0003_08

{3,8}

us kā muñh dekh rahā hūñ so vuhī dekhūñ hūñ
naqsh kā sā hai samāñ merī bhī ḥairānī kā

1) I am looking at her face-- thus I see only/emphatically that!
2) the level/rank of even/also my stupefaction is like a picture/engraving

Notes:

dekhūñ hūñ = dekhtā hūñ

naqsh : 'Painting; colouring; drawing; designing, &c.; —delineation; —embroidery; —a painting, a picture; portrait; drawing; a print; a carving, an engraving; ... a design; —an impression; a stamp; a mark'. (Platts p.1145)

samāñ : 'Equality, level, rank;'. (Platts p.672)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

The word naqsh means 'image, picture', but in the word there's also the 'mood' [kaifiyat] of magic. The person who is entirely silent or unmoving is also called 'entranced'. Here the pleasure is that the shape that is used for the task of entrancing is that of the entranced one himself. Mir has used this theme a number of times. From the second divan [{898,5}]:

rahe haiñ dekh jo taṣvīr se tire muñh ko
hamārī āñkh se z̤āhir hai yih kih ḥairāñ haiñ

[when we are looking like a picture at your face
through our eye it's manifest that we're stupefied]

Another point is that the 'picture' can also be a picture on the wall. That is, having seen the beloved, stupefaction so overpowered him that he became a picture on the wall.

FWP:

SETS
MOTIFS == GAZE; PICTURE
NAMES
TERMS == MOOD

This is the first real verse of 'mood' [kaifiyat] that we've encountered. It also contains the idea, developed so often by Mir and Ghalib, that in one way or another the lover 'mirrors' the beloved.

The word order in the second line might be a bit confusing. Here's a prose re-ordering: merī bhī ḥairānī kā samāñ naqsh kā sā hai .

Note for grammar fans: The first line contains the archaic dekhūñ hūñ , instead of (here) dekhtā hūñ . (In another context it could be for dekhtī hūñ .) There are a great many such archaic verb forms in Mir's ghazal verses. Beyond offering a literal translation, I do not plan to mark and discuss each one each time it occurs. For further information, see the 'Grammar' page.