Ghazal 248x, Verse 6

{248x,6}*

asad saudaa-e sar-sabzii se hai tasliim rangii;N-tar
kih kisht-e ;xushk us kaa abr-e be-parvaa-;xiraam us kaa

1) Asad, compared to the madness for flourishingness/'head-greenness', submission is more/'moist' colorful/lively
2) for-- the dry field/crop, hers-- the carelessly-moving cloud, hers

Notes:

sar-sabzii : 'Verdure, freshness; flourishing state, prosperity'. (Platts p.654)

 

tasliim : 'Saluting, greeting; salutation, obeisance, homage ... surrender, resignation; conceding, acknowledging, granting; assenting to, accepting'. (Platts p.324)

 

rangii;N : 'Variegated; fine, showy, gaudy; adorned, ornamented; elegant, ornate, flowery, ... ; gay, lively, jovial'. (Platts p.602)

Asi:

Oh Asad, with the thought of flourishness, the practice of submission is very good; and for the longing to attain a purpose, the method of hopelessness and failure is good. Because in this situation both will confront each other-- on one side his dry mood/condition, and on the other side there will be her gait of a carelessly-moving cloud.

== Asi, p. 75

Zamin:

The meaning of the verse is that instead of fruitless anxiety, and running around in the longing for prosperity and flourishingness, it's better to bow the head of submission and acceptance, because the dried-out field/crop is hers, and the rain-scattering cloud too is hers-- whether she would keep it dry, or cause it to become green.

== Zamin, p. 95

Gyan Chand:

Apparently if a field/crop would be called 'flourishing' and 'well-watered', then it will be very heart-pleasing and colorful. But the poet's opinion is that rather than that madness, it will be more colorful to submit to the will of the Lord. If a cloud passes carelessly over the field and does not rain, so that the field remains dry, what is it to us? The dry field too is God's, the careless cloud too is his. So why should there be struggle and effort, why not bow one's head before his will?

In this verse too, there has been error on Asi's part. In the second line he connects us kaa to the 'madness for flourishing' and the 'submission', although it is clear that both the us kaa occurrences refer to the Creator.

== Gyan Chand, p. 132

FWP:

SETS
MADNESS: {14,3}

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.

Gyan Chand has definitely got hold of the right end of the stick, though there's no need to insist as he does on a literal, religious interpretation. The beloved's power, and her 'careless' behavior, make her an even better candidate (for surely God wouldn't be 'careless' about what he did to the believers?).

That second line is so simple, and so lovely. It enacts the submission it invokes. The lover doesn't even need verbs-- he just names the relevant things, and says 'hers'.

The wordplay too is fine, especially tar as both the comparative, and 'moist'. But rangii;N doesn't seem to be the ideal word (see the definition above); it can barely be pushed into shape, at the far ends of its range (is submission more 'elegant'? more 'jovial'?). Maybe we're meant to think of 'lively' in an extended sense of 'life-enhancing'.