=== |
guft-guu : 'Conversation, discourse, dialogue, common talk, chitchat; altercation, dispute, debate, expostulation, controversy, contention squabble'. (Platts p.910)
ma;hshar : 'A place of assembly or congregation; —... the day of the place of congregation, the day of judgment'. (Platts p.1009)
hangaamah : 'A convention, an assembly, a meeting; a crowd; —noise, tumult, commotion, confusion, uproar; sedition, disturbance, disorder; an affray; assault'. (Platts p.1238)
qiyaamat : 'The resurrection, the last day; —confusion, commotion, tumult, uproar, extraordinary to-do; anything extraordinary; a scene of trouble or distress; a great calamity; excess'. (Platts p.796)
FWP:
SETS == WORDPLAY
MOTIFS == DOOMSDAY
NAMES
TERMSTruly the wordplay is spectacular. Just look at guft-guu and ma;hshar and hangaamah and qiyaamat (see the definitions above). The elements of meetings, gatherings, discussions, tumult, and Doomsday are widely distributed among the four. We feel their similarities; but in order to make the grammar work we must also notice their differences.
SRF takes 'on my head' to be about an assumption of (moral?) responsibility, like taking up a burden, and that certainly seems a powerful sense. But for something to be 'on my head' can also just show annoyance, as when something cascades down onto someone's head: everyone is pestering him, the whole uproar is vexing, etc. (compare the burden 'on my head' in {107,6}).
Compare Ghalib's meditation on words, crowds, and Doomsday:
G{119,6}.