phir pursish-e jaraa;hat-e dil ko chalaa hai
((ishq
saamaan-e .sad-hazaar namakdaa;N kiye hu))e
1) again Passion has set out to ask about the wounds
of the heart
2) having equipped itself with a hundred thousand salt-dishes
pursish : 'Asking, questioning, interrogating, inquiring, inquiry (generally after health)'. (Platts p.248)
saamaan : 'Furniture, baggage, articles, things, paraphernalia; requisites, necessaries, materials, appliances; instrument, tools, apparatus; provision made for any necessary occasion, necessary preparations'. (Platts p.627)
He says, again the tumult/saltiness [shor] of passion is collecting the equipment for scattering salt on the wounds of the heart.
Now Passion, having brought all the hundreds of thousands of salt-dishes, is setting out to make fresh the old/suppressed wounds. (497)
SETS == HUMOR
On the structure of this ghazal as a kind of loosely 'continuous' one, see {233,1}.
It's so kind of Passion, the solicitous friend, to set out to visit and 'ask about' the health of its companion, the heart, with its many wounds. And like any proper visitor to a sickroom, it comes bearing some small but friendly and encouraging gifts-- which in this case take the witty, irresistible form of 'a hundred thousand salt-dishes'.
Salt rubbed on an open wound is of course a torment-- and for that very reason, it's exactly what the heart-wounds will most enjoy. (For another vivid illustration of the point, see {17,7}.) We're back at the central 'pain is pleasure' paradox at the mystical heart of the ghazal world.
And of course since the visitor is Passion, it's amusing to think what form its sympathetic inquiries will take. Will it solicitously inquire how raw the wounds are feeling lately, whether they are sufficiently fiery and inflamed? 'Is there anything I can do to help?' it will inquire. 'And oh by the way, here's a small present I thought you might like, to cheer you up-- it's nothing, really, just a few little salt-dishes.'
Why 'a hundred thousand' salt-dishes? Are there are that many wounds in the heart? Or is each wound insatiable, seeking to cover itself with dish after dish of salt? Either way, the scenario is sufficiently absurd to avoid any real grotesquerie.
For a description of another such consoling visitor--one who brings the sick person equally suitable gifts-- see {2,1}.
For other verses that connect wounds and salt, see {77,1}.
Nazm:
The idea is that passion has again set out to sprinkle salt on the wounds of the heart. (264)