses in the harmony of celebration of love & music. They would always be touching our senses articulated by the beauty of thoughtful lyrics, perfect rhymes and substance for what Ghazal is known as Ghazal.