Ghazal 82, Verse 1

Nazm:

He has constructed heart-boundness and relationship of temperament as chains. He says, if you engage in heart-binding, then adopt the practice of lament as well, for in a house of chains, the only wealth and property is the sound of mourning. His intention is the scorn of the world. (83)

== Nazm page 83

Bekhud Mohani:

A 'house of chains' is a prison-house; he has called the world a prison-house. If you are interested in the world (which in respect to its difficulties is a prison-house), then cultivate an interest in lament and complaint as well. That is, if you are ensnared in the world, you'll spend the rest of your life weeping. (171)

Josh:

juz .sadaa ma((luum -- to speak like this is an idiom of the language used by eloquent ones. The meaning is that except for sound there's nothing else; it's written in one's destiny that ;xaak sonaa ma((luum -- that is, gold cannot be obtained. The meaning of the verse is, collect the property of your heart-boundness through complaint. The heart-binding of the madman of love is in this fashion. The wealth of a house of chains is nothing else except complaint. The sound of chains is called the 'lament of chains'. The mention of chains is because of the madman of love. (168-69)

FWP:

SETS
SOUND EFFECTS: {26,7}

Ghalib originally composed a ghazal of seven verses (Raza p. 149; Raza p. 150) from which he chose one (Hamid p. 67) for publication in his divan. More on this topic: S. R. Faruqi's choices.

Here the address is to 'you' in the intimate tuu , and its bitter, cynical tone suggests that the lover is either counseling himself, or giving heartfelt, candid advice to some younger friend. The colloquial use of ma((luum , as Josh observes, gives an extra punch; for more on this see {4,3}.

The first line plays with images of the harvest. The word ;haa.sil itself, though it often means merely the abstract 'result', can refer literally to the 'harvest'; for an example of wordplay involving both meanings, see {12,1}. When we also see that it is to be 'gathered' [faraaham karnaa], we have a sense of grain being brought in. Brought in 'with lament' [bah naalah], of course, since it's the harvest of heart-boundness, and we know it will somehow be lost or blighted.

But not until we are vouchsafed the second line-- and in a mushairah, there would probably be a conspicuous delay-- do we realize that the lament isn't just a reaction to the harvest, but itself constitutes the harvest. The 'lament' is placed at the beginning of the first line, and the 'sound' at the very end of the semantic part of the second line, so that (in good mushairah style) the full realization is delayed as long as possible.

And in between we have-- the chains. As with the laments, we're taken by surprise. In the first line, dil-bastagii registers only as a common expression for the state of being in love. Only when we see the zanjiir do we recall its literal meaning of 'heart- boundness'. And then we realize that the elegant wordplay of the 'house of chains' with 'heart-boundness' is at the center of the verse. If you chain up your heart, the only 'harvest' that you 'gather' will be laments, your only 'wealth' will be the sound of the chains themselves as they screech and groan with your every movement. They are thus both themselves a lament, and a cause for lament in you. And as Josh points out, mad lovers, like other madmen, are chained up anyway. (In addition, a ;xaanah is a place where one might settle down (to live) [basnaa], so that bastagii brings an extra dimension of wordplay.)

The verse is unusually full of conspicuously placed long aa sounds. Perhaps they help to provide the .sadaa of the naalah .

On the possibilities of juz , see {101,1}.