वोह खिलवतका जो था (Woh Khilavat Ka Jo Tha) -- Mir Gulaam 'Hasan'

[Urdu Couplet #18]

छुपाये हुए ला बिठाया वहाँ

वोह खिलवतका जो था क़दीमी मकाँ  

Chhupaaye huye la bithaaya vahaan
Woh khilavat ka jo tha kadimi makaan

Mir Gulaam 'Hasan'
(1736 - 1786)

खिलवतका (khilavat) = Solitude, क़दीमी (kadimi) = ancient, old, मकाँ  (makaan) = house

[English Meaning]

Unnoticed (they) were brought and made to sit there (at a place)

That was solitude's ancient house

It also means:

I brought (them) unnoticed at a place

Which was solitude's ancient house

Here, 'solitude's ancient house' means a place that is lying deserted since long.

Note: The couplet is a part of Hasan's masnavi in which he tells a story of a king to whom a child (a boy) is born after being childless for several years. But when the prince turns 13, a fairy kidnaps him. In the fairyland, the prince befriends a princess and starts courting her secretly. When the fairy comes to know about the prince's love affair, she imprisons him in a dark, dry well as a punishment. On the other hand, the love-struck princess sends her vazir (a woman) disguised as a jogan (a female yogi) in search of the prince. On her way, the vazir saves the cruel fairy's son, who eventually falls in love with her and proposes her for a marriage. The vazir agrees on one condition -- freedom of the imprisoned prince. The fairy's son helps her. The vazir then hides both the prince and the fairy's son in a lonely place away from the fairy's reach. The aforesaid couplet is one of her dialogues as she gives an account of her activity to the princess. 

About the Poet

मीर ग़ुलाम 'हसन' Mir Gulaam 'Hasan' was the disciple of Khwaja Dard. His writing style was simple and lyrical. His masnavi's were excellent. Two of his masnavi's 'सहरुलबयान Sahr-ul-bayan' and 'मसनवी मीर हसन Masnavi Mir Hasan' are considered excellent pieces of Urdu poetry. His ghazals too were on par with that of मीर Mir and सोज़ Soj.