nah de naale ko itnaa :tuul ;Gaalib mu;xta.sar likh
de
kih ;hasrat-sanj huu;N ((ar.z-e sitamhaa-e
judaa))ii kaa
1) don't give the lament/complaint so much length,
Ghalib, write {an abstract / briefly}
2) that 'I am a longing-{measurer/examiner} of the breadth/petition of the
tyrannies of separation'
mu;xta.sar : 'Abridged, curtailed, abbreviated, contracted; concise; small; --a compendium, abridgment, an epitome; an abstract; a digest; --adv. In short, briefly'. (Platts p.1011)
sanj : 'Weigher, measurer; examiner (used
as last member of compounds, e.g., na;Gmah-sanj or taraanah-sanj , s.m.,
A measurer of sounds, i.e. a musician; --su;xan-sanj , s.m. A weigher of words; an orator; a poet)'.
(Platts p.681)
((ar.z : 'Presenting or representing; representation, petition, request, address; --(v.n. fr. 'to be broad'), s.m. Breadth, width; (in Geog.) latitude; --a military muster, a review'. (Platts p.760)
He says, Oh Ghalib, when you lengthen the letter by writing all kinds of laments and all types of complaints, what's the point? Write a shortish sentence, that I have in my heart a longing to express the tyrannies of separation and the suffering of being apart. (51)
sanj has an affinity with voice and melody. But now shikvah-sanj [complaint-reciting], ;hasrat-sanj , etc. too are more meaningful.... The theme of the verse is clear. (87)
Compare {132,7}. (256)
The kih can definitely mark the second line as a quotation, literal or paraphrased, of what is written in response to the injunction in the first line. Or could it perhaps introduce a reason justifying the first line-- I tell myself to write pithily, not at length, because I am a ;hasrat-sanj etc. who knows how to weigh proportions? The commentators prefer the first alternative, and I agree that it's the primary and obvious one, since the second possibility would require us to shift between second person and first person for self-address in a way that would certainly feels a bit awkward. In fact, I can't think of another example in which Ghalib has made such a switch; so maybe the second sense of kih is just not operative here.
Ghalib has done a lovely thing with sanj and ((ar.z , by exploiting the wide range of their meanings. The lover adjures himself to cut to the chase, to describe the essence of his situation. He is then summed up as either a a strange kind of surveyor (a 'longing-measurer' of 'breadths') or a strange kind of expert judge (a 'longing-examiner' of 'petitions'). In other words, even when the lover urges himself to make a brief, pithy [mu;xta.sar] abstract or statement of his situation, the result remains elusive. The lover wraps up his whole life within a single claim to a terrible kind of expertise: he's a professional assessor of suffering.
Nazm:
[He has taken some liberties with the usage of -sanj , though they can be defended.] And it's not devoid of embellishment. (26)
== Nazm page 26