===
0851,
1
===

 

{851,1}

poshiidah kyaa rahe hai qudrat-numaa))ii-e dil
dekhii nah be-sutuu;N me;N zor-aazmaa))ii-e dil

1a) as if the power-showing of the heart remains veiled! (it doesn't at all remain so!)
1b) how the power-showing of the heart remains veiled! (it indeed always remains so!)
1c) does the power-showing of the heart remain veiled? (or does it not?)

2a) we saw, didn't we, in the Pillarless Mountain, the strength-testing of the heart?
2b) we didn't see, in the Pillarless Mountain, the strength-testing of the heart

 

Notes:

qudrat : 'Power, ability, potency, vigour, force, authority, virtue; divine power, omnipotence; —the creation, the universe, nature'. (Platts p.788)

S. R. Faruqi:

There's no depth in the verse, but in both lines the insha'iyah style is very fine.

In the second line, the implication is very fine that to cut through the Pillarless Mountain and bring out a channel was the spiritual deed of Farhad. That is, if there hadn't been the power in his heart, then to cut through the Pillarless Mountain by means of bodily strength alone would have been impossible.

There can also be a suggestion that after cutting through the mountain, when Farhad split his head open with a blow from his own axe and died, this too was a deed done through the power of the heart. That is, there was so much power in his heart that rather than life without Shirin, he preferred death. If he had been a coward, then he would simply have wept and then silently accepted it.

FWP:

SETS == KYA
MOTIFS
NAMES == [FARHAD]
TERMS == INSHA'IYAH

Well, I'm not sure SRF is giving this elegant verse enough credit. For the 'kya effect' in the first line is beautifully correlated with the two possible readings in the second line. SRF seems to read only (2a), in which the nah is a colloquial invitation for a nod of confirmation ('right?' or 'okay?'; on this usage see {52,2}). That's fine of course, but why not a literal, grammatically faithful reading (2b) as well?

If we read (1b) and (2b), we learn that Farhad's display of heart-power does in fact remain emphatically veiled: in Farhad's cutting through the stone of the Koh-e Be-sutun we saw only his physical force (or perhaps his physical force supported by only some portion of his heart's strength). That was what we could perceive-- but what more was going on in his heart, that remained veiled from our sight?

This kind of 'meaning-machine' structure is classically Ghalibian, but Mir has all the same devices at his disposal, and knows very well how to use them.