The expression chūmte hī gāl kāṭā ['at the moment of kissing, he bit the cheek'] appears as a saying in fīroz ul-luġhāt (Lahore 1967), but it isn't present in farhang-e āṣifiyah or Platts. The Firoz has given the meaning that's easiest to guess ('right in the beginning, to cause harm'). The form that Mir has used must have been common in that time, because Mir in his hajv-e palās rāy ( kulliyāt , vol. 2, p. 413, Ram Nara'in La'l) has used these very words (this hajv doesn't appear in Asi): tum to kāṭo ho pahle chūme gāl . The word chūmā too nowadays is not in use; in place of it chumah is used. In both āṣifiyah and Platts chumah doesn't appear, but chūmā does.
Yaganah has, in the 'ground' of Ghalib, using Mir's style [andāz], brought out a fine verse:
pahle hī chūme gāl kāṭ liyā
ibtidā yih to intihā kyā hai
[right at the start she kissed, then cut the throat,
if this is the beginning, then what is the end?]
Since Yaganah too has used exactly the form of the saying that's found in Mir's verse, but that's not in the dictionaries, it's possible that Yaganah might have seen this form of it in Mir's verse. It's also possible that this saying itself may have been shaped by Mir himself. Because if this had been a regular and well-known saying, then it would certainly have been in Platts, or the āṣifiyah , etc.
This verse is an example of how excellently Mir uses a saying [kahāvat]. Yaganah too has used it well, but without that Mirian quality. By placing the idiom muñh lagānā in the first line, Mir has created an affinity with 'kiss'. It's an extremely common idiom, and is correct with regard to the dictionaries too. Then,if the meaning of chūmte hī gāl kāṭā ('to cause harm right in the beginning') would be kept in mind, then the meaningfulness increases further, because the cutting of the throat is not itself the causing of harm; rather, the beloved's kissing him, or her extending a hand to touch him, does harm to his innocence.
Then, in Yaganah's verse there's only sarcasm, while in Mir's verse there's also playfulness and rakishness. At the beloved's cutting of the throat there's no kind of embarrassment, but rather a kind of bondage/acceptance [ḍhaṭāʾī]. Among 'love', 'kiss', and 'cheek' there's also a 'commonality'. Compare
Abd ul-Rashid has given for chūmte hī gāl kāṭā various forms-- for example, pahle chume gāl kāṭā and pahle hī chūme meñ gāl kāṭā , etc., that are included in several dictionaries.From this it can be known that it is indeed a saying, but it has no one fixed form; that is, various forms are traditional, and Mir too has used two different forms. In the words of a proverbial saying, so much complexity is astonishing.
