CAPITULO V. GENERALIDADES DEL PROCEDIMIENTO AMISTOSO
C. Aplicación del MPC
5. Transacciones comparables no controladas
chaak-e jeb is chaak-e garebaa;N , which is a sign of madness. In the field of the eternity-before-creation, where the whole world was waiting for the coming of the carpet/spread of existence, for me only the tearing of the collar was a garment. The way they say that with the coming of the crack/fissure of dawn, the collar of the night becomes torn, and on the horizon the whiteness of dawn becomes visible. Thus they call the dawn the 'tearing of the collar'.
The gist is that even before the creation of the world I was absorbed in madness. (p.65)
FWP:
CHAK-E GAREBAN: {17,9}
Raza p. 221. S. R. Faruqi's choices. This is the first verse in the ghazal as Ghalib originally composed it; then come the next two verses after this one, then come the six verses from the published divan.
Apparently the vision is of a primal world spread out in darkness, like a carpet or floor-spread of some kind. The 'crack' or fine white line of dawn then appears on the horizon, tearing apart this darkness, giving the world definition, opening out the prospect of light and day. For discussion of the motif of the tearing of the collar, and more examples, see {17,9}.
In a similar way, the speaker's tearing open of his 'collar' (really a long narrow neck-opening) is the 'warp and woof', the basic weaving threads, of
which the lover's own life is primally made. The act of tearing the neck-opening of course destroys many threads of the very 'warp and woof' of which the kurta fabric; it makes a long narrow rip that reveals not the whiteness of dawn, but the lover's vulnerable, palpitating, much-wounded breast. The claim that this 'tearing open' is the 'weaving' of the speaker's life is of course paradoxical-- but it's still no stranger than many other aspects of the lover's existence.
The wordplay between ((aalam , 'world', and jahaa;N , which besides being the relative pronoun also means 'world', is also elegant and enjoyable.
{3,9x}*
((aalam :tilism-e shahr-e ;xamoshaa;N hai sar-basar yaa mai;N ;Gariib-e kishvar-e guft-o-shunuud thaa
1) the world is an enchantment of a {'city of the silent' / cemetery} from {end to end / 'head to head'}
2) or I was alien/destitute in the country/land of speaking and hearing
Notes:
shahr-e ;xaamoshaa;N : ''The city of the silent'; a cemetery'. (Platts p.738)
;Gariib : 'Foreign, alien; strange, wonderful; rare, unusual, extraordinary; --poor, destitute; meek, mild, humble, lowly; --a stranger, foreigner, an alien;--a poor malien;--an; alien;--a meek or humble person'. (Plalien;--atts p.770)
*Platts Dictionary Online*
Gyan Chand:
For me, the world is entirely an enchantment. Nothing told me of its reality, since I was a stranger in this world. The gist is that I wasn't able to understand the language of this place. (65)
FWP:
Raza p. 221. S. R. Faruqi's choices. This is the third verse in the ghazal as Ghalib originally composed it. After this follow the six verses in the published divan, and that concludes the original ghazal.
Gyan Chand's text has buud-o-nabuud , which seems a far less probable reading than Raza's, since it sacrifices the excellent wordplay; as always, I follow the latter.
An enchantment [:tilism] is a magic world, a narrative concept developed to the highest possible degree in the Dastan of Amir Hamzah. An enchanted world in which no one could speak or hear, or did speak or hear, would be a fine venue for a hero to explore. But the speaker feels that either he's trapped in a cemetery, or he's an 'alien' or 'destitute'-- no matter what the explanation, he's the one who's alone and miserable.
Needless to say, without the wordplay of 'city of the silent' for 'cemetery', this verse wouldn't have a leg to stand on. While we're mentioning body parts, 'head to head' is a great touch, in a verse based on speech and hearing.
