by ASGHAR VASANWALA
Dear friends,
Ghalib, his Ghazals, his poems, his genius, and his wits have always fascinated millions including myself.
This is my 63rd installment, 21st Ghazal. I have received excellent response from lot of friends, both Urdu and non-Urdu speakers. Please know that this is my own, Asghar Vasanwala’s, work and not a forwarding of someone else’s work as some of you may think. Please forward this to as many friends you can. Also, please send me your comments/complements. I will appreciate if you forward me email addresses of your Urdu/non-Urdu friends.
Please click the following link. It will open my skydive; then click Explanation of Urdu Poet Ghalib’s verses, scroll down, and read the explanation in language of your choice Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, and English. I have spent several days creating it. Please send me your review. Please click the audio files in skydrive and listen this Ghazal sung by Mohammed Rafi, Ahmed Hussain, and Begum Akhtar
This is the 1st verse of Ghalib’s 20th Ghazal. The Ghazal is very popular and its verses are beautiful and popular
Ye na thi hamari qismat, ke visal-e-yaar hota
It was not my luck, I ever unite with beloved
Agar aur jite rehte, yahi intezar hota
Even if I had lived much longer, I would be still waiting for the union she promised.
visal=union, meeting intezar=waiting, yearning, longing yahi=the same continuous
Meaning: The lover has a sole purpose in life….uniting with his love. Every living moment he hopes, today will be his lucky day. However, everyday his hope ends into despair. Like this, days, weeks, months, and years pass by. Ghalib says, “It was not in my luck that I ever meet her and enjoy her closeness. If I had not died and had continued to live, I would have suffered the same torturous wait. Because waiting for beloved is worst torture than the pain of death, it was better that I died and escaped the agony.
Finer aspects of the verse: Every person is mired in some fruitless efforts/hopes. Some have longing becoming head of a state, some crave becoming a super star, some wish winning a lottery, and some want being cured of their incurable disease. Ghalib has portrayed this human state of mind in this verse.
This is the 2nd verse of Ghalib’s 20th ghazal. .
Tere v’ade par jiye hum, to ye jan jhoot jana, If you believe I lived on your promise, then you are wrong
ke khushi se mar na jate, agar aitebar hota
If I had faith in your promise, would I have not died of overjoy?
V’ada=promise, beloved’s promise of date. aitebar=trust, believe in something to be true and reliable
Meaning:
When we receive extremely disturbing news, our hearts get shocked and we may suffer a heart attack and die. The same way when we get super joyous news, it overwhelms us, and we may die, because we are not equipped handling such an event. For a lover, a promise of date is a reason for extreme joy. Ghalib has put this standard for extreme happiness. When she promises a date, a true lover must die of overwhelming happiness.
He says to his beloved, when you promised me date, I didn’t die of happiness; I continued to live. This may give the impression that I was not extremely happy. He tells his beloved that your conclusion is a wrong. You must realize that I had never put faith in your promise and that is why in spite of being a true lover, I still lived; from the very beginning, I knew that your promise was false. Had I believed in your promise, I would have surely died of happiness, the true lover I am.
Ghalibologists’ opinions:
Asi’s opinion: When Ghalib said to her beloved, “Your lack of attention had caused so much frustration, I was about to die of agony, but lived only because you promised me a date”. She retorted, “I believe that is a lie. Would you have not died of happiness had you believed my promise? You are still living; that proves you never trusted me”
Taba Tabai: When I said to you that your promise of date saved my life, you were not convinced; you felt I was lying.
Finer aspects
This is the 3rd verse of Ghalib’s 20th ghazal.
Terei nazuki se jana ke bandha tha a’had_boda
From your very frailty I knew, the bond (you tied) was shaky
Kabhee tu na toD sakta, agar Ustavar hota
Were it strong, you (a fragile person) couldn’t have shattered.
nazuki = fragility, delicateness jana= I knew a’had=promise boda = weak, feeble ustavar=strong, unbreakable
Meaning:
Ghalib says to his beloved that you are very delicate. Heavy work is beyond your capacity. For that reason, I knew that the love knot you had tied was weak and feeble. It was not strong because you don’t have strength for tying a strong knot. From your delicateness, I knew from the beginning that promise you gave me was feeble like you. Were it strong, a delicate person like you could not have ever shattered.
Finer aspects: After she broke her promise, Ghalib doesn’t blame her as a promise broker. A true lover refrains faulting his beloved. In this verse, Ghalib has preserved that code of conduct. He says, “You are very delicate; how you can tie a strong bond? Since the bond was weak, it broke” Thus, he refrains from blaming her and consoles his heart.
This is the 4th verse of Ghalib’s 20th ghazal.
Koi mere dil se puchhe tere teer-e-nim-kash ko someone ask me,
how much I enjoyed your half-drawn arrow
Ye khalish kahan se hoti jo jigar ke par hota
Why would I feel lancinating pain (that I enjoy), if the arrow had pierced pass my heart
Teer-e-nim kask = half drawn arrow, slow arrow meaning arrows of eyelashes shot with tipsy, squinty, or ogle eye. Khalish=
Prickle, lancinating pain Jigar=actually means liver but in poetry it is used in sense of heart.
Meaning: in Urdu Eyelashes are called Mizgan. Because eyelashes are stiff, prickly, and sit on curved alignment under arch of eyebrows, poets call them arrows: arrows of eyelash drawn by arch of eyelids/eyebrows.
While aiming, a good archer uses maximum force, pulls his arch in full, to kill his game, and not just leave it injured. His fast arrow pierces body and comes out from the other side. If the pull of arch were weak, the arrow will fly slow; will remain stuck in the body of prey; will create excruciating or lancinating pain; and will make the game twist and squirm. A true lover relishes such excruciating or lancinating pain and adores the painful twist and squirm. Ghalib says to his beloved, “Darling! Carelessly drawn arrow from eyelash of your tipsy, squinty, ogle eyes has stuck into my heart; ask me about what pleasure it gives me. If you had pulled arch of your eye fully, the arrow would have passed through my heart; it would not have given me the prickle or lancinating pain. Meaning I would have died and would have been robbed of this pleasure. In this verse, Ghalib has judged half-drawn arrow superior simply because it has given him so much pleasure of hurt.
Ghalibologists’ opinions:
Bekhud: Beloved is ashamed of her bad performance: a weak throw. Her performance would be judged bad in art of archery. Accomplished archers’ arrow would pass though games’ body while her got stuck. Buy praising her arrow, Mirza Ghalib is applauding her performance and removing her humiliation
Taba Tabai’s opinion: In second stanza of verses, Ghalib has used Urdu word Jo (??). For fitting into meter, its last letter Vow ((? remains unpronounced. This is not only right but also a beautiful construction. However because Vow (?) is silent two J (?) are together meaning now it is pronounced J-J. This has created some harshness in in the meter. However, Ghalib has created this intentional sound.
for Urdu and Hindi versions, and translation in Gujarati see Ghalib
Asghar Wasanwala can be reached at asgharf@att.net