Ghazal 298x, Verse 3

{298x,3}*

hai ta.savvur me;N nihaa;N sarmaayah-e .sad gulsitaa;N
kaasah-e zaanuu hai mujh ko bai.zah-e :taa))uus-o-bas

1) hidden in the imagination is the wealth/resources of a hundred gardens
2) the kneecap/'bowl of the knee' is, to me, a peacock's egg, and-- enough!

Notes:

ta.savvur : 'Imaging or picturing (a thing) to the mind; imagination, fancy; reflection, contemplation, meditation; forming an idea; idea, conception, perception, apprehension'. (Platts p.326)

 

sar-maayah : 'Principal sum, capital, stock in trade; fund, funds, assets, means, resources; materials'. (Platts p.655)

 

kaasah : 'A cup, goblet, bowl; ... — kaasah-e sar, s.m. The skull'. (Platts p.801)

 

bas : 'Enough, sufficient, plenty; very much, too much, a great many; very; — adv. And so; in short, in a word; — intj. Enough! that will do! hold! stay!'. (Platts p.154)

Asi:

In my imagination the wealth of a hundred gardens is hidden and concealed, and when I am absorbed in imagining and have my head bent/bowed, then this 'bowl of the knee' has for me become a peacock's egg, in which hundreds of colors are hidden and veiled. He has given for the 'bowl of the knee' the simile of a peacock's egg because in it is a range of colors, and this colorfulness and range of colors has been called the wealth of a hundred gardens.

== Asi, p. 134

Zamin:

That is, when I rest my head on my knee and become absorbed in thinking about poetry, then the garden of themes begins to bloom/flourish before my gaze. So to speak, my knee is a peacock's egg, in which is enclosed the rose-garden of the peacock's feathers.

== Zamin, p. 198

Gyan Chand:

In the imagination, the equipment of a thousand gardens is present. How can the colorfulness of thought be described?! Resting the head on the knee, a person becomes lost in thought. The peacock is a sign/symbol of color. A peacock's egg gives the good tidings of color that is to be born in the future. To Ghalib, by the peacock's egg is meant the imagining of future luxury and pleasure. By the 'bowl of the knee' becoming the peacock's egg is meant to see a glimpse of the imagination's rapture of tomorrow.

== Gyan Chand, pp. 225-226

FWP:

SETS == POETRY
INDEPENDENCE: {9,1}

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.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

For discussion of the kaasah-e zaanuu , the 'bowl of the knee', as meaning 'kneecap', see {185,4x}.

The poet's imagination, as he sits with head bowed in thought, contains 'the wealth of a hundred gardens'. This vision of verdant creativity is intriguingly (or vexingly) multivalent. Does it mean that the poet has seen a hundred gardens, and will now use the memory or 'picturing' of them as poetic material? Or does it mean that his poetic gardens are entirely spun out of his own imagination, such that he need never have seen a 'real-world' garden at all?

In either case, since he keeps the fruitful raw material for poetic creativity 'hidden' in his own imagination, the speaker is certainly claiming exclusive personal control over his creative process. This claim is very much in line with other verses of what I call the 'independence' set; for more on these, see {9,1}.