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((ishq-peche kii :tara;h ;husn-giriftaarii hai
lu:tf kyaa sarv kii maanind gar aazaad raho
1) the style/manner of a passion-vine is captivity by beauty
2a) what's the pleasure/beauty if, like a cypress, you would remain free?!
2b) what pleasure/beauty there is if, like a cypress, you would remain free!
pechaa : 'A creeping plant, ivy; a lock of curling hair; an ornament set with jewels worn on the head of a bride; a fillet for the hair; ... a wink, nod, sign'. (Steingass p.263)
pech : 'Turn, winding; revolution; involution; convolution; —twist, coil; plait, fold; —entanglement, complication, maze, perplexity, intricacy, ambiguity'. (Platts p.297)
lu:tf : 'Delicacy; refinement; elegance, grace, beauty; the beauty or best (of a thing); taste; pleasantness; gratification, pleasure, enjoyment; —piquancy, point, wit'. (Platts p.957)
FWP:
SETS == KYA
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS == AFFINITY; ODEThe word 'captivity' has enough negative possibilities so that it can become a kind of signal flag. It invites us to invoke the 'kya effect' and consider the multivalent meanings of the second line. For perhaps the lover's supreme bliss is indeed to twine himself helplessly, submissively, irreversibly around the beloved, as in (2a).
But then, perhaps the best thing is that, like a cypress, you would remain free, as in (2b). Why go and get yourself captured? Why become a helpless vine wrapped around an indifferent tree? Isn't it perhaps better to be a beloved than a lover? For after all, as SRF notes, the 'freedom' of the cypress is also a fine thing. In this cleverly framed verse the advocate of 'passion' doesn't necessarily have it all his own way.