===
0007,
16
===

 

{7,16} = {1542,5}

registaa;N me;N jaa ke rahe;N yaa sangistaa;N me;N ham jogii
raat hu))ii jis jaagah ham ko ham ne vahii;N bisraam kiyaa

1) whether we would go and remain in a {desert / 'sand-place'} , or [would be] a yogi/ascetic in a {wilderness / 'stone-place'}
2) in whatever place night came to us, right there we rested

 

Notes:

jaagah = jagah

 

bisraam : 'Rest, repose, quiet, ease, cessation from labour or fatigue'. (Platts p.155)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

This verse is from the fifth divan. The affinity of 'desert' and 'stony-wilderness' with 'yogi', and of 'yogi' with bisraam , is very fine. In the imagining of this verse is a loftiness that erases geographical and historical distances. 'Sand-place' gestures toward the sands of Najd, and 'stone-place' gestures toward the Himalaya mountains. In the sands was Majnun, and in the Himalaya mountains live the Hindustani faqirs and world-renouncing yogis. In this way past and present, geography and history, have come together. If 'night' is taken as a metaphor for the end of the journey of life, then bisraam is a metaphor for the sleep of death. That is, wherever we died, there we were buried; we didn't give a thought to any shroud and such. It's a fine verse.

Another aspect of this theme, Qa'im Chandpuri has versified. But between his two lines the connection is a bit lacking. Although the second line is indeed very proper:

dil paa ke us kii zulf me;N aaraam rah gayaa
darvesh jis jagah kii hu))ii shaam rah gayaa

[the heart, having found repose among her curls, remained
wherever evening came upon the darvesh, in that place he remained]

FWP:

SETS
MOTIFS == RELIGIONS
NAMES
TERMS == AFFINITY

This verse is actually {1452,5}. I suppose that SRF chose to graft it onto this much earlier but formally identical [ham-:tar;h] ghazal because he wanted it to be appreciated along with the other verses of {7}, since they are such fine company. He doesn't include any other verses from {1542} in his anthology. Since I'm following the parameters of his anthology in a general way, I will go along with him in such cases, always of course noting the actual source.

It truly is a wonderful verse. It's the kind you don't even have to say much about, it just settles with great dignity and calm into your mind. Especially the second line.

And of course in the light of of that second line, the first line becomes far more striking. The only alternatives-- and apparently an exhaustive or at least fully representative set-- are a 'sand-place' and a 'stone-place'. No other possible resting-places seem to come to mind at all. While registaa;N is a common word for a desert, sangistaa;N is unusual, so that it calls attention both to itself and to its kinship with registaa;N . Sand and stone-- one kind of desolateness or another-- and a wandering randomly between them. These possibilities apparently sum up the ascetic's choices in both life and death.