Koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaataa nahin
Posted on: October 12, 2009
One big reason why the songs of the golden era are still popular is the lyrics of these songs, which were meaningful and they in fact formed the soul of these songs.
Quite a few of these songs contained Urdu words which were quite expressive. There were many people who loved these lyrics even though they did not fully understand the meanings of many of these words.
I am among many who do not allow their lack of Urdu vocabulary to come in the way of enjoying these songs. To this day, I do not know what words like “ulfat”, “pashemaan”,etc mean.
If one knows the meanings of the words fully then understanding of the lyrics goes up and one can go “waah, waah” in a more knowledgeable manner.
There is one word called “Saagar” which figures in quite a few songs, and I thought that it meant “ocean”, because in Hindi and Sanskrit, that is what “Saagar” means. So when I came across words like “gham ka saagar”, I thought that it meant “ocean of sorrow” and I went “waah waah” at the imagination of the lyrics.
Just now I have come to know that the urdu word “Saagar” did not mean ocean. Rather this word was “Saaghar” and it means “cup”. In other words, “gham ka saaghar” is “cup of sorrow” rather than “ocean of sorrow”. So now I really feel sheepish about my understanding of many songs containing the word “Saaghar”.
Here is this iconic song “koyi saaghar dil ko bahlata nahin”. All this days I thought that this line meant- “no ocean can bring solace to my heart”. I knew that it did not make sense, but then it never occured to me that the reason for this phrase not making sense lay in misunderstanding the meaning of one single word.
Now that I am enlightened, I now realise that this phrase means, no wine glass can bring solace to my heart” and suddenly this phrase has begun to make sense to me.
Before I start going overboard with my newly acquired understanding of this one word, I need to remind myself that there are several other such words in this particular song itself, not to speak of other songs, where I may have wrongly understood the meaning.
Of course, the good thing about listeneing to music is that less knowledgeable persons are not barred from listening to music. Thank god for such mercies. 😉
This particular song is written by Shakeel Badayuni and music is composed by Naushad. Rafi is the singer and this song is picturised on Dilip Kumar, with Waheeda Rehman also figuring in the picturisation.The movie is ‘Dil Diyaa Dard Liyaa” (1966).
Audio
Video
Song-Koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaata nahin (Dil Diya Dard Liyaa) (1966) Singer-Rafi, Lyrics-Shakeel Badayuni, MD-Naushad
Lyrics
koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaataa nahin
koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaataa nahin
bekhudi mein bhi qaraar aataa nahin,
koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaataa nahin
main koyi patthar nahin insaan hoon
main koyi patthar nahin insaan hoon
kaise kah doon gham se ghabraataa nahin
koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaataa nahin
bekhudi mein bhi qaraar aataa nahin
kal to sab the kaarwaan ke saath saath
kal to sab the kaarwaan ke saath saath
aaj koyi raah dikhlaataa nahin
koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaataa nahin
bekhudi mein bhi qaraar aataa nahin
zindagi ke aayine ko tod do
zindagi ke aayine ko tod do
ismen ab kuchh bhi nazar aataa nahin
koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaataa nahin
bekhudi mein bhi qaraar aataa nahin
koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaataa nahin
7 Responses to "Koyi saaghar dil ko bahlaataa nahin"
October 12, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Living in ignorance is great fun and those not blessed with ignorance are missing all this fun.
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October 12, 2009 at 7:36 pm
What a lovely intro to the song, Atul.
I love reading your song intros – there is usually something cheeky or funny in them. 🙂
Btw, even I have all along thought that this song said “saagar”, i.e ocean. I am an enlightened man today. 🙂
Other than this, the other words in this song are pretty straight-forward, right ?
“Ulfat” means just “love”, doesn’t it ? I think “pashemaan” means “embarrassed/ashamed”.
I just love Urdu though I am not good at it.It is such a sweet language. One of the reasons I like Muslim socials is just to listen to the Urdu.
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October 8, 2010 at 4:33 am
I was listening to this song in the car today and wondered briefly why he needed an ocean to divert his mind, and then I remembered having read about it here on this blog, so I came here and sure enough, he was talking about a cup, not an ocean! Thanks for not only taking the time to write down the lyrics of the songs, but also taking the time to look for the meanings of the words, so that people like me will not be left wondering how an ocean could distract someone’s mind!
Thanks again for the wonderful job you are doing here!
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June 21, 2017 at 7:23 pm
Unfortunately, I came across this blog very recently. Had it been earlier, I would have enriched myself about Bollywood songs, way back…. With due respect to everybody, especially Atulji , I would like to add something about the words Sagar and Saghar. Atulji is right Saghar means “paimaana” a glass of wine (or liquor)….. (Ham bekhudi me tumko pukare chale gaye, Saghar me Zindgi ko utaare chale gaye) . However as mentioned in the blog “gham ka sagar” does not mean “cup of sorrow” . IT IS “OCEAN OF SORROW”. It can seen from the song
” Zindagi ghum ka sagar bhi hai
Hanske us paar jaana padega”.
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March 19, 2023 at 1:54 pm
The same word “saaghar” appears in Ye Jo Mohabbat Hai from Kati Patang
Toote agar saaghar naya saaghar koi lele
Mere khuda dil se koi kisi ke na khele
An ocean breaking down makes no sense, but a cup or goblet being an insignificant object which can break down without much consequence makes perfect sense.
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March 20, 2023 at 9:23 am
Yes you are right. “Saaghar” in many Hindi movie songs allude to goblet of wine, and not to Sea or ocean.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
October 12, 2009 at 1:40 pm
You really make me laugh sometimes (often) Atul! I am very happy to know that even you can misunderstand lyrics 🙂 although of course on a way smaller scale than I!
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