{3,10x}
tangii rafiiq-e rah thii ((adam yaa vujuud thaa meraa safar bah :taali((-e chashm-e ;hasuud thaa
1) narrowness was a companion of the road, whether it was nonexistence or existence
2) my journey was with the rising/star/fortune of a jealous eye
Notes:
:taali(( : 'Rising, appearing (as the sun), arising; --s.m. Star, destiny, fate, lot, fortune; prosperity; --the (false) dawn'. (Platts p.750)
Gyan Chand:
:taali(( : a doer of :tuluu(( . In astrologers' terminology, the constellation that would show on the horizon at birth, or at the time of asking [some question].
Ghalib here ought to have written :tuluu(( , but through the coercion of the meter he composed it as :taali(( . The narrowness of the jealous eye is well known. His destiny, or presiding constellation, too will be narrow. Whether I remained in nonexistence or in existence, narrowness stayed with me-- as if I was traveling inside a jealous eye. The meaning of 'narrowness' is 'to be narrow'-- that is, anxiety. (66)
FWP:
EXISTENCE/NONEXISTENCE: {5,3}
Raza p. 221. S. R. Faruqi's choices. This verse begins a different, ham-:tar;h ghazal from the same year, but there's no reason not to include it, for comparison purposes, along with the present ghazal. This and the following four verses constitute this second complete, unpublished ghazal.
A jealous eye is of course proverbially narrow; for another example, see {3,1}. The idea that the speaker's journey was always accompanied by the :taali(( of a jealous eye lets us know that his fortune was always 'narrow', grim, inadequate, grudging, rather than being wide or open like a smile. In fact, this 'narrowness' followed him around everywhere, and was always his companion on the road.
Even more enjoyably, the term :taali(( reminds us of the astrological sense in which one's fate is governed by the 'rising' of a star (from which the sense of fate or fortune is an extension). The round eyeball (like a star) of a jealous watcher would be 'rising' in the sense that it would be low on the horizon, that it would be in the ascendant (with its power increasing), and that it would follow the wretched speaker 'narrowly' wherever he went, even apparently on his journey into nonexistence.
{3,11x}
tuu yak-jahaa;N qumaash-e havas jam((a kar kih mai;N
;hairat-mataa((-e ((aalam-a nuq.saan-o-suud thaa
1) collect a whole world's worth of the {odds-and-ends / bric-a-brac} of desire; for I
2a) was an amazement-merchandise-trader at the world/condition of loss/harm and profit/benefit
2b) was an amazement-merchandise-item of the world/condition of loss/harm and profit/benefit
Notes:
qumaash : 'What is collected hence and thence, anything picked up here and there; trifles, things of no value; household furniture; merchandize, goods, stuff; silken cloth; fine linen; close or thick texture (in cloth, paper, &c.); --breeding, manners'. (Platts p.795)
;hairat : 'Perturbation and stupor (of mind), astonishment, amazement, consternation'. (Platts p.482)
mataa(( : 'Merchandise; goods, chattels, furniture; clothes, effects; utensils;
valuables'. (Platts p.990)
Gyan Chand:
;hairat-mataa(( is that person whose property/goods would be only amazement; that is, 'amazed'. Oh addressee! you alone must collect, with desire, the wealth and property of the world. I, having seen the business of the world of profit and loss, remained absorbed in amazement. Because ultimately all this property will take its leave, and there will be nothing but loss/harm. (66)
FWP:
SETS == IZAFAT COMMERCE: {3,3}
Raza p. 221. S. R. Faruqi's choices. This is the second verse of a different, ham-:tar;h ghazal from the same year.
The grammar of the second line is certainly awkward. Gyan Chand's suggestion doesn't feel very comfortable, but I can't come up with any other way to read it. But if we once grant that ;hairat-mataa(( must be read as a compound, a number of doors open. For one thing, why must it mean a person whose merchandise or property consists of amazement, as in (2a)? It could equally well-- and grammatically speaking, even better-- mean an item of merchandise characterized somehow by the quality of amazement (2b).
Then that second reading also connects elegantly with the first line: the speaker in effect urges the addressee to buy him at a flea market! The world of profit and loss contains what might be called a loss-leader: an unusual item of bric-a-brac that epitomizes or evokes 'amazement'. You, the addressee, can get it cheap, so why not take advantage of the chance, and stock up?
