Ghazal 42, Verse 11x

{42,11x}

be-dimaa;Gii shikvah-sanj-e rashk-e ham-diigar nahii;N
yaar teraa jaam-e mai ;xamyaazah meraa aashnaa

1) irritability/disaffection is not a complaint-reciter of mutual envy/jealousy
2) your friend/beloved-- the cup/glass of wine; my friend/acquaintance-- the yawn/stretch

Notes:

be-dimaa;Gii : 'Bad-temper, irritability, impatience'. (Platts p.202)

 

yaar : 'A friend; a lover; paramour, gallant; mistress;--companion, comrade'. (Platts p.1247)

 

;xamyaazah : 'Stretching; yawning, gaping; --stretching by way of punishment, putting on the rack; punishment, retribution, reward, fruit'. (Platts p.494)

 

aashnaa : 'Acquaintance; friend; associate; intimate friend, familiar; lover, sweetheart; paramour; mistress, concubine; --adj. Acquainted (with, - se ), knowing, known; attached (to), fond (of)'. (Platts p.57)

Asi:

Ill-temperedness does not recite complaints of mutual envy/jealousy. Your companion is the glass of wine, and my friend is the ;xamyaazah -- that is, the yawning while waiting for wine. Thus it's all right, both have become equal-- neither do you have leisure, nor do I have leisure.

== Asi, p. 68

Zamin:

That is, why should we feel envy/jealousy of each other? You are an enthusiast for wine-drinking, I am a friend to the ;xamyaazah ; we both have access to our favored things. The occasion for envy is when my favorite thing is obtained by you. It's true: 'If the aristocrat is mad for a shawl, then the faqir is mad for an animal-skin' [amiir shaal mast to faqiir khaal mast].

== Zamin, p. 65

Gyan Chand:

be-dimaa;Gii = disaffected, temperamental, unsociable.

Because of envy/jealousy, complaints about others are made. We (you and I) are disaffected/unsociable, thus neither is there envy/jealousy between us, nor do we complain about each other. You have the cup of wine, I have the yawn that's the sign of wine's not being available. It's obvious that the beloved has everything, I have nothing at all. Nevertheless, because of disaffection/unsociability, between us two there's aloofness.

== Gyan Chand, p. 104

FWP:

SETS == A,B
WINE: {49,1}

For background see S. R. Faruqi's choices. For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.

For discussion, with examples, of the idiomatic subtleties of ;xamyaazah , see {12,2}. Its characteristic yawn or stretch is often taken as a sign that intoxication is abating and that more wine is desired. Here, as Gyan Chand observes, it's the beloved who drinks the wine and has the pleasures of intoxication-- while the lover is left to feel the yawn or satiation or renewed desire (or a hangover?). So the seeming symmetry ('you have X, I have Y') really isn't symmetrical at all.

On the other hand, this unsymmetrical relationship does seem to associate the beloved and the lover in a remarkably intimate way: she drinks and he feels the aftermath of drinking, almost as if they shared a digestive system. And it certainly helps to explain both the sources of their irritability or disaffection (she's intoxicated, he's hung over), and the reason why they're not inclined to complain to or about each other (they're both absorbed in their own physical condition, and they're probably offended by each other's behavior anyway).

Of course, it's also possible that they're vexed with each other for some quite different reason, and are simply taking refuge in drink as a sort of reaction, or an expression of pique. For more on the complexities of rashk , see {53,4}.

Compare this verse with its published cousin, {42,5}; and with its unpublished cousin, {42,7x}.