Guidelines for writing a ghazal/shayari

These are the basic guidelines for writing a ghazal/shayri. Hope this helps people, who are
interested in writing a ghazal/shayari!(this information provided is from my collection )

I'm writing this article for people who has always wondered about how a Ghazal is written.
Who are keen to know the technical side of Ghazal writing

Note that i'm only trying to pass this information to you based on what i had been taught and
learned uptill now

What is a Ghazal...?
A Ghazal is a combitaion of :-

1.Beher (Meter)
2.Radeef
3.Kafiya
4.Matla
5.Maktaa

1. What is Beher (Meter) ...?

Beher is the length of a sheyr,rhythm of a sheyr which compliments the connecting misra's (lines)
of a ghazal...all the misra's in a sher and all the sheyrs in a ghazal has to follow the same beher.
There are 36 beher's and it demands serious studies to be understood.Apart from those 36 beher's
a shayar can also creat his own beher as long as the sheyr is easy to recite and can be pronounced
in rhythm n match the "wazan" of the ghazal..shayar's like Mirza assaduallah beg khan(Ghalib) who
hasn't written anything except ghazals has made the mistakes of falling out of beher's..those
ghazals may have been "technically incorrect" BUT can NOT be branded as poor shayri..!!

2.What is Radeef...?

Radeef is the word(s) which ends the first two misra's and the second misra of every sheyr in a
Ghazal.it is not necessary to use radeef in all the Ghazals...such Ghazals are called "gair-muraddaf"
ghazals...but this is not what tradition allows...!!

i'm going to use some of my shayaristo explain the difference...

Teri aankhon ke ishaaron ki bahot yaad aayi

aaj patjharr mein bahaaron ki bahot yaad aayi

nikal ke maikade se jab bhi ladkhadaaya hun..?

teri baahon ke sahaaron ki bahot yaad aayi

jab bhi poonche hain aansu maine haathon se

tere daaman ke kinaaron ki bahot yaad aayi

here.."bahot yaad aayi" is the radeef of this Ghazal...!!

khaayal aate rahe dil mein tumhaare

jaagte rahe mere saath ye sitaare

here....radeef is missing...as last words of the sheyr are not same so its a "gair-muraddaf"
ghazal...so radeef is that exact word or words that ends the first two lines and every second line of
a ghazal...!!

3. What is Kafiya...?

Kafiya is that common sounding word that's used before "radeef"...for example in first ghazal
mentioned above "ishaaron".."bahaaron"...."sahaaron" is the kafiya or should is say "ron" is the
kafiya because "ron" is the sound that gives "wazan" to the radeef of the ghazal.
4.What is Matla...?

The very first sheyr or the first two misra's of a ghazal where radeef is used in both misra's is the
"Matla" of a ghazal...!!

for example...

dil ya dil ki duaa ki baat karte ho

ghar ya ghar ki fizaa ki baat karte ho

Matla is very necessary for the weight of a ghazal because the whole ghazal depends on kafiya and
radeef used in the Matla.

5.What is Maktaa

Maktaa is the last sheyr of a ghazal where shayar use his "takhhallus" to leave his signature on his
composition...A poet rather not have a maktaa rather than having a meaningless maktaa...its one
of those finer points of shayri where shayar can express himself or his feelings or talk about
anything using the rhythm of the ghazal...!!

example...

dil ko dard haathon ko kalam de gaye hain

kaise kaise tohfe mere sanam de gaye hain

sunne waale rote hain sunaane waale rote hain

"tausif" ki ghazlon ko itna gam de gaye hain

so here's the essence of this article..the "matlaa" above written in "medium beher"...using "am" as
kafiya...."de gaye hain" as "radeef" and last misra as "maktaa"

Dear friends...this article is far from complete as far as depth and rules of ghazal writing are
concerned ..each topic especially "beher" needs to be studied thoroughly if someone wants to
understand this fine art of shayri.

These are just the basic points that someone needs to look at before writing or understanding a
ghazal......i have an advice for shayar's who has just begun to write and are serious about learning
shayri....you NEED to find an ustad who can guide you ...find someone whom you can show your
compositons...who can explain each term step by step and seek an advice..coz there's a lot
more...A LOT MORE..in shayri than you can imagine...!!