===
1027,
11
===

 

{1027,11}

jagah afsos kii hai ba((d chande
abhii to dil hamaaraa bhii bajaa hai

1) the occasion/'place' for regret/sorrow is somewhat later
2) as yet even/also our heart is 'in place'

 

Notes:

afsos : 'Sorrow, grief, concern; regret; vexation'. (Platts p.62)

 

chande ba((d : 'After a while, in due course'. (Platts p.444)

 

ba-jaa : 'In place; true, accurate, right, proper'. (Steingass p.156)

S. R. Faruqi:

In this verse there's a picture of the dignity of defeat/brokenness, and of pride at the worn-downness brought by passion, that makes one shiver. Since the addressee has been left ambiguous, the mystery and force of the verse have been augmented. It's possible that the addressee might be someone inquiring about the speaker's welfare, or some intimate person. It's possible that it might be the beloved herself.

The speaker's state is so altered that the observer is expressing regret; or perhaps he is saying nothing now with his lips, but from the look on his face the speaker guesses that he feels regret or pity. At this, the speaker says with kingly or darvesh-like detachment, 'The occasion for regret will come sometime later. Right now our heart is in its place.' This has various meanings:

(1) As yet the heart has not left our company, we and it are still friends. The occasion for regret will be even/also the heart will deceive us and emerge and go away.

(2) As yet our heart is established in its place-- that is, its steadfastness has not wavered, nor has its courage been shaken. As yet the heart has the power and the temperament to be able to endure the torn-apart disasters of passion.

(3) As yet our heart is steadfast and quiet, it has not become broken and fragmented.

(4) As yet our heart is not uncontrollable-- that is, it will not do or say anything that would cause people sorrow or surprise.

In saying dil hamaaraa bhii the point is that as yet we too are like the ordinary people of the world-- that the way their hearts are fixed in their place, in the same way our heart still is too. As yet our condition is not such that any special importance should be given to it.

But there's also the point that after some days, after a little while, our condition will truly be deserving of regret/pity. The cool, flat, and dry tone in which he has spoken of the difficulty that will come upon him in the future, makes one's flesh creep. If ever there's gallantry in melancholy, this is how it should be.

FWP:

SETS == BHI; STRESS-SHIFTING
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS == AMBIGUITY

There's also the question of who is to feel the afsos -- the addressee, or the speaker. The speaker could thus either be urging the addressee not to bother feeling pity/sorrow right now, or be explaining to the addressee why he himself currently feels no regret/sorrow.

Moreover, there's the further ambiguity of the role of the heart. Is the afsos to be felt about the heart (by the speaker or the addressee), or by the heart itself? Perhaps the heart's still being bajaa -- literally, bah jaa , 'in place'-- is a sign of its not yet being sufficiently torn and lacerated to feel real afsos . (There's also the nice wordplay between jagah and jaa .) Perhaps it is still 'in place' because it hasn't yet deserted the lover and gone entirely into the keeping of the beloved.

And then, what about the dil hamaaraa bhii ? There could be four distinct possibilities: two if we apply the bhii particularly to dil , and two if we apply it particularly to hamaaraa :

=our heart too -- Not just our liver (the fresh-blood-maker) is still in good shape, but our heart (the blood-expender) too.

=even our heart -- Not only our liver (the last bastion) is still in good shape, but perhaps surprisingly, so is even our heart; thus it will be a while yet before the time for real afsos arrives.

=our heart too -- Not just your heart is working normally, but as yet our heart is too.

=even our heart -- You might expect your own heart to be working normally, but surprisingly enough, things are not yet so bad with us either; even our own heart is as yet doing fine.

But the chief glory of the verse, as SRF notes, is its tone, so absolutely matter-of-fact that it does indeed become bone-chilling.