S. R. Faruqi:

chāñd = month

For the wordplay of chāñd , māh , mahīnah , see:

{745,4}.

In the present verse, there are several kinds of pleasure. In the first line is an internal rhyme ( ab kā , kaisā ); in the second line the tavāzun of par , be-mihr is fine [[SRF can no longer recall what he meant by this (Apr. 2018).]]. Between mihr and māh , the pleasure of the zila is apparent. Between chāñd and māh is an iham. An additional pleasure is that chāñd means 'month', for which the word māh is used. And māh means chāñd , which is a more familiar and frequent word. Between dekhūñ and chāñd is the pleasure of a zila; between dil and muñh is a 'meaning-play' [maʿnavī riʿāyat]. Between dil and mihr (meaning 'love') too is a meaning-play. Then, among mihr (meaning 'sun') and māh and muñh there's the pleasure of a zila, because sun and moon are used as similes for the beloved's face. In short, it's hardly a verse-- it's a treasury of wordplay.

Now let's consider what is meant by seeing the moon on the beloved's face. One meaning is that in the presence of the beloved, the chance would come to see a new moon-- that is, that we and the beloved would be together. In this is the cultural point that people get together with their specially dear ones and look at the moon.

A second meaning is that on your face I would see the moon gleaming. A forehead-ornament [māthe kā jhūmar] is also called a 'moon', as in the verse of Zauq's:

jhūmar kā naz̤ar sar pah tire ab to paṛā chāñd
lā bosah chaṛhe chāñd kā vaʿdah thā chaṛhā chāñd

[the forehead-ornament on your head now has come into view as a moon
come, kiss me; you had promised for when the moon rose-- the moon has risen!]

Thus the meaning of seeing the moon gleaming on the beloved's forehead is that we would see the ornament on the beloved's forehead; or would see her smiling, from which her face would be radiant like the moon.

A third meaning is that in some months (for example, the [Arabic] month of ṣafar ), to see the moon and then look into a mirror is considered auspicious. Thus having seen the moon, the beloved's face (which is like a mirror) would be looked at.

A fourth meaning is that having seen a new moon, we will see the face of some beloved. Thus this time when I would see the moon, then afterwards I would have access to you and I would see your face.

Such an abundance of meaning has been created that he has used muñh par in its idiomatic meaning ('in the presence of'), and its dictionary meaning ('on the face') as well.

FWP:

SETS == MIDPOINTS; WORDPLAY
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS == IHAM; WORDPLAY; ZILA

SRF has dissected out so much wordplay, you wouldn't think there could be anything left unmentioned. But in such a wordplay-rich verse, surely be-mihr too (see the two definitions above) will repay some special attention. It's positioned as what I call a 'midpoint': if we read it with the phrase before it, then it readily becomes a vocative: the beloved is being addressed with intimate grammar, and what more natural than to call her 'unkind [one]'? After all, in the ghazal world, it's an epithet that she almost always deserves.

And if we read be-mihr with the phrase after it, then it looks to be an adverb describing the way we would see the 'moon': it would be literally 'sun-less'. So we might see the moon without the (light of the) sun; astronomically speaking, this is of course an impossibility. Perhaps Mir knew this astronomical fact, and enjoyed using it to add one more fillip to his verse. Of course, the reference could also be to the 'moon' of a forehead-ornament [jhūmar].