{14,1}
bazm-e shaahinshaah me;N ash((aar kaa daftar khulaa rakhyo yaa rab yih dar-e ganjiinah-e gauhar khulaa 1) in the King's gathering a register/office of verses opened 2) keep, oh Lord, this door of a treasury of pearls opened
Notes:
daftar : 'A roll, scroll, list; an index; a bundle of papers or written documents tied together in a cloth; a record, register, journal, book, volume, account-book ... archives; a record-office; an office, counting-house, place of business:'. (Platts p.519)
rakhyo is a variant form of rakho ; GRAMMAR.
Nazm:
In this verse is the suggestion that if the king's gathering is a treasure of pearls, then only because my office of verses has opened there. And this prayer...means keep it flourishing and keep its generosity flowing. (14)
Bekhud Dihlavi:
In the Exalted [Red] Fort on various occasions mushairahs often used to be held. They were especially common in the later days of the time of the Shadow of God, Bahadur Shah. In this connection, he says that in the Shahinshah's poetic gathering the sequence of mushairahs has started again.
(28-29)
Bekhud Mohani:
If we keep in mind the fact that in Bahadur Shah's time the kingship was declining, it occurs to us that Mirza was seeing the signs that the kingship would be erased; for this reason, in those days, the King's being inclined toward poetry and his holding mushairahs in the Exalted Fort [=Red Fort]
must have seemed very much worthy of respect. And this prayer must have come from the heart, because he saw all these things as vanishing with the kingship. (29)
FWP:
SETS == POETRY GATHERINGS: {6,3}
Ghalib originally composed a ghazal of ten verses (Hamid p. 12); he chose to include all of them in his published divan. More on this topic: S. R. Faruqi's choices.
The 'treasury of pearls' could be Ghalib's own poetic imagination, producing new gems for the King's gathering. It could also be the rewards the king offers to poets. Or it could be the valuable verses contained in the King's 'registry' or 'office'. The use of 'this door' works well no matter with any reading.
{14,2}
shab hu))ii phir anjum-e ra;xshindah kaa man:zar khulaa is takalluf se kih goyaa but-kade kaa dar khulaa
1) night came, again/then the scene/view of shining stars opened
2) with such ceremony that, so to speak, the door of an idol-temple opened
Notes:
Nazm:
He's only shown a comparison for the stars coming out. This verse is not a ghazal one; rather, it's from the introductory part [tashbiib] of an ode.
Probably other verses were with it, which were removed when the selection was made [of verses for the published diivaan]. (14)
Bekhud Dihlavi:
In this [second] opening-verse he has again [as in {14,1}] repeated the same theme [of praise for the king's mushairah] in different words. (29)
Bekhud Mohani:
There's reason to suppose that this verse would not be from a ghazal.
Because looking at the glittering stars, Mirza has remembered an idol-temple, he has not remembered paradise. The passion that idol-worshipers have for idols is apparent, and the worship of beauty is a practice of those with the temperament of lovers. And this theme seems best suited to the ghazal alone. But indeed it's also possible that this verse might have been composed in the introductory part [tashbiib] of some romantic ode. (30)
FWP:
IDOL: {8,1}
RELIGIONS: {60,2}
It's true that Ghalib has an ode in this same rhyme-scheme, though a different meter (Hamid pp. 198-200). But Nazm's flat assertion of 'non-ghazalness' is not warranted by anything in the nature of the genre. He makes a similar complaint about {74,1}.
The apparent reference in the verse is to the widespread use of lamps in Hindu temples, and the ceremonial opening of doors to permit a formal viewing of the image. Note that the comparison is a favorable one, based on radiance, beauty, and a lofty elegance.
Ghalib makes a much more amusing and rakish use of the stars' coming out, in {111,3}.
{14,3}
garchih huu;N diivaanah par kyuu;N dost kaa khaa))uu;N fareb aastii;N me;N dashnah pinhaa;N haath me;N nashtar khulaa 1) although I am mad, why would I fall for the friend's trick?
2) in the sleeve a dagger hidden, in the hand a lancet opened/revealed
Notes:
A 'lancet' was an instrument used for blood-letting, a common medical practice of the day; among other benefits, it was thought to relieve pressure on the brain.
