1005_13

{1005,13}

kal kahte haiñ is bastī meñ mīr-jī mushtāqānah muʾe
tujh se kyā hī jān ke dushman ve bhī muḥabbat rakhte the

1) yesterday, they say, in this neighborhood/town, Mir-ji ardently/eagerly died
2) you-- how very much a mortal enemy!-- even/also he used to love

S. R. Faruqi:

In this verse too, the rush of 'mood' has hidden Mir's formal trickeries. Consider the following points:

(1) For mushtāqānah , there are two interpretations. One is 'in a state of ardor', and the other is 'having become eager to die'. That is, in the light of the first meaning there's a mention of the 'mood' of passion, and in the light of the second meaning there's a mention of the eagerness for death.

(2) The two phrases kal kahte haiñ mīr-jī muʾe and is bastī meñ bring the verse close to everyday life.

(3) In these things there's also the implication that Mir was no uneducated/ignorant person. Rather, it's probable that through his passion and lover-ship he had become particularly well-known and famous; otherwise, word of his death would not have spread through the whole neighborhood/town.

(4) Mir loved the beloved, and she was his mortal enemy-- this pairing of opposites is fine. That is, to be someone's lover, and to be his own mortal enemy-- both come to the same thing.

(5) Then, jān ke dushman can also be vocative. That is, addressing the beloved, he has said to her, ' ai jān ke dushman , how much Mir-ji loved you!'

(6) The speaker and the addressee, and then the people of the neighborhood who are giving their opinion about Mir's death-- all these characters make the world of the verse seem full and 'human' (=narrative).

(7) To be his own mortal enemy, and to love the beloved-- this opposition and balance is fine.

FWP:

SETS == MIDPOINTS; NEIGHBORS
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS == MOOD

That colloquially emphatic kyā hī also works as a kind of 'midpoint'-- it can be read as exclaiming at 'how very much' a mortal enemy of Mir's the beloved was (as in the translation above); or else with the vocative reading SRF also suggests, as 'how very much, oh mortal enemy, he used to love you!'.

Note for script fans: The spelling of vuh as ve is presumably meant to emphasize both its pluralness (so that we can tell very clearly that respect is being shown to Mir), and also its metrical strength as a long syllable.

{1005,13}

Notes:

S. R. Faruqi:

FWP: