177_12

{177,12}

mai;N jo gustaa;x huu;N aa))iin-e ;Gazal-;xvaanii me;N
yih bhii teraa hii karam ;zauq-fizaa hotaa hai

1) if/when I am presumptuous/audacious in the rules/customs of ghazal-recitation
2) even/also this is [habitually] only/emphatically your {taste/relish}-enhancing benevolence

Notes:

gustaa;x : 'Presumptuous, arrogant, insolent, audacious, impudent, saucy, uncivil, rude; cruel; abrupt'. (Platts p.910)

aa))iin : 'Body of laws, code; enactment, edict, ordinance, canon, decree, rule; custom, manner'. (Platts p.116)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

Nazm:

The meaning of the verse-set is clear. (200)

== Nazm page 200

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, 'If I break the rules of ghazal-recitation and become a praiser of you, this is because of your generosity'; that is, your generosity keeps increasing the taste for praise-recitation. (258)

Bekhud Mohani:

If in ghazal recitation I do shameless things, then this too is your blessing especially/alone. (350)

FWP:

SETS == POETRY

This is the fourth and final verse of a four-verse verse-set that begins with {177,9}. For discussion of the verse-set as a whole, see {177,9}.

What is the gustaa;x behavior to which the verse refers, and what ghazal 'laws' or 'norms' are being violated? Bekhud Dihlavi thinks it's the insertion of personal praises into a ghazal (though in fact this is hardly so rare as to be against the 'laws' of the ghazal).

S. R. Faruqi proposes (Nov. 2005) that while Ghalib ought to have composed a whole ode to the King, the King's generous encouragement has moved him simply to insert a few verses in a ghazal, then to return to the ghazal's normal themes of passion.