Ghazal 400x, Verse 4

{400x,4}

hu))aa tark-e libaas-e za((faraanii dil-kusha lekin
hanuuz aafat-nasab yak ;xandah ya((nii chaak baaqii hai

1) the abandonment of saffron-colored clothing became exhilarating/'heart-opening', but
2) still/now a single disaster-lineaged smile-- that is, the rip-- remains

Notes:

za((faraanii : 'Of saffron; saffron-coloured, yellow'. (Platts p.616)

 

dil-kushaa : 'Heart-expanding, blissful, delightful, charming, exhilarating'. (Platts p.523)

 

kushaa : 'Opening, expanding; displaying; loosening; solving; revealing'. (Platts p.835)

 

nasab : 'Genealogy; lineage, race, stock, family, caste'. (Platts p.1137)

 

baaqii : 'Remaining, lasting, enduring, permanent, existing, extant; eternal, everlasting'. (Platts p.123)

Asi:

I have ripped up my saffron-colored clothing-- that is, colorful clothing. And this proved to be for me a cause of exhilaration and happiness. But the rip, which is a single thing in its own right, remains; and this too is disaster-lineaged. It's clear that the disaster that has come, has come in the form of this very thing.

== Asi, p. 305

Zamin:

libaas-e za((faraanii = colorful clothing, gold-embroidered clothing. Granted that the abandonment of clothing (the abandonment of worldly relationships) gave me carefreeness (exhilaration). But the disaster-lineaged knot (that is, the rip)-- what kind of thing is it, that even after the abandonment of clothing, it remains?! Is this rip something separate from the clothing? This questions remains in search of a solution.... In any case, the verse is not devoid of clarity/sincerity.

== Zamin, p. 438

Gyan Chand:

Asi took libaas-e za((faraanii to be a symbol of colorfulness. In my view, this clothing gestures toward darvesh-ness. In darvesh-ness, because of the clothing there remains the connection of attachments. We abandoned this. Thus our temperament opened [into happiness]; and because of exuberance, we smiled. This smile too has a similitude with the tearing of the collar. The meaning of this is that now we have entirely destroyed our clothing. One sign of it-- that is, the rip-- has remained. This smile is a disaster descended from disasters. That is, the abandonment of attachments is all very well, but if pride would be taken in it, or if happiness would be shown, then it becomes disastrous. Thus this smile is not proper/right.

== Gyan Chand, p. 453

FWP:

SETS == FILL-IN; HANUZ
CHAK-E GAREBAN: {17,9}
CLOTHING/NAKEDNESS: {3,5}
SMILE/LAUGHTER: {27,4}

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

The 'saffron-colored' clothing could well be elegant and festive, since saffron is a very expensive spice. (I have also been told that the sight of a field of saffron is proverbially considered to make people laugh and feel merry; for a verse that rests on this belief, see {432x,1}.) Alterhatively, the term could refer to the orangey color associated with Hindu and Buddhist ascetics (though in this case the color is obtained through cheaper dyes). In either case, the speaker abandons the saffron-colored clothing, but we aren't told that he replaces it with any other kind, so that he apparently reverts to some kind of quasi-nakedness.

This nakedness became 'heart-opening' in the sense of 'exhilarating', and also in the literal sense of 'heart-revealing', 'heart-displaying' (see the definitions above). Such nakedness is also the final result of the lover's practice of chaak-e garebaan (for discussion of this, see {17,9}). The mad lover rips open the neck-opening of his garment, but why should he stop there? Eventually he tears off and flings aside the whole of his clothing, so that his condition is maximally 'heart-opening' in both senses of the expression.

The naked lover finds, however, that even after his saffrony clothing has been torn off, something remains: the rip or tear, the chaak , itself. This 'rip' has the form of a smile-- the act of ripping produces two halves of the garment with a narrow opening between them, like two lips and a mouth. Such a smile is enjoyably appropriate to the 'exhilaration' described in the first line. There can also be grim or 'teeth-baring' smiles (see {149,1}); a smile like that would be just the kind that would be 'disaster-lineaged', one that would be the result of ('descended from') a long line of calamities.

Ultimately, we're left with the riddle of the 'rip'. What is it, something physical (a 'rip' in the breast) or something metaphysical (a 'rip' in the psyche)? If it remains hanuuz , is that 'still' (it's been there for a long time), or 'now' (it has appeared since the tearing off of the clothing)? Will it eventually fade away, or is it there forever (see the definition of baaqii above)? The 'rip' is so enigmatic that we're left to fill in its nature for ourselves, from the depths of our own minds and hearts.

Note for translation fans: It is natural to speak of 'tearing the collar'-- but the result of this would be a 'tear'. And since the ghazal world is so full of tears and teardrops, the word overlap would certainly be confusing to some readers. So it's better to substitute 'rip' for 'tear' as the noun form, to translate chaak .

And of course the persistent 'rip' can't help but recall the lingering smile of the fading Cheshire Cat.