S. R. Faruqi:

This theme Ghalib, in his early youth, versified well [in an unpublished verse]:

G{6,9x}.

Ghalib's verse is a superb example of 'delicacy of thought', but in Mir's verse too the insha'iyah style of expression in the first line has created a multiplicity of meanings:

1) In a tone of praise he says, 'how deeply her arrows of tyranny were lodged in the breast!'

2) In a tone of surprise he's said, 'have her arrows broken off even/also in my breast?'

3) In it there's also the implication that at the time when I received the wound, I was so absorbed that I didn't even know that wounds were being made in my breast and arrows were breaking off and lodging in my breast.

In this 'ground' Sauda too has a ghazal, but none of its verses are out of the ordinary. Although indeed, he has versified the paikaan rhyme in such a style that it seems to be a forerunner of Nasikh's 'thought-binding'. Sauda:

tujh tiir-e nigah ke hai kushto;N kaa jahaa;N madfan
sabze kii jagah vaa;N se paikaan nikalte hai;N

[where there's a burial-place of those slain by the arrow of your glance
instead of greenery, there arrow-heads emerge]

By means of these two verses, the difference between Mir and Sauda becomes apparent.

Please listen to Mir Soz too, and reflect that it was probably for this reason that Mir made the remark about the toy pots [ha;N;D-kuliyaa] [reported in the tazkirah ;xvush-ma((rikah-e zebaa in the account of Mir: 'The proper occasion for you to recite your verses is when girls would gather and toy pots would be used for cooking, not in the presence of Mir Taqi!']:

chhurii le ke man ba((d siine ko chiiraa
to dil kii jagah ;xushk paikaan niklaa

[when having taken a dagger, afterward I cut open the breast
then in place of the heart, a dried-up arrowhead emerged]

FWP:

SETS == KYA
MOTIFS == ARCHERY
NAMES
TERMS == 'DELICACY OF THOUGHT'; TAZKIRAH; 'THOUGHT-BINDING'

The 'kya effect' works excellently here.

I asked SRF to clarify the remark about Soz, and he replied (March 2015):

ha;N;D-kuliyaa paknaa means children (small girls) playing at cooking. Sometimes the pots are bigger than toy size and can actually be used by the older girls for cooking. It's certainly an insult, and quite an insult. Possibly Mir had something personal against poor Soz. Still, Soz is a substantial poet and didn't deserve such a putdown.

Note for grammar fans: It seems as though it ought to be 'whichever' wound I tear open, but the bhii is missing, so technically we're stuck with the oddly particularized (but undescribed) wound that is 'the one that I tear open'. But then, he's Mir and we're not, so he gets to make the rules (up to a point, at least).