jauhar-iijaad-e ;xa:t-e sabz hai ;xvud-biinii-e
;husn
jo nah dekhaa thaa so aa))iine me;N pinhaa;N niklaa
1) {'temper' / essence / polish-line}-inventing of
the line of green is the self-regardingness of beauty
2) what it had not seen, that {turned out to be / emerged} hidden in the
mirror
jauhar : 'A gem, jewel; a pearl; essence, matter, substance, constituent, material part (opp. to accident), absolute or essential property; skill, knowledge, accomplishment, art; excellence, worth, merit, virtue; secret nature; defects, vices; --the diversified wavy marks, streaks, or grain of a well-tempered sword; --adj. Bright, shining, glittering'. (Platts p.399)
SETS
GAZE: {10,12}
JAUHAR: {5,4}
MIRROR: {8,3}
Raza p. 224. S. R. Faruqi's choices. This verse is from a different, complete, unpublished ham-:tar;h ghazal from the same year, and is included for comparison. In that ghazal, this was the seventh verse.
Here the beloved is an adolescent boy; for discussion of such verses, see {9,2}. The 'line of green' is the light dusting of the first down that is just appearing (or perhaps hasn't yet appeared) on the beloved boy's cheeks.
Apparently the 'self-regardingness of beauty' is staring obsessively at itself in the mirror, alert for the first appearance of this down. In the process, it is jauhar-iijaad of this line of green down. What exactly does this unusual compound mean? Is the 'self-regardingness of beauty' inventing the line of down in some way that creates for itself an 'essence', or 'virtue', or 'defects'? (See the definition above for these and more possibilities.) Or is it, more materially, inventing the fine downy hairs the way one would, through repeated folding and hammering, create lines of 'tempering' in a fine damascene sword (the sword of the beloved's glance?)? Or is it, even more directly, inventing them through the 'polish-lines' in the very mirror into which it so raptly gazes?
As usual in Ghalib, any of these readings could work excellently with the second line. Whatever metaphorical or literal qualities are involved in the invention of the line of down, they can readily be imagined as hidden in the mirror. Readily and also amusingly-- for Beauty is so obsessively self-regarding that it wouldn't be surprising if things that it couldn't see in itself, would then be visible in its mirror! In the mirror instead of being in the beautiful one (since the two are such close companions, as in {42,5}); or in the mirror in addition to being in the beautiful one (since the mirror itself dotes on the beautiful one, and rushes forward to embrace him/her, as in {230,4}; or opens like a giant eyeball to absorb the vision of him/her, as in {17,4}).
The verse doesn't specify the importance of the line of down, but we know that in the ghazal world it signals the beginning of the end for the beautiful one's status as a beloved: see for example {53,1}.
For other verses about 'self-regardingness', see {22,2}.
Gyan Chand:
Those lines and marks that become apparent from the scraping/polishing of a steel mirror are called the 'polish-lines' [jauhar] of the mirror. Because in the rainy season the mirror is affected by something like a greenish film, the 'polish-lines' too will become green, and in this way, willy-nilly, the reflection of greenery will begin to show in the mirror. Since in Iran a black color is considered inauspicious, the black hairs of the beard are called 'greenery' [sabzah]. The beloved's beard has not yet emerged, but the self-regardingness of beauty is on the verge of becoming captivating through the adornments of every kind of greennesses. If beauty doesn't have its down, then so what? It has invented the down from the polish-lines in the mirror. If [someone] hadn't seen down on the face of the beloved, it turned out to be hidden in the mirror. (72)