taqliid : 'Imitation, representation; mimicing, mimicry; a counterfeiting; forgery'. (Platts p.330)
saudaa))ii : 'Melancholic, atrabilarious; insane, mad; — an atrabilarian, a hypochondriac; a madman'. (Platts p.696)
((aba;s : 'Trifling, frivolous; vain, idle, absurd, nugatory, profitless, bootless; — in vain, uselessly, bootlessly, idly, absurdly'. (Platts p.758)
That is, what need was there for that foolish one to imitate me in passion and lover-ship? Finally he went mad, that shallow [kam-:zarf] one!
Qais used to consider himself a very great lover, but he lived in the city. He learned that there was another powerful lover, Ghalib, who wandered around in the wilderness. When he heard this Qais was ashamed that he was living only in the city. He too ran off into the wilderness, and there began to move around in a state of madness. In imitating me, willy-nilly he became a wanderer and a madman. The meaning is that we are the leader, Qais is our follower.
SETS
DESERT: {3,1}
GRANDIOSITY: {5,3}
MADNESS: {14,3}
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
This verse belongs to the 'snide remarks about famous lovers' set; for others, see {100,4}.
Why did Qais become 'ashamed' and flee toward the desert? The verse suggests several possible reasons:
=Perhaps because the speaker, living in the city, was a more famous lover than Qais was.
=Perhaps because the speaker was famous as a desert-wandering lover.
=Perhaps because the speaker was famous as an exemplary madman.
As so often, we're given only a certain amount of information, and then we're left to decide for ourselves just how to put the verse together.
Then, did Qais deliberately set out to become a madman, or was he driven mad by his inability to rival the speaker's feats of lover-ship? Did he run off to the desert in order to become mad, or because he was already mad? We know that the contemptuous speaker finds Qais's behavior futile or absurd--but, most enjoyably, we're unable to tell exactly why.
Asi:
Having rivalled me and competed with me, poor Qais was finally obliged to flee from the city toward the wilderness. Willy-nilly, he imitated me, and uselessly set out. For goodness sake, what need was there for him to imitate me?!
== Asi, p. 103