Ghazal 154, Verse 7x

{154,7x}

jalvah-e ;xvur se fanaa hotii hai shabnam ;Gaalib
kho diyaa sa:tvat-e asmaa-e jalaalii ne mujhe

1) from the glory/appearance of the sun, the dew is [habitually] obliterated/dead
2) the power/grandeur of the majestic Names destroyed/'lost' me

Notes:

fanaa : 'Passed away, departed, deceased, defunct; non-existent, extinct'. (Platts p.784)

 

asmaa : 'Names: — asmaa-e ;husnaa , asmaa-e ((u:zmaa , The ninety-nine names or epithets of God'. (Platts p.53)

 

khonaa : 'To cause to be lost or destroyed; to lose; to fail of; to part with, get rid of; to do (or make) away with, to throw away, to waste, squander'. (Platts p.884)

 

sa:tvat : 'Impetuosity; force, violence; power, authority, dominion; awfulness, awe, majesty'. (Platts p.661)

 

jalaalii : 'Great, illustrious, majestic, glorious; awful, terrible; divine (attributes of the Divinity): — ism-e jalaalii , s.m. 'The great name,' an epithet of the Deity; —texts from the Qur'an, used as a charm or spell'. (Platts p.386)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

Gyan Chand:

From the glory/appearance of the sun, the dew becomes obliterated. I didn't need even the glory/appearance of the Lord-- merely the imposingness of his names obliterated me. (491)

FWP:

SETS ==
ISLAMIC: {10,2}
JALVAH: {7,4}
SUN: {10,5}

For background see S. R. Faruqi's choices. Ghalib originally composed a ghazal of seven verses, from which he chose four for publication in his divan. In the original seven-verse ghazal, this verse was the seventh one.

How is the speaker's situation in the second line to be juxtaposed to that of the dew in the first line? Is it to be considered similar (the way the dew is obliterated by the sun, I'm obliterated by the divine glory)? Or is it, as Gyan Chand maintains, to be contrasted (the dew is obliterated by the sun itself, but I'm obliterated not by God but merely by his Names)?

I really can't see much else going on in this verse.

 

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