la;Raave gar vuh bazm-e mai-kashii me;N qahr-o-shafqat ko
bhare paimaanah-e .sad-zindagaanii ek jaam us kaa
1) if she, in the gathering of wine-drinking, would cause 'violence' and 'kindness' to fight
2) it would 'fill the cup' of a hundred lives, a single/particular/unique/excellent cup of hers
qahr : 'Force, power, violence, vehemence, severity; excess; boundlessness; oppression; subjection; rage, fury, wrath, indignation; vengeance; torment, punishment, chastisement'. (Platts p.796)
shafqat : 'Affection, kindness, benignity, tenderness, pity, compassion, mercy, clemency; condolence; favourable inclination, favour'. (Platts p.729)
paimaanah : 'A measure (for dry or wet goods); measure (of length, or capacity, &c.); a plane-scale (in land-measurement and mapping); a cup, bowl, goblet'. (Platts p.301)
paimaanah-e zindagaanii bhar jaanaa = for the moment of death to come near, for the lifetime to end.
The meaning of the verse is that if in the gathering of wine-drinking the beloved or the Cupbearer would at the same time make use of both wrath and favor, then in only a single cup they would finish off hundreds. The poet's goal was to bring together the glass of wine and the 'cup of the lifetime'.
They have been brought together, but the question arises that the cup given by favor-- why did it become the cup of death? And if it is the cup of death then there is nothing but violence, so where did the favor go? .... The death of lovers is not a true death, but it's necessary to see whether the words of the verse too are within the circle of this meaning or not.
paimaanah bharnaa = to die. If she, in the wine gathering, would display a combat between violence and kindness, then a single cup of hers can 'fill the cup of life' of a hundred lovers. In the literal sense, to fill the cup with wine is kindness. With regard to the idiom, then 'to fill the cup of life' is violence. So to speak, in a single operation both actions are found. And this is in truth possible. If in the gathering she would give only one cup of wine to only one lover, then there will be kindness to him, and violence toward the rest of the deprived ones, who in agitation will be on the point of death.
SETS == EK; IDIOMS
GATHERINGS: {6,3}
WINE: {49,1}
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
Gyan Chand's explanation seems very satisfactory. Ghalib usually uses idioms in both their idiomatic and their literal senses.
Asi:
If in the gathering of wine-drinking if she would cause favor and violence to fight-- that is, if she would make use of both-- then without doubt a single cup of hers would fill a hundred cups of life. That is, a single favor of hers would create a hundred violences.
== Asi, pp. 74-75