===
0070,
6
===
 

{70,6}

jahaa;N pur hai fasaane se hamaare
dimaa;G-e ((ishq ham ko bhii kabhuu thaa

1) the world is full of/with our story
2) even/also we at one time had a mind/fancy/conceit for passion

 

Notes:

dimaa;G : 'The brain; head, mind, intellect; spirit; fancy, desire; airs, conceit; pride, haughtiness, arrogance; intoxication'. (Platts p.526)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

In the verse is an enjoyable ambiguity. The first point is that by using the past tense he has made it clear that he no longer has a mind for passion, but he hasn't made it clear what his present mood is, and why a mind for passion now no longer remains. The second point is that the world is full of our story. Apparently he has said this in a tone of pride and superiority, but from the second line one can guess that the real mood is one of sorrow, because the world is echoing with our story and now we've become worthless.

But the suspicion also arises that perhaps this is a suggestion that at some time we had a mind for passion, and to this day its fame remains. If today we would again become inclined toward passion, then the Lord knows what sort of chaos we'd create. Then it's also possible that this thought is the beginning of a new sorrow: 'alas, that now that strength and fortitude is no longer in us, such that we'd be able a second time to resolve upon passion!'

Then, he hasn't made it clear what special feature there was in our passion, on the basis of which our story of passion is still echoing in the world. By means of two very small and apparently commonplace words (that is, hai and thaa ) to create so much meaning-- that was a devilry [rog] within the reach of Mir alone. See

{17,1}.

[See also {124,2}.]

FWP:

SETS == A,B; FILL-IN
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS == AMBIGUITY

Well, it's an 'A,B' verse, so it's up to us to decide on the relationship between the two lines. SRF plays around with some of the possibilities; but surely the real piquancy of the verse is in that gap between the two lines, which always remains to be filled in by the audience-- and which, no matter how they fill it in, always remains open for more and/or different fillings-in.

Is it 'our story' in the sense that it's gossip about us? Or could it be 'our story' in the sense that it was a story composed by us (since we used to have 'a mind for' the affairs of passion)? The cleverly contrived open-endedness of the verse makes it like a faceted jewel-- it catches the light with a different flash every time it moves in the viewer's hand.