===
0012,
4
===
|
=== |
|
khilnaa : 'To open, expand (as a flower), to blow, bloom, flower; to open, crack, burst, swell (as a wall, or plaster, or parched grain, &c.; cf. khiil ); to break out, show itself or its effects (as intoxicating liquor, &c.); --to be set off (by), to show to advantage (on, - par ), to look well or becoming (as a dress or a person, or one colour upon another); --to expand or swell (with pleasure), to be exhilarated, be delighted; to rejoice, laugh'. (Platts p.878)
khulnaa : ' To open, come open or undone; to open, expand, blow (as a flower; com. khilnā); to open out, unravel; to be opened (as a knot, or a road for traffic, &c.); to be disentangled, be unravelled; to be untied or unfastened; to be uncovered, be unfolded, be exposed, be laid bare; to be laid or cut open, be dissected, be analyzed;--to be expanded, be widened or enlarged; to be developed'. (Platts p.879)
SETS == WORDPLAY
EYES: {2,1}
SCRIPT EFFECTS verses: {12,4}
One of the fascinations, but also frustrations, of verses like these is the relationship of khilnaa , 'to bloom', and khulnaa , 'to open'. In Urdu script they normally look identical (since the diacritics that would distinguish them are rarely used), and their meanings are intertwined and partially overlap; see the definitions above. In a verse full of eyes and flowers, of course they are both being at least implicitly invoked. In SRF's description above of idiomatic uses, I'm not at all sure that I've figured out in every case which one he had in mind.
S. R. Faruqi:
In former times it was the custom that to lessen the wildness of passion (or any wildness caused by madness) they used to make wounds on the body. It was also the practice of lovers that in order to prove their passion to be sincere, they used to wound their hands (see 213,1 CHECK THIS). Now these wounds have bloomed-- that is, from age they have become diminished; it's obvious that from blooming their shape is like that of eyes; thus the whole hand seems to be a bouquet of narcissi. For eyes too 'to open/bloom' is used; this is an additional cause of affinity. The affinity of 'hand' and 'handful' is obvious. 'To bloom' also means 'for perfume to be spread'; in this regard there's also an affinity between 'narcissus' and 'are blooming'.
All these affinities Ghalib has used better than Mir, but it's possible that Mir's verse might have suggested this idea to him. Ghalib's verse is [[GET REF!!]:
vaaqa((ii dil par bhalaa lagtaa thaa daa;G
za;xm lekin daa;G se bahtar khulaa
[truly, the scar/wound looked fine on the heart
but the wound opened/appeared better than the scar]
He calls the 'wound' a rose', and 'for a wound to bloom', that is, for a wound to be healed, is also an idiom.
The wordplay of 'hand' with 'handful' Mir has also placed once more in the first divan itself [{420,7}]:
tirii gul-gasht kii ;xaa:tir banaa hai baa;G daa;Go;N se
par-e :taa))uus hai siinah tamaamii dast-e gul-dastah
[for the sake of your rose-stroll, from the wounds a garden has appeared
the breast is a wing of the peacock, the hands are entirely a rose-handful]
But it's clear that here there's not the pleasure that's in 'hand' and 'handful'. (In the verse are other excellences, which will be described in their place.) In the second divan Mir has composed this theme in a very explicit style [{1044,10}]:
gul khaa))e hai;N afraa:t se mai;N ((ishq me;N us ke
ab haath miraa dekho to phuulo;N kii chu;Rii hai
[I've {'eaten roses' / scarred my hand} a great deal, in passion for her
now if you look at my hand, then it's an embroidery of flowers]