===
0775,
6
===

 

{775,6}

;xa:t ke pha;Tne kaa tum se kyaa shikvah
apne :taali(( kaa yih likhaa .saa;hib

1a) about the brokenness/tornness of the writing, do I have a complaint against you?
1b) about the brokenness/tornness of the writing, as if I have a complaint against you!
1c) about the brokenness/tornness of the writing, what a complaint I have against you!

2) this is the writing/decree of my fate/fortune, Sahib

 

Notes:

;xa:t : 'A line, a streak, or stripe, a mark; lineament; —writing, character, handwriting chirography; a letter, epistle'. (Platts p.490)

 

phu;Tnaa (variant of phuu;Tnaa ): 'To be broken, to be broken into; to be broken down; to be dispersed, be separated, be detached'. (Platts p.292)

 

pha;Tnaa : 'To be torn, be split, be rent, be cracked, be broken; to tear, split, crack, burst, break; to be separated, be detached'. (Platts p.284)

 

:taali(( : 'Star, destiny, fate, lot, fortune; prosperity'. (Platts p.750)

 

likhaa : 'Written, &c.; what has been (or is) written; a writing, written document; decree (of fate); fate, destiny, predestination'. (Platts p.959)

FWP:

SETS == KYA
MOTIFS == WRITING
NAMES
TERMS

This ghazal is not included in SSA; for discussion, see {775,1}.

Of course tum se kyaa shikvah makes excellent use of the 'kya effect'. If it is read as 'Do I have a complaint against you?' (1a), then it's a genuine question: can the lover's wretched fate be blamed on the beloved, or not? If it's read as 'As if I have a complaint against you!' (1b), then it's a vehement exclamation of repudiation: his complaint is not with her, but with his own stars. And if it's read as 'What a complaint I have against you!' (1c), then it's an indignant expostulation: how strongly he complains against her about his wretched fate, since her decree is the shaper of his destiny.

Then in the second line, to what does the 'this' refer? Something in the first line, no doubt, but there's more than one possibility. It could be 'the brokenness of the writing' that is to blame-- the fact that the writer of the speaker's fate had such careless or inept handwriting. It could be 'the writing' itself (a letter?) that is to blame-- since its brokenness/tornness too is part of what is 'written' into his destiny. Or, of course, it could be the 'Sahib' herself-- since her destructiveness, her careless handwriting, and her irrevocable presence in his life, are inseparable parts of his fate.

Is the Sahib a 'writer of fate' herself, or is the complaint in fact about some other 'writer of fate'? As usual, we're left to decide for ourselves. And what kind of 'writing' is it, anyway, that is in such wretched condition?? Perhaps he wrote her a letter, and she tore it up. Or else, it's enjoyably possible that the whole verse imight be a tragicomic lament about the beloved's sloppy handwriting. Perhaps she wrote him one of her (rare) letters, and scrawled it so negligently that he can't even read it. In response, he composes a verse that elevates her sloppy handwriting to the level of unjust but immutable cosmic destiny. Because, of course, to him that's exactly what it is.