1714_04

S. R. Faruqi:

ḳhalʿa = to remove clothing

In this context the construction ḳhalʿ-e badan is very fresh and meaningful. Mir used it in one other place as well, but I've never seen it in anyone else's poetry. From the first divan [{91,2}]:

kyā kyā ʿazīz ḳhalʿ-e badan hāʾe kar gaʾe
tashrīf tum ko yāñ taʾīñ lānā ẓarūr thā

[what-all valued ones divested themselves of the body and, alas! went away!
you should certainly have brought your honored self here]

The basic meaning of ḳhalʿa is 'to remove the clothing', but another meaning of it is 'to put on honorific attire' as well. (In the [dictionaries] muntaḳhab and Steingass, etc.) Our word 'robe of honor' [ḳhilʿat] alludes to this meaning. In {91,2} tashrīf is a zila with ḳhalʿa in this sense, because one meaning of tashrīf is ḳhilʿat . The clothing that the bride's family send to the groom's family on the occasion of the wedding is called tashrīfī joṛe . With regard to this affinity, Rind has composed a superb verse:

ḳhilʿat-e ʿuryāñ-tanī bahutoñ ne pahnā par junūñ
ṭhīk mere jism par tashrīf-e ʿuryānī huʾī

[many have put on the 'robe of honor of naked-bodiedness', but, oh Madness
right on my body the honor of nakedness appeared]

In the present verse, the pleasure is that he has supposed the body to be the clothing of the spirit, and has said that since there is unity between the beloved and the spirit-- in the sense that the beloved herself is the life of the lover; and in the sense too that the lover cherishes the beloved to the extent to which one cherishes his own body; and most of all in the sense too that the beloved is nothing but life/spirit-- there is no body. And all spirits (lives) are parts of that single spirit whom the Sufis have called the Great Spirit. Thus if the lover would remove the clothing of his body, then he will become merged with the beloved.

An additional pleasure is that for the removal of the clothing of the body he has used the word ḳhalʿa , which also has the meaning of 'robe of honor'. Thus removing the clothing of the body is equal to causing the body (or the spirit) to put on a robe of honor. Thus to remove the clothing of the body is also to adorn the spirit.

Among the words badan , ḳhāt̤ir , jān , tan there is the wordplay of 'commonality' [murāʿāt ul-naz̤īr ]. Between ek and ḥisāb there's the relationship of a zila. The jān-o-jānāñ , with its tajnis, is also superb.

The word ḥisāb has here been used in a very fresh manner, with the sense of 'numbered, reckoned' [maḥsūb]. Thus bīch meñ tan jo ḥisāb nah ho means 'if the body would not be taken into account'. But it can also mean 'mention, entry'-- that is, 'if in the matter there would be no mention of the body at all. (For example, we say ʿishq ke muʿāmile meñ jān kā ḥisāb nahīñ -- that is, 'there's no reference to the spirit', 'there's no mention of the spirit'.)

The meaning of ḥisāb honā is also 'to remove from employment'-- for example, falāñ ṡāḥib kā ḥisāb ho gayā . Now the meaning has turned out to be absolutely different: 'if the body would not be put aside, then life and beloved are both one'. That is, if the convergence of life and beloved will take place, then it will take place only by means of the body.

Following this interpretation, the meaning of the first line will be that in adorning the body, in putting on it the robe of honor of wounds, lovers remain happy. It's as if this meaning is the complete opposite of the previous meaning. No doubt it's true that this meaning is a bit difficult to arrive at, because the idiom is kisī kā ḥisāb karnā , not kisī ko ḥisāb honā . But the point is in any case established. It's an enjoyable verse.

In the [Sufi] terminology, ḳhalʿ-e badan is the action by means of which the spirit becomes imaginatively separated from the body and wanders around taking a tour through the worlds. This activity is mentioned in a number of the world's ancient cultures. In neither of Mir's two verses has this term been used in its technical meaning. [Various Urdu dictionaries do not contain the sense in which Mir has used the term.]

{1714,4}

Notes:

S. R. Faruqi:

FWP: