Ghazal 8, Verse 3

Nazm:

That is, her desire to stroll among the roses is a mirror of her cruelty, and the proof of her pursuit of violence is that the roses have the style of the bloody writhing of the wounded. (9)

Bekhud Mohani:

Here, havaa means 'ardor'. Mirza Sahib says that the murder has an ardor for looking at flowers, and this ardor is a mirror of her tyranny. That is, when our murderer goes into the garden for a stroll, she doesn't go in order to feel the cool breezes and look at the colorful flowers. Rather, she only goes to see those flowers that have fallen from the branches and lie on the ground, and change their position with the gusts of wind. She considers the spectacle of those flowers to be a dance of the wounded, and from seeing them she receives joy and delight. (21)

Baqir:

The garden provides her with a fine occasion for watching the spectacle of red red flowers, fallen from the branches, that are picked up by the wind [havaa] and blown around this way and that, and that offer her the vision of wounded ones writhing in blood. (37)

Faruqi:

It's not enough to count only the flowers or other parts of the garden among those wounded by the beloved. When the beloved goes out for a stroll in the garden, then on the road too people see her; and when people see her, then they are wounded; and when they are wounded, then they writhe in dust and blood. Thus although the beloved expresses a desire for a stroll among the roses, this is only an excuse for going outside: 'if I go outside, then people will be wounded by my glory/appearance and writhe in the dust, and bathe in blood; and this sight will be interesting and worth seeing'. (2006: 37-38)

FWP:

MIRROR verses: {6,8x}; {6,13x}; {8,3}; {9,8x}; {10,5}; {12,4x}; {15,17x}; {16,2}*, a glass mirror; {16,6x}, glass and metal clash; {16,7x}; {17,4}; {22,3}; {29,2}, with a list of 'parrot and mirror' verses; {29,7x}; {29,8x}; {34,2}*, with Ghalib's commentary; {37,5x}; {40,1}; {41,4}; {41,9x}; {42,5}; {42,7x}; {42,9x}; {47,1}, on zangaar ; {48,10}; {56,2}; {60,10}; {63,1}; {64,2}; {68,3}; {68,6x}; {73,1}; {96,4}; {98,9}; {113,6}; {115,4}; {116,8}; {122,2}; {125,5}; {128,1}; {141,3}; {170,5}; {172,1}; {173,5}; {187,1}; {190,4}; {190,9}; {192,3} aabgiinah ; {206,2}; {208,6}; {213,1}; {217,3}; {228,2}; {228,5}; {228,9}; {229,1}; {230,2}; {230,4}; {230,8}

HAVAA : The duality of havaa , as both desire and air/breeze, is the life of the verse. For similar uses of this versatile word, as part of the meaning of the verse or by way of wordplay, see: {11,5x}; {16,3}; {48,10}; {49,2}; {49,4}*; {68,4}; {80,2}; {80,6}; {86,7}; {108,1}; {108,2}; {114,2}; {158,4}; {164,6}; {181,6}; {204,4}; {209,10}; {218,3}*; {227,3}. But there are plenty of other instances in which the word is used more straightforwardly; if you do a search for 'havaa', you'll find them.

If it is the beloved who desires to stroll among the roses, it is because either (1) the wind-tossed roses remind her of her wounded, bloody, writhing lovers; or (2) her wounded, bloody, writhing lovers remind her of wind-tossed roses (so that her 'stroll' is perhaps metaphorical only, and thus her desire for it quite properly a 'mirror' of her cruelty). For another verse that compares her wounded lovers to roses, see {136,4}.

Or else it's the breeze of her stroll through the garden that mirrors the murderousness of her heart, because the breeze generated by her passing tosses the roses and knocks the petals off the overblown ones, giving her pleasure.

This verse marks the first occurrence in the published divan of the mirror, one of Ghalib's favorite images. Some of Ghalib's 'mirror' verses are among his most obscure, baroque, abstract ones. The present verse is relatively simple, as 'mirror' verses go. (Sometimes a mirror is just a mirror.)