Ghazal 15, Verse 13

{15,13}

aaj kyuu;N parvaa nahii;N apne asiiro;N kii tujhe
kal talak teraa bhii dil mihr-o-vafaa kaa baab thaa

1) today, why do you have no care about your captives?
2) until yesterday, even/also your heart was a gate/storehouse of kindness/favor and faithfulness

Notes:

asiir : 'Bound, tied, made captive; --s.m. Prisoner, captive'. (Platts p.55)

 

talak is an archaic form of tak ; GRAMMAR.

 

mihr : 'Love, affection, friendship, kindness, favour; mercy, pity, sympathy, feeling; --prosperity'. (Platts p.1099)


baab : 'Door, gate; chapter, section, division (of a book), head, heading; subject, affair, business, topic, matter' (Platts p.117).

Nazm:

This [together with the next verse] is a verse-set. (17)

== Nazm page 17

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, what is this new thing today, that you have become careless about your prey? Up till yesterday, you had made your heart a door of faithfulness and love. (34)

Josh:

asiiro;N are those chained by love. baab means 'book' or 'chapter'. The verse is entirely clear. (71)

FWP:

SETS == BHI
BONDAGE: {1,5}

Arshi marks this verse as the beginning of a verse-set; it seems to include only this verse and {15,14}.

This is the naive plaint of the newly-entrapped lover, who is astonished that the moment he succumbs to the beloved's charms and is duly chained up as part of her menagerie, all her show of 'kindness and faithfulness' vanishes. This makes the verse a fit precursor to {15,14}, which continues the argument and appeal.

The emphasis on tiraa bhii dil is also enjoyable. The placing of the bhii makes it clear that somebody else's heart-- that of the hapless lover, we realize-- continues to be an 'encyclopedia' or 'gateway' (or the other comprehensive meanings of baab ; see the definition above) of kindness and faithfulness.

For more examples of baab , see {7,1}.

Compare the similar reproach addressed to the Divine beloved in {98,2}.