Ghazal 278x, Verse 3

{278x,3}*

sair-e mulk-e ;husn kar mai-;xaanah'haa na;zr-e ;xumaar
chashm-e mast-e yaar se hai gardan-e miinaa pah baaj

1) {make / having made} a stroll through the realm of beauty-- wine-houses, an offering of hangover/intoxication
2) to the intoxicated eye of the friend/beloved, on the neck of the wine-flagon is a tribute [to be paid]

Notes:

na;zr : 'A vow; an offering, anything offered or dedicated; a gift or present (from an inferior to a superior)'. (Platts p.1128)

 

;xumaar : 'Intoxication; the effects of intoxication, pain and headache, &c. occasioned by drinking, crapulence, crop-sickness; headache or sickness (arising from want of sleep, &c.); languor; languishing appearance of the eyes (the effect of drinking, or of drowsiness, or of love, &c.); languishing look'. (Platts p.493)

 

baaj : 'Tribute, tax, toll, duty, impost'. (Platts p.118)

Asi:

Leave the wine-house-- what worth does it have? Offer it up to intoxication, and take a sight-seeing stroll through the land of beauty. The neck of the wine-flagon is humbly obedient, and tribute-owing, to the intoxicated eye of the beloved; nothing else comes before it.

== Asi, p. 105

Zamin:

That is, if you feel impatience/vexation at the lessening of intoxication, then take a stroll through the realm of beauty, where there's no hint of wine-glass and flagon, and wine-house upon wine-house is an offering to intoxication-- because the flagon (an ordinary wine vessel with no special features) is a tribute-payer to the intoxicated eye of beautiful ones. The gist is that only a stroll through the land of beauty is an intoxicating life.

== Zamin, p. 150

Gyan Chand:

If one would take a stroll through the land of beauty-- that is, would look at the beloved's face and eye-- then to take away his hangover [with more wine] there is wine-house after wine-house. The wine-flagon's neck owes tribute to the friend/beloved's intoxicated eye, because in the eye there is more intoxication than in the flagon; the flagon is subordinate to the eye. The essence of the verse is that the eye of the friend/beloved acts as a wine-house.

== Gyan Chand, p. 183

FWP:

SETS
WINE-HOUSE: {33,6}

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.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

For more on ;xumaar , see {12,2}.

The addressee is enjoined to take a stroll through the realm of beauty, and to make whole wine-houses into a na;zar , the formal gift, or tribute, that one offers when admitted to the presence of a superior. This gift/tribute can only be owed to the beloved, ruler of the realm of beauty.

If the addressee owes a tribute to the beloved, so does the wine-flagon itself: on its 'neck' is a tribute that's owed to the intoxicated eye of the beloved. When wine is poured, the 'neck' of the flagon or bottle is bent downward, horizontally or to an even greater degree. The metaphorical possibilities here are cleverly invoked:

=Debts and obligations can be borne on the neck, as with the 'right/claim of friendship' owed in {24,4}.

=Kindness or favor from a superior can itself be a burden under which the recipient 'bends', as the wall bends in {130,3}.

=The burden of obligation or indebtedness can be part of a complete collapse or prostration, as in {233,15}.

So the addressee and the wine-flagon turn out to be in almost the same position-- they both must offer tribute to the superior beauty of the 'intoxicated eye of the friend/beloved'.