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chor uchakke sikkh marahṭe shāh-o-gadā zar-ḳhvāhāñ haiñ
chain se haiñ jo kuchh nahīñ rakhte faqr bhī ik daulat hai ab
1) thieves, pickpockets, Sikhs, Marathas, kings and beggars are gold-seekers
2) those who have nothing are at peace; even/also poverty/asceticism is a single/particular/unique/excellent wealth now
uchakkā : 'One who suddenly snatches up a thing and makes off with it; a shop-lifter, pick-pocket, pilferer, thief, knave, swindler'. (Platts p.26)
marhaṭṭā , or marhaṭā : 'A Marhatta'. (Platts p.1027)
faqr : 'Poverty, want, need; the practice or vocation of a faqīr or derwish; a life of poverty with resignation and content; asceticism, ascetic mortification'. (Platts p.783)
FWP:
SETS == EK
MOTIFS
NAMES == SIKH; MARATHA
TERMSOn a first reading we think the verse is saying that only those who have nothing are blessedly secure from persecution by marauders, by those who use trickery or violence in their pursuit of gold. Here's Ghalib's even more extravagant appreciation of (post-robbery) poverty and peace:
G{120,10}.
But wait-- this reading accounts for the 'thieves, pickpockets, Sikhs, Marathas, kings', but what about the 'beggars'? They may be 'gold-seekers', but they can hardly threaten the 'peace' of those who have nothing. Their inclusion at the very end of the list pushes us to reconsider the word faqr , and to emphasize its psychological or spiritual sense of 'asceticism', of 'poverty with resignation and content' (see the definition above).
This new, deeper understanding makes it clear that those who practice faqr are more fortunate than those named in the first line not because they are physically safe from such marauders, but because they are at peace; the 'beggars' too may have nothing, but by definition (since they're 'begging' for 'gold') they are not at peace. Thus the ik with its range of meanings-- faqr can be a 'single', or 'particular', or 'unique', or 'excellent' kind of wealth.
Note for meter fans: SRF maintains that Mir has 'doubled' the 'k' in 'Sikh' for colloquial effect. Thus the scansion becomes SIK-kh-ma-RAH-;TE (= - - = =). This doubling of the 'k' has also been shown in the kulliyat. According to Platts, the first spelling of what even in Platts's day was called a 'Marhatta' (see the definition above) was marhaṭṭā . If that spelling is used, the scansion becomes sikh-mar-ha;T-;Te (= = = =). Platts also gives marhaṭā as a variant spelling, which could then be scanned and pronounced as 'Marahta'. I asked SRF about this, and he replied (Aug. 2018) that in Urdu marahṭā is by far the most common pronunciation, while 'Sikh Marhatte' would sound 'intolerably clunky'. He added that the doubling of aspirated consonants in words like 'Sikh' was not so uncommon, and that the oblique plural was almost always sikkhoñ , not sikhoñ .