0380_06

{380,6}

dil le ke lauñḍe dillī ke kab kā pachā gaʾe
ab un se khāʾī pī huʾī shai kyā vuṣūl ho

1) having taken the heart, the rascals/boys of Delhi embezzled/consumed/digested it ages ago
2) now, from them, what acquisition/recovery of an eaten-and-drunk thing would there be?

Notes:

pachānā : 'To digest; to assimilate; to cause to rot, to rot, to ferment; to spend, or to do away with the property of another dishonestly or wrongfully; to embezzle'. (Platts p.229)

vuṣūl : 'Arrival; —conjunction, union with, or enjoyment of (a wished-for object); acquisition; receipt, getting, levying, collection; realization (of revenue, &c.), recovery'. (Platts p.1196)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

This verse is by way of padding, and has been put in the intikhab in order to complete the total of three verses. Its theme is superficial. But the tone of wit/jesting and informality is fine. And to call the heart an 'eaten-and-drunk thing' is not devoid of interest.

Having changed the tone, he has used this theme in the fifth divan as well [{1781,11}]:

hāthoñ gaʾī ḳhūbāñ ke kuchh shai nahīñ phir miltī
kyūñ-kar koʾī ab un se dil merā dilā jāve

[having gone into the hands of beautiful ones, no thing is obtained again
how could anyone now cause my heart to be given back, from them?

There's no special excellence in the verse, but Mir's whole manner is present: the theme is one of sorrow, but in the tone there's nevertheless a light touch of wit/jesting. This complexity of tone is Mir's special style.

The iham of dil and dilā is also fine. Similarly, the tajnis and ambiguity/suspense of dil le and dillī are also interesting.

FWP:

SETS == GROTESQUERIE; HUMOR
MOTIFS == [BELOVED IS A BOY]; COMMERCE
NAMES == DELHI
TERMS == TAJNIS

There's also a piquant contrast between the commercial or legal senses, and the physical senses, of pachānā and vuṣūl (see the definitions above). The vivid khā pī huʾī shai forces our imaginative attention toward the latter. The effect is actually one of cannibalism: the boys of Delhi haven't just 'embezzled' the heart, they have actually 'digested' it! So how could such an 'eaten-and-drunk thing' be recovered? One doesn't feel like pursuing the question.