What is a ghazal? Structure explained with two BeatRootRaga originals

A ghazal is poetry that can be sung

A ghazal is first a form of poetry, built from couplets, or pairs of lines. Each pair holds a complete thought. The next pair can turn to something different, so the poem does not have to tell one story from beginning to end.

The form began in Arabic, grew in Persian, and became the central form of Urdu poetry. Ghazals are also written in Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and other languages. Urdu is therefore part of the form's history, but it is not the only language in which a ghazal can speak.

When someone says they are listening to a ghazal, they usually mean a poem in this form set to music and sung. The word names both the poem and its sung performance. Singing gives the words a melody, but the couplets remain the building blocks you can listen for.

Each couplet holds a complete thought

That two-line unit is called a sher, a couplet. The plural is ashaar. Its two lines belong together: the second responds to what the first has opened, completing the thought or taking it in another direction. The unit to listen for is the pair, not either line on its own.

Each sher is complete in itself. The next couplet can turn to a different subject without carrying forward the previous thought. So when a new pair of lines begins, you need not treat it as the next event in a story. Give it room to make its own point.

A ghazal usually has five to fifteen couplets, but those pairs need not form one continuous account. Sound holds them together through a shared rhyme pattern, rather than a single plot. Singers and reciters often choose which couplets to perform, so a performance need not include every couplet in the poem.

The repeated phrase and the rhyme before it

The subject can change from one couplet to the next, but the ending brings back a familiar sound. The radif is the word or phrase repeated at those endings, also called the refrain. It stays the same each time it returns.

Immediately before the radif comes the qafia, the rhyming syllable or word. Listen for two parts: first the rhyme, then the repeated phrase. The rhyme links the endings by sound, while the refrain repeats the same words.

• Opening couplet, first line: qafia + radif.
• Opening couplet, second line: qafia + radif.
• Every later couplet, first line: this ending is not required.
• Every later couplet, second line: qafia + radif.

This pattern lets you hear how the couplets belong together, even without understanding every word. Some ghazals have no radif. In those, the qafia alone links the endings, so there is a returning rhyme but no repeated phrase after it.

The opening pattern and the poet's signature

The opening couplet, a pair of lines called the matla, gives you the pattern to follow. Both lines carry the qafia, the rhyming word or syllable, followed by the radif, the repeated word or phrase. You hear the ending twice before the poem moves to its next thought.

After the matla, that rhyme and repeated phrase return at the end of each couplet’s second line. The opening therefore announces a pattern that later couplets keep bringing back. In a ghazal without a radif, the rhyme alone marks those endings.

The closing couplet is called the maqta. This is where the poet traditionally includes their takhallus, or pen name. Sometimes the poet addresses themselves by that name. Listen for it as a signature within the poem, rather than a separate credit spoken after it.

The maqta is not necessarily the ending of a story. Each couplet holds a complete thought, so the last one can stand on its own too. The signature is a tradition, not a requirement to assume in every closing couplet.

One metre holds the lines together

The opening and closing couplets share more than an ending pattern. Every line follows the same poetic metre, called behr: a pattern of line length and rhythm. This holds across the whole ghazal, even when neighbouring couplets express different thoughts.

Think of each couplet as a pair of lines with its own complete thought, but not its own metre. The ideas can change while the underlying pattern stays the same. That shared structure belongs to the poem before it is sung.

In performance, a singer may repeat a line, change its melody or pause before the second line. Those choices shape how you hear the words unfold. They do not mean that each couplet has been written with a different behr.

The beat beneath the voice is another layer. Sung ghazals often use dadra, a six-beat cycle, or keherwa, an eight-beat cycle. These organise the musical accompaniment; behr describes the poem's lines. Counting the accompaniment's beats is not the same as hearing the poetic metre.

What changes when a ghazal is sung

The melody gives you another way to follow the poem. The composer sets the matla, the opening couplet, to a tune that returns for each couplet. That return makes the radif, the repeated word or phrase at the line ending, a meeting point between words and music.

Listen to the first line of a new couplet. It often moves into a different register, a higher or lower part of the voice's range. The second line then brings back the familiar tune and repeated phrase. This movement away and back helps you hear each couplet as a pair.

A singer may repeat a line while changing its melody. The words stay with the same thought, even as the musical shape shifts. A repeated line is not a new couplet, so listen for new words rather than counting each melodic change.

A pause before the second line gives the thought room to settle. That second line may complete the first line's idea or turn it in another direction.

The beat and instruments behind the voice

Under the voice, listen for a repeating group of beats. Sung ghazals most often use dadra, a six-beat cycle, or keherwa, an eight-beat cycle. A cycle is one full round of beats before the count begins again. Try counting one to six for dadra, or one to eight for keherwa.

The usual pace is relaxed, with harmonium, tabla and sometimes guitar accompanying the voice. These are common choices, not a fixed checklist for every performance. Listen to the accompaniment alongside the singer's repeated lines and pauses. The words may return with a changed melody while the beat gives you another pattern to follow.

For counting practice, use our rhythm guide with clap patterns. It includes dadra and keherwa. Practise a pattern there, then return to the ghazal and listen for the repeating cycle behind the voice.

Listen with two BeatRootRaga originals

Now shift your attention from the beat to the voice. Try two BeatRootRaga originals sung by Gayatri Asokan: Kitne Aish Se Rahte Honge and Na Dil Se Aah. Use the same listening steps for both, without trying to catch every word at once.

• Start with the radif, the word or phrase repeated at line endings. Then listen just before it for the qafia, the rhyming word or syllable.
• Notice the melody of the matla, the opening couplet. Listen for each new couplet, a pair of lines, to begin differently before returning to that tune.
• At the final couplet, listen for a possible takhallus, the poet's pen name. Treat it as something to check, not something every performance must include.