Nazm:
That is, the world's friendship is such that the outer and the inner are not the same. 'In the hand a lancet revealed' is to express sympathy; that is, he shows a purpose of curing, and in his sleeve a dagger is concealed. That is, he intends to slit his throat. (14)
Bekhud Mohani:
'Although I am mad' can be said in a number of cases. That is, hidden in it is the thought of a madman who realizes his situation, after the height of madness has abated. Then, the meaning of the word 'friend' is also worth noticing; that is, even in that situation he holds the beloved dear. [The sympathetic beloved approaches him with a lancet, to bleed him, but he mistakes her radiant wrist for the gleam of a dagger and misjudges her in his madness.] (31)
Naiyar Masud:
1) When the knife is hidden inside the sleeve, how did the madman know if it?.... 2) When someone loses his mind and senses and goes mad, the desire to kill him vanishes of its own accord.... 3) It's not so hard to kill a madman, that the drama of lancet in hand and dagger in sleeve would be necessary.
[Whereas Bekhud Mohani avoids these questions, but only through a
fanciful and improbable drama in which the beloved's wrist is made to resemble a dagger, etc.]
The madman/lover prides himself on his madness/passion.... The madman thinks the lancet is not a cure, but a diminishing of his madness of passion, as if it were the instrument of death to him.... The apparent lancet in the friend's hand is not really a lancet, but rather it is a dagger hidden in the sleeve (hidden in the sleeve because its power is not apparent; outwardly it's a means for a cure but to me, it's a means of death). 'A dagger hidden in the sleeve' and 'a lancet open in the hand' are not two separate things, but rather the open lancet itself with regard to its inward effect is a dagger in the sleeve. (115-16)
FWP:
MADNESS verses: {4,11x}; {4,16x}; {6,7x}; {6,14x}; {14,3}; {15,12};
{16,6x}; {17,3}; {18,2}; {19,5}; {23,1}; {57,6}; {64,1}; {68,5}; {85,3};
{91,9}; {112,1}; {112,5}; {113,5}; {113,8}; {119,8}; {120,6}; {139,12};
{141,6}; {148,1}; {165,1}; {165,3}; {167,6}; {171,2}; {176,4}; {190,3};
{190,5}; {192,1}; {206,1}; {206,4}; {214,2}; {214,8}; {214,10}; {214,11};
{215,5}; {221,3}; {223,2}; {230,6}
This one is another great verse of Ghalibian ambiguity, like the dream-based {3,3}. I am mad, therefore what I say could be merely a sign of madness-- or maybe not, since I'm sane enough to know I'm mad; or else I could be madly making unfounded accusations that in fact happen to be true. In any case, the 'friend' (who may or may not be the beloved) could be either a real well-wisher of mine, who wishes to bleed me and thus ease the pressure on my brain, or a false 'friend' who is actually trying to kill me, or (as Naiyar Masud argues) both at once, since loss of my madness/passion is a form of death. If {3,3} is a dream verse, this one is an archetypal nightmare verse.
And of course, since it's in inshaa))iyah mode, the question of the first line may be a real one-- perhaps there are good reasons that I would, or could, or should fall for the trick, and I'm merely seeking to ascertain what they are.
For another verse that enjoyably plays with the (false? true?) cunning of madness, compare {215,5}.
For another, more abstract use of nashtar and the concept of bleeding, see {166,2}.
In addition to all its other marvels, Ithis verse always strikes me as cheerful and somehow ruefully funny. I imagine the madman in his cell, muttering to himself, spinning elaborate conspiracy theories, proud of his profound insights. Yet also half-apologetically knowing that he's mad. Yet after all, paranoids have enemies too...
{14,4}*
go nah samjhuu;N us kii baate;N go nah paa))uu;N us kaa bhed par yih kyaa kam hai kih mujh se vuh parii-paikar khulaa
1) although I might not understand her conversation, although I might not find out her secret/betrayal/device
2a) but is this a small/lesser thing-- that that Fairy-faced one opened up to me?
2b) but this is no small/lesser thing-- that that Fairy-faced one opened up to me!
Notes:
bhed : 'Breaking, separation, disunion, difference, disagreement,
interruption, disturbance; betrayal; breach, rupture, fracture; fissure, chasm, cleft; separation, difference, distinction, peculiarity; discrimination, discernment; kind, sort, species, variety; device; secrecy, secret, mystery.' (Platts p.199)
Nazm:
In this verse, 'to open up' means 'to converse freely and informally'. (14)
Bekhud Mohani:
The states of the lover and the beloved are as different as earth and sky. (32)
Naiyar Masud:
Now if the beloved is speaking such words to the lover as the poor wretch can't even understand, and for this reason the beloved's secret/device is not clear to him, then why would he falsely think that she had opened up to him?....
The lover does not have trouble understanding what she is saying to him.
Rather, he doesn't understand why she is conversing with him. Because up till now, the beloved has never been kind to the lover, so the lover is not familiar with her coquetry, and is ignorant of the real motive of any deed of hers....