And is what you're stocking up with the 'odds and ends of desire' meaning odds and ends that themselves contain or epitomize (the speaker's?) desire?
Or are they odds and ends that are necessary for the creation or expression of desire? Or are they odds and ends for which you, the addressee, have at least some desire? That, after all, might be why you're willing to stock up on them. The i.zaafat works its magic very powerfully in this verse.
On the yak-jahaa;N construction, see {11,1}.
{3,13x}*
puuchhaa thaa garchih yaar ne a;hvaal-e dil magar kis ko dimaa;G-e minnat-e guft-o-shunuud thaa
1) although the beloved had asked the state of the heart, but
2) who had a mind/taste/nose for obligation/supplication to speech and hearing?
Notes:
dimaa;G : 'The brain; head, mind, intellect; spirit; fancy, desire; airs, conceit;
pride, haughtiness, arrogance; intoxication; high spirits (produced by stimulants, esp. by drinking bhang, &c.; --the organ of smell'. (Platts p.526) minnat : 'Kindness or service done (to); favour, obligation; --grace, courtesy; --entreaty, humble and earnest supplication; --grateful thanks, praise'. (Platts p.1070)
Gyan Chand:
Although the beloved asked about the state of our heart, it wasn't in my power to accept kindness/favor from speech/conversation. Therefore I said nothing to her. (67)
FWP:
INDEPENDENCE: {9,1}
Raza p. 221. S. R. Faruqi's choices. This is the fourth verse of a different, ham-:tar;h ghazal from the same year.
The beloved is obviously willing to rely on the usual communicative means, since she asks a question, and expects to hear an answer. But the lover has extraordinary scruples, or diffidence, or visions of radical autonomy: he can't stand to be indebted or obliged or a supplicant before 'speech and hearing'-- he has no 'mind' for it. (And of course, with amusing wordplay, he has no 'nose' for acts that involve the 'mouth' and 'ears'.) His radical autonomy apparently deprives him of the chance to communicate with the beloved-- a contretemps that seems to happen fairly often (see {115,7} for another example.)
Another verse with clever wordplay on dimaa;G : {21,7}.
{3,14x}
;xvur shabnam-aashnaa nah hu))aa varnah mai;N asad sar-taa-qadam guzaarish-e ;zauq-e sujuud thaa
1) the sun didn't become acquainted/familiar with the dew; otherwise I, Asad,
2) from head to foot {was / would have been} a {tribute to /petition of} the relish of prostration
Notes:
guzaarish : 'Payment; tribute; representation, explanation; statement;
petition, request'. (Platts p.900)
Gyan Chand:
If the sun would fall on the dew, then at once the dew arrives at the sun. But if the sun wouldn't show kindness at all in its direction, then the dew will remain oppressed and deprived. I too, from head to foot, wanted to do prostration in the presence of the beloved. But she never paid any attention to me at all. (67)
FWP:
SETS == VARNAH ISLAMIC: {10,2}
SUN: {10,5}
Raza p.221. S. R. Faruqi's choices. This is the fifth and final verse of a different, ham-:tar;h ghazal from the same year.
The two possibilities of guzaarish , 'tribute' and 'petitioni', and the two possibilities of varnah , contrafactual or simply the perfect form, make for two distinct readings:
=the sun didn't invite me to such familiarity; otherwise, I would have immersed myself completely in the relish of paying tribute through prostration (the sun didn't shine on the dewdrop, otherwise it would have collapsed and then evaporated)
=the sun didn't permit me such an action-- otherwise (if only things had been otherwise, if only it had done so!), I was entirely a petition for the relish of prostration (the sun didn't pay any attention to the dewdrop, and didn't heed its ardent plea to be shone on and evaporated)
But there's also the very enjoyable wordplay of the speaker describing himself as 'entirely' or, literally, 'from head to foot', eager for the relish of 'prostration'-- an action which of course involves the whole body from head to foot.