0277_01

{277,1}

āʾe to ho t̤abībāñ tadbīr gar karo tum
aisā nah ho kih mere jī kā ẓarar karo tum

1) you've come as a physician; if you make a plan/device,
2) may it not be that you would do harm to my life!

Notes:

t̤abīb : 'A physician (usually applied, in India, to a Mohammadan practitioner'. (Platts p.751)

tadbīr : 'Opinion, advice; expedient, contrivance, plan, device'. (Platts p.314)

S. R. Faruqi:

The opening-verse is by way of introduction. On this theme, for much better verses see

{7,1},

{74,3}.

Nevertheless, the colloquial style of this verse, and in the second line the expression of the sick person's helplessness, are fine.

FWP:

SETS
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS

The tadbīr might be a learned diagnostic 'opinion, advice'-- but it might also be a sneaky 'contrivance, device' (see the definition above). And we know very well that the beloved is capable of anything. Knowing her as he does, how right the poor sick lover is to fear the worst!

Compare Ghalib's equally powerful but more agitated fears of the beloved's medical plans:

G{14,3}.

Note for grammar fans: Presumably the Persianized plural t̤abībāñ for the beloved is something like the much more common jānāñ , conveying a sort of generalized conventional notion (the beloved has come as 'a physician') rather than indicating an actual plural.