Both 'to me' and 'that fairy-faced one' can be emphasized equally, or either one of them, in different tones of voice, and various latent interpretations can be brought out. (117-20)
FWP:
SETS == KYA
SPEAKING verses: {14,4}; {14,7}; {19,2}; {19,3}: {21,13}; {24,7}
The perfectly chosen, elegantly multivalent word bhed sets us up for the question in (2a). The lover thinks it is a rhetorical question, but we know that unfortunately it's not. It's all too possible that the beloved's bhed is
something cruel or exploitative toward the lover, and her show of 'opening up' to him is some kind of a preparatory trick.
Or else, as in (2b), the defensive lover is protesting too much. He is struggling to justify the beloved's behavior at all costs. And of course, what does it mean to say that the beloved 'opened up' to you, if you didn't understand a single thing the beloved said, or what meaning might lie behind it?
Among the other flexibilities of kyaa , in the second line, kyaa kam hai can be read as a general, idiomatic, rhetorical question ('is it a small thing? --of course it's not!'). For another such use, see {120,2}. Alternatively, however, it can apply specifically to the first line: it would have been a 'big thing' for me to understand her conversation and know her secrets; but her opening up to me-- is that a lesser thing? (Of course it's not, it's just as good, or almost as good.)
{14,5}*
hai ;xayaal-e ;husn me;N ;husn-e ((amal kaa saa ;xayaal
;xuld kaa ik dar hai merii gor ke andar khulaa
1a) in the thought of beauty, is a {pertaining-to-beauty-of-action}-ish thought
1b) in the thought of beauty, is the thought of something like beauty of action
2) a single/certain/unique/excellent door of heaven, inside my grave, {has opened / has become revealed}
Notes:
;xayaal : 'Thought, opinion, surmise, suspicion, conception, idea, notion, fancy, imagination, conceit. whim, chimera; consideration; regard, deference; apprehension; care, concern; --an imaginary form, apparition, vision, spectre, phantom, shadow, delusion'. (Platts p.497)
ek : 'One, single, sole, alone, only, a, an; the same, identical; only one; a certain one; single of its kind, unique, singular, preëminent, excellent'. (Platts p.113)
Nazm:
From the thought of beauty, that is, from the image of the beloved's face, a door to heaven shows itself in the grave. Because her face is colorful like a garden; so it's if the image of beauty and the beauty of actions have one single fruit. (14-15)
Bekhud Dihlavi:
The perfect vision of the True [divine] Beloved has done the work of worship for me. (30)
Bekhud Mohani:
The face of the beloved in itself is heaven. (32)
Arshi:
Compare {87,7}. (228)
FWP:
SETS == A,B; EK
Even if a thought of beauty translates into a 'thought' of doing good deeds (or more literally, and even more abstractly, 'a pertaining-to-goodness-of-deeds-ish thought'), does such a thought actually get you into heaven? A careful look at the wording of the verse suggests that the 'door' that has opened leads only to a highly metaphorical 'heaven' in the mind-- a heaven that has the same relation to the religious one as 'a pertaining-to-beauty-of-action-ish thought' has to actual virtuous deeds.
And 'thought' [;xayaal] itself is nothing if not uncertain and untrustworthy, with meanings that include fancies, apparitions, and delusions (see the definition above). The use of saa to convert 'pertaining-to-beauty-of-action' into 'pertaining-to-beauty-of-action-ish' also seems to point to further layers of meaning-- but without enabling us to discern what they might be.
But of course, this is only 'one' door, and there may well be others. Or it might not be exactly 'one' door, but a 'single' door, or a 'sole' door, or a 'certain' door, or a 'unique' door, or even a 'preeminent, excellent' door (see the definition above). And it might be an imagined, imaginary door, a door created by 'thought'-- so that the speaker in the grave can't actually go through it. As usual, it's left to us to decide.
Still more fundamentally, we can't tell what the relationship between the two lines might be. Do they both describe the same situation? Do they describe two different situations, that are compared and/or contrasted? Does the first line make a claim, and the second line provide evidence in favor of it? Does the second line report an event, and the first line provide an explanation of it? And so on-- we can ask, but the only answers we get are those we decide for ourselves.
The fact that andar , 'inside', contains with in it dar , the very 'door' that appears 'inside' the grave, is an enjoyable touch of wordplay.
This verse belongs to the set in which the dead lover speaks from beyond (or in this case, within) the grave; for other such verses, see {57,1}.
