===
1669,
5
===

 

{1669,5}

haa))e ;Gayuurii dil kii apne daa;G kiyaa hai ;xvud-sar ne
jii hii jis ke liye jaataa hai us se be-parvaa hai dil

1) alas, the jealousy/pride of my own heart-- the arrogant/wilful one has made a wound
2) she for whom only/emphatically the inner-self goes/departs/dies-- about her it's careless/heedless, the heart

 

Notes:

;Gayuurii : 'Jealousy'. (Platts p.774)

 

;xvud-sar : 'Self-conceited; acting of self; wilful, head-strong, obstinate; absolute, independent; arrogant, refractory'. (Platts p.495)

 

be-parvaa : 'Heedless, careless, unconcerned, without reflection, thoughtless; fearless, intrepid; at ease, independent'. (Platts p.202)

S. R. Faruqi:

The common view is that in Mir there's no egotism and self-regard. Like other common opinions about Mir, this opinion too is erroneous. But despite the fact that in Mir there's a strong impression of egotism and self-regard, a theme like that of the present verse is difficult to find even in Mir. He has expressed jealousy in an entirely new aspect; but an even greater innovation is that in the verse one single being has been shown divided into three.

The personality of the speaker, or the lover, usually doesn't convey any duality. But to create and display three parts of the personality takes a kind of courage that even Mir might not have been able to muster every day. First of all there's the personality, or that complete being, or that existence, who is trapped in passion.

On one side there's the inner-self [jii], who for the sake of the beloved is preparing to 'go'-- that is, to surrender itself or to renounce its existence.

On the other side there's the heart, which is jealous/proud to such an extent that it's careless/heedless about that individual (that is, the beloved) over which the inner-self is 'going'. That is, it doesn't please the heart that it should express itself about the beloved; in fact it's careless/heedless even about keeping track of the beloved-- where she is, and whom she meets, or what state she's in now.

The word apnaa expresses the whole individuality: one part of it is the 'inner-self' that's ready to die for the beloved; another part is the 'heart' that is careless/heedless of the beloved; and the third part is that being in which both the inner-self and the heart are contained, and both are engaged in their respective actions. When all these three have come together, then 'one's own' [apnaa] being exists. The heart's arrogance/wilfulness has wounded that being.

The wordplay between dil and ;xvud-sarii is manifest. But between dil and daa;G too there's wordplay. Nowadays a division within the personality is construed as a disease called 'schizophrenia'. In Mir's poetry, the personality is entirely self-aware. This personality is not sick, but rather is convoluted and mysterious. This is not Sufistic; in it is a strange kind of melancholy dignity.

The theme of the jealousy/pride of passion, Bedil too has versified well [in Persian]:

'We have to deal with the jealousy of arrogant passion,
Glory is in all six directions, but all we can do is tear our collar.'

It's possible that the theme might have occurred to Mir from this very verse, but he has pulled out of it an entirely new idea. In Bedil's verse there's the desperation of tearing the collar; and Mir's heart is deliberately careless/heedless of the beloved.

FWP:

SETS
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS

The first line might look a bit confusing; its prose order would be: haa))e [mere] apne dil kii ;Gayuurii .

What kind of 'jealousy' does the heart feel, and what kind of a 'wound' has it made?

=Is the heart so preoccupied with its own passion that it is indifferent to any external beloved? In that case, the wilful heart has 'wounded' (the rest of) the self through its indifference to the beloved.

=Is the heart resentful that the 'inner-self' is actually dying of love for some external beloved, and paying no heed to the depths of the heart's own passion? In that case, the arrogant heart has 'wounded' (the rest of) the self through its jealousy.

=Or does ;xvud-sar perhaps refer to the beloved? In that case the speaker laments the heart's stubborn arrogance. The beloved has caused such a serious 'wound' that the inner-self is dying of it, but even then the heart is too proud to pay the beloved any heed.