dahr me;N naqsh-e vafaa vaj'h-e tasallii nah
hu))aa
hai yih vuh laf:z kih sharmindah-e
ma((nii nah hu))aa
1) in the world, the image of 'faithfulness' did not
become a cause for comfort
2) this is that word, that did not become ashamed before Meaning
naqsh : 'A painting, a picture; portrait; drawing; a print; a carving, an engraving...an impression; a stamp; a mark'. (Platts p.1145)
tasallii : 'Consolation, comfort, solace; assurance; contentment, satisfaction'. (Platts p.324)
sharmindah : 'Ashamed, abashed, shamefaced, bashful, modest, blushing'. (Platts p.726)
Urdu text: Vajid 1902 {9}
He says that when in the world people, through faithfulness, stamp the mark [naqsh] of faithfulness on someone's heart, it's as if they waste their time in a useless task. (21)
In the world, no peace could be gained from the word 'faithfulness'. This is the word which has never placed itself under obligation to meaning; that is, this is a meaningless word. (16).
SETS == DEFINITION
SHAME/HONOR: {3,5}
INDEPENDENCE verses: {3,10x}; {9,1}; {9,5};
{9,9x}; {12,4x}*;
{18,4}; {24,5};
{26,1}*; {39,4};
{44,1}; {64,5};
{77,7}; {84,6x}*; {92,4};
{99,6}; {115,7};
{119,5}; {119,7}*;
{119,8}; {130,1};
{130,3}*; {148,5}*;
{149,2}; {154,2};
{159,6}; {167,10}, a particularly complex case; {182,1};
{189,2}; {190,2}*;
{198,1}; {222,2x}; {230,11}
Not only is there no faithfulness, there's not even any real
meaning for the concept. The word 'faithfulness' itself is not beholden to
meaning-- it does not blush with the embarrassment of indebtedness when it
meets Meaning on the street. For a similar use of minnat-kash
, see {9,5}.
The literal meaning of sharmindah , 'shame-affected', works here to a fine double purpose.
On the one hand, to avoid the shame of debt sounds like a virtue. (But why
do all the other words have meanings, and this is the single one that does
not?) And of course, by being devoid of meaning the so-called word/quality
of 'faithfulness' is shameless-- in fact, entirely lost to shame.
The equation between being 'beholden' and being 'ashamed' is very deeply Ghalibian. In others of what I call his 'independence verses', he both extends and strengthens this notion. He also applies it clearly to human life, as a strong philosophical, or esthetic, or even moral, imperative. I was surprised to notice how many such 'independence verses' there are, and how firm and consistent is their advice.
For example, in {9,5}, your never speaking kindly to me means that my ear is not 'indebted' to good news. In {18,4}, Beauty is disgracefully 'pledged' to henna. In {39,4}, the lover rejoices in his freedom from minnat to digestive fluid (yes, really). By contrast, {44,1} depicts Ghalib's poetry as available for free-- except for the weight of (indebtedness to) his kindness that the buyer must bear. More abstractly, {64,5} makes it clear that the path to one's ardently desired 'own truth/reality' requires confiding oneself to oblivion. In {92,4} the lover is glad that his lament does not 'abase itself' before 'Effect'-- which is to say, it has no effect. In {130,3} a door is described as 'bent over' under the weight of minnat to the worker who made it, and the lover is enjoined not to accept favors from anyone. And in {130,3} the edict is laid down in so many words that one should accept only what comes 'from one's own existence', since one's own heedlessness is to be preferred to awareness borrowed from others. And so on; there are so many other very clear examples.
This counsel of self-reliance at all costs, and non-beholdenness at all costs, is in a class by itself as an explicit didactic principle that leaps out at the reader from Ghalib's poetry. In the whole of the divan, no other such principle appears, as far as I can see. And I certainly didn't go looking to find any such principles, including this one! I don't think any serious reader of Ghalib could fail to notice it.
Nazm:
That is, when lovers in the world are faithful, it means that they want comfort. When they are faithful and don't receive comfort, then the word 'faithfulness' is left meaningless and vain. The conclusion is that lovers' faithfulness is a meaningless thing. (9)
== Nazm page 9