===
0958,
1
===
 

{958,1}

((ishq me;N ;zillat hu))ii ;xiffat hu))ii tuhmat hu))ii
aa;xir aa;xir jaan dii yaaro;N ne yih .su;hbat hu))ii

1) in passion, abasement occurred, indignity occurred, slander occurred
2) in the end, the friends gave up their lives-- such/'this' companionship occurred!

 

Notes:

;zillat : 'Abasement, humiliation, dishonour, disgrace, indignity, affront, insult'. (Platts p.577)

 

;xiffat : 'Indignity, abasement, humiliation, disgrace; affront, slight'. (Platts p.491)

 

tuhmat : 'Evil opinion; suspicion (of guilt); allegation; false accusation, falsely charging one with a crime, aspersion, detraction, calumny, slander'. (Platts p.348)

 

.su;hbat : 'Companionship, society, company; an assembly, meeting, association; a fair; discourse, conversation, intercourse; carnal intercourse, coition, cohabitation'. (Platts p.743)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

It's a ghazal of sixteen verses, and the opening-verse is probably the weakest verse of all. So please understand, of what rank the ghazal will be! And the opening-verse too is not so lightweight. The phrase .su;hbat hu))ii is fine. Through the mention of 'friends' a dastan-like style has been created in the verse, and also a distance from the speaker himself, so that the verse would have no emotionality or softness.

In the sequence ;zillat , then ;xiffat , then tuhmat (a groundless reproach-- that 'your passion is not real'), there is a progression. Then after tuhmat , to die from shame/honor [;Gairat] is not mere hyperbole. Mir has often used the word .su;hbat for everyday interaction, as we have seen in

{957,7}.

For further discussion, see {60,4}.

The way in the opening-verse he has brought together rhyming words, look at one more example of it. From the fourth divan [{1493,1}]:

be-dil hu))e be-dii;N hu))e be-vaqr ham at-gat hu))e
be-kas hu))e be-bas hu))e be-kal hu))e be-gat hu))e

[we became without a heart; we became without religion; without dignity, we became disordered
we became helpless; we became without control; we became restless; we became without movement]

Here, because of the rhymed prose [tar.sii((], there's a good deal of force. But there's not the beauty of progression.

FWP:

SETS == REPETITION
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS == RHYME

What kind of 'companionship' was it, such that .su;hbat occupies a position of such prominence, at that last, closural moment in the verse? Here are some possible interpretations:

=The 'companionship' was that of the speaker's friends and himself, lovers all-- they suffered together through all the stages of passion, and finally died together, in understated but proudly faithful solidarity.

=The 'companionship' was that of the fickle, frivolous, treacherous beloved-- she lured and allured her lovers, bringing them through her company into ever more scandalous disrepute, until finally their ties with her (which might even have been explicitly sexual; see the definition of .su;hbat above) drove them to despair and death.

=The so-called 'companionship'-- a term used with heavy sarcasm-- that the lovers sought from the beloved, turned out to amount to nothing but abasement, indignity, and slander, followed by death. For this was all the 'companionship' that their passion actually received-- yih .su;hbat hu))ii , and nothing more.