Ghazal 352x, Verse 6

{352x,6}*

diibaachah-e va;hshat hai asad shikvah-e ;xuubaa;N
;xuu;N kar dil-e andeshah-o-ma.zmuun-e sitam baa;Ndh

1) it is a preface to wildness, Asad, a complaint of the beautiful ones
2) do bloodshed of the heart of concern/doubt, and versify/'bind' the theme of tyranny!

Notes:

diibaachah : 'Frontispiece (of a book); preface, exordium, introduction, preamble'. (Platts p.555)

 

;xuun karnaa : 'To shed the blood (of), to kill, murder, assassinate; — to lavish, squander, waste'. (Platts p.497)

 

andeshah : 'Thought, consideration, meditation, reflection; solicitude, anxiety, concern ... ; doubt, misgiving, suspicion; apprehension, dread, fear; danger, peril'. (Platts p.91)

Asi:

Oh Asad, a complaint of the beloveds is a preface to wildness. Murder the heart of concern/doubt, and write the theme of tyranny. The meaning is that this complaint can be written with the blood of concern/doubt, and not without it.

== Asi, p. 206

Zamin:

Why is a complaint of the cruelty of beautiful ones a preface to wildness? Because it's necessary for the lover to show fortitude and endurance of the concealment of passion and the impatience and displeasure of the beloved. If he cannot show fortitude and endurance, then he will not be able to endure the concealment of passion either. Thus if the aspirant to passion cannot conceal the secret of passion, then he is no lover-- he is a lecher, he is a crazed person, he is a madman, he is a wild man.

== Zamin, p. 310

Gyan Chand:

Oh Asad, from making a complaint of the beautiful ones, their tyranny and cruelty will fill the eyes; and from this, wildness will be created. In this way a complaint of the oppression of the beautiful ones will become a preface to wildness. If you express the theme of their tyranny, then the heart filled with concern/doubt and anxieties will be more turned to blood-- that is, the vexed/sorrowful heart will become entirely wounded, from which wildness will be created. If you are prepared for this, then certainly make a complaint about them, express their tyranny!

== Gyan Chand, p. 320

FWP:

SETS == POETRY

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.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

Grammatically speaking, the i.zaafat makes it possible for a complaint 'of' the beautiful ones to be either a complaint made about them (by the lover), or a complaint made by them (about the lover). It's easy to see how either kind of complaint could give rise to 'wildness' on the lover's part.

In either case, the rakish, 'wild' advice in the second line is a treat. The lover should simply kill off all his 'concern, doubt'-- whether it is generated by his own complaint, or by hers, and go full steam ahead. And the direction in which he should go is toward poetry. He should turn all his sublimated anxieties into creative juices, and set himself to 'versifying' the 'theme' of tyranny!

Asi suggests that the blood of 'the heart of concern/doubt' is to be used as ink. Perhaps that's the image we're supposed to form-- the 'wild' lover must murder his own anxieties, he must stab them to the heart, and then he can dip his pen into a uniquely potent creative 'ink' that is perfectly suited to the 'theme' that he will adopt.