Ghazal 361x, Verse 4

{361x,4}*

mauzuunii-e do-((aalam qurbaan-e saaz-e yak dard
mi.sraa((-e naalah-e nai saktah hazaar jaa hai

1) the balance/metricalness of the two worlds-- a sacrifice for the making/harmony of one pain
2) the line of the lament of the reed-flute is [with a] pause/break in a thousand places

Notes:

mauzuunii : 'The being weighed; the being well-balanced or adjusted; the being well-measure d, or of proper quantity (verse); rhythm'. (Platts p.1090)

 

saaz : 'Making, preparing, effecting; feigning; ... concord, harmony; a musical instrument'. (Platts p.625)

 

mi.sraa(( is a variant of mi.sra(( .

 

saktah : 'A trance, swoon; stupefaction; — a pause, division, vacancy, hiatus'. (Platts p.663)

Zamin:

In the lament of the flute there are pauses here and there (in the ups and downs of the flute's melody; thus he has said 'pauses'). This is because the flute is a maker of pain. And the flute's making of pain is apparent; the proof is that its liver has come to have holes right through it. This pain and brokenness has created such an effect in its laments that a thousand metricalnesses are sacrificed for it. The gist is that in poetry, if there would be no pain, then there's no help for it, even if there would be a thousand artifices and creations.

== Zamin, p. 409

Gyan Chand:

saktah = in a verse, for the line to halt or break down from non-metricalness. The voice/sound used when one is in pain-- for it the harmonious sounds of the whole world would be sacrificed. The line of the lament of the reed-flute-- that is, the flute-player's raga-- too cannot compare with the melody of pain. In the raga of the flute, here and there there seems to be a pause/halt.

== Gyan Chand, p. 409

FWP:

SETS == POETRY
MUSIC: {10,3}

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.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

On Ghalib's use of 'two-worlds' expressions, see {18,2}.

The verse plays with metrical terms. A line [mi.sra((] of verse that is metrical [mauzuu;N] has the proper number of long and short syllables, arranged in the proper order. The 'pause, break' [saktah] might refer to the caesura that occurs halfway through the line in certain meters (including the one used for this ghazal). Or it might refer to a flaw in the meter, such as a missing or misplaced word. Or, best of all in the present context, it might refer to the way singers and musicians insert their own interpretive pauses into the line, without regard to formal metrical constraints.

However the 'pause, break' effects may be interpreted, Zamin has come up with a delightful account of their origin. (For more on reed-thickets and reed-flutes, see {10,3}.) The flute's music is full of pauses and breaks because the flute is giving voice to its pain. And its pain, Zamin says, is proved by the fact that 'its liver has come to have holes right through it'. If you've ever examined a reed-flute, you'll know that this is quite true!