baskih har yak muu-e zulf afshaa;N se hai taar-e shu((aa
panjah-e ;xvurshiid ko samjhe hai;N dast-e shaanah ham
1) {since / to such an extent} every single hair of the curl is, through {tinsel-dust / scattering}, a ray/thread of the sun
2) we have considered the rays/fingers of the sun [to be] the hand of a comb
afshaa;N : 'Scattering, strewing, dispersing, shedding, pouring out (used in compn. ... ; Strips of gold and silver leaf or tinsel, or threads of muqqaish (q.v.) chipped very fine, pasted as ornaments on the forehead or the cheeks of women, or on books, letters, &c. '. (Platts p.62)
taar : 'Thread, string; the warp or threads extended lengthwise in a loom'. (Platts p.304)
panjah : 'The hand with the fingers extended; claw, paw (of a tiger, &c.); clutch, grasp, possession, power'. (Platts p.271)
panjah-e ;xvurshiid : 'The rays of the sun'. (Steingass p.257)
shaanah : 'A comb; a (cock's) comb, a crest...; the shoulder-blade'. (Platts p.719)
SETS == BASKIH; DEFINITION; WORDPLAY
CURLS: {14,6}
SUN: {10,5}
Raza p. 150; Raza p. 151. S. R. Faruqi's choices. Ghalib originally composed a ghazal of thirteen verses, from which he chose five for publication in his divan. In the original thirteen-verse ghazal, this verse was the second one,
Here's a classic case of the pursuit of wordplay to the max. It lays out for us an extremely clever and densely interwoven network of imagery-- hands, threads, hair, combs. Yet it remains static in its feeling, and trivial in its meaning.
It's so much less compelling than {23,1}, which uses the same kind of imagery but feels dynamic and provocative, even thrilling, in its combination of swift movement and extreme helplessness. By comparison, how exciting can it be to simply tangle us up in a net of wordplay about beautiful hair? (Hey-- could it be called a hair-net, perhaps? Sorry, sorry.)
Or else just have a look at the next verse, {81,8x}, for another look at the nineteen-year-old poet's developing skills.
Gyan Chand:
afshaan is thin strands of gold or silver lace [go;Taa] or brocade [muqqaish] that are sprinkled [chhi;Raknaa] on curls for decoration. dast-shaanah , without an i.zaafat , is a kind of comb that they use to straighten out tangled silk threads. Here the hand of the comb means the teeth. Because of the afshaan , every hair in her curls seems to be a ray of sun. For this reason we've resolved to consider the rays of the ray-possessing sun to be the comb of the beloved's curls. (252)