Note for grammar fans: The two parts of khulaa hai are not only reversed in sequence but also separated by unusually many other words. It's pushing the limit, but don't let it confuse you: just move the hai to the end of the line, and then the structure becomes quite clear.
{14,6}*
mu;Nh nah khulne par vuh ((aalam hai kih dekhaa hii nahii;N zulf se ba;Rh kar naqaab us sho;x ke mu;Nh par khulaa
1) on the face not being revealed, there's that state that no one has ever seen--
2a) even beyond her curls, the veil was loosed over that mischievous one's face
2b) even better than curls, the veil adorned that mischievous one's face
Notes:
khulnaa : 'To open, come open or undone; to open, expand... to be untied or unfastened... to stand out well or conspicuously, to appear to advantage (with or on, par)'. (Platts p.879)
Nazm:
In this verse khulnaa means 'to adorn'-- look at what beauty appears in the verse from causing meaning to be present in the refrain! (15)
Bekhud Dihlavi:
In this verse the phrase 'that's never been seen' is something only Mirza Sahib could have devised. (30)
Bekhud Mohani:
In this verse, it is the word sho;x [mischievous one] on which the foundation is laid. (32)
FWP:
CURLS: {14,6}; {19,6}; {214,2}
VEIL: {6,1}
See what a fine example of a great poet's powers-- each commentator admires a different feature of the verse, and all of them rightly. The vuh in the first line is used idiomatically, for strong emphasis.
I love Ghalib's usual trick of using an expression both literally and
metaphorically, as in kih dekhaa hii nahii;N . Of course, if she hides her face behind a veil, her face is something that hasn't been seen; and her beauty too is something unparallelled, and thus has never before been seen. Moreover, the 'that state that no one has ever seen' may also be the extraordinary state that the lover gets into, once his imagination has been fully charged up by such piquant non-revelation.
Likewise in the case of khulnaa, with its three meanings of 'being revealed', 'opening, loosening', and 'appearing well, adorning,' all of which are made to suit perfectly to the circumstances of her use of her veil.
And of course, her being a sho;x is what makes her cleverly adjust her veil to maximum effect in the first place.
Want to know what this particular beloved did next? See {14,7}. It is obviously the same clever, mischievous, temperamental beloved in both verses.
{14,7}*
dar pah rahne ko kahaa aur kah ke kaisaa phir gayaa jitne ((ar.se me;N miraa lip;Taa hu))aa bistar khulaa
1a) she said to remain at the door-- and having said it, how she went back [inside]!
1b) she said to remain at the door-- and having said it, how she went back [on her word]!
2) in as much of a time-interval as my rolled-up bedding opened
Notes:
Nazm:
There's only the mention of a piece of mischief of the beloved's, and these are always the best themes of the ghazal. (15)
Bekhud Dihlavi:
The verse is straightforward and clear. A picture of the beloved's perversity, mischievousness of temperament, and especially suspiciousness, has been drawn in simple words and shown to us. (30)
Bekhud Mohani:
In this verse the goal is to express the beloved's impudence and his own ill fortune and stupefaction. All these things are expressed in just one word, 'how'. (33)
FWP:
SPEAKING: {14,4}
Think how quickly and eagerly I would have unrolled my bedding-- how could she 'go back' (physically or verbally or both) that quickly? I am left in rueful amazement. (But not, of course, ultimately surprised at all.) Another charmer of a verse-- this is obviously the same beloved who was cleverly loosening her veil in {14,6}. For more on her fickleness, see {46,1}.
There are also the amusing implications-- the fact that the lover seems to be carrying his rolled-up bedding with him, just hoping to be granted this rare permission. And what is the permission? To do something very
uncomfortable and menial-- to remain humbly outside the door, on guard or in attendance, night and day, with no conveniences whatsoever. That doesn't sound like much of a favor-- yet how much the lover craves it, and how quickly it's withdrawn!
{14,8}
kyuu;N a;Ndherii hai shab-e ;Gam hai balaa))o;N kaa nuzuul aaj udhar hii ko rahegaa diidah-e a;xtar khulaa
1) why is the night of grief dark? there is the descent of disasters!
2) today the eye of the stars will remain opened only/especially in that direction
Notes:
Nazm:
In the first line is a question and answer; that is, the reason for the darkness of the night of grief is that even more disasters are coming down from the heights of the heavens, and in order to see the spectacle of their descent, the stars have turned their gaze from this direction to that. That is, they're
In the first line is a question and answer; that is, the reason for the darkness of the night of grief is that even more disasters are coming down from the heights of the heavens, and in order to see the spectacle of their descent, the stars have turned their gaze from this direction to that. That is, they're