1740_09

{1740,9}

kyā dil-kash hai bazm jahāñ kī jāte yāñ se jise dekho
vuh ġham-dīdah ranj-kashīdah āh sarāpā ḥasrat hai

1a) how heart-attracting is the gathering of the world! -- whomever you would see going from here
1b) as if it is heart-attracting, the gathering of the world! -- whomever you would see going from here
1c) is it heart-attracting, the gathering of the world? -- whomever you would see going from here

2) he/she is grief-stricken, sorrow-afflicted-- ah, is entirely misery/longing!!

FWP:

SETS == KYA
MOTIFS == GATHERINGS
NAMES
TERMS

SRF did not choose to include this verse in SSA, but many years ago he suggested it to me for use as an example in Nets of Awareness (it appears in Chapter 8, p. 107). I've always been fond of it, so I decided to include it here.

It contains one of the most irresistible uses of the 'kya effect' that I've ever seen. Despite the yāñ , the speaker seems to be watching from outside as people leave some kind of a gathering or party. (I think of him as a spy or secret agent, trying to gather evidence.) The people leaving are all obviously miserable. That might prove that the party is delightful (everybody who has to leave hates to go), as in (1a). Or it might prove that the party is awful (such that all the guests are miserable, as we can see when they emerge), as in (1b). Or it might leave the observer uncertain (what does their misery really mean?), as in (1c).

The second line with its internal rhyme and swingy feeling is a pleasure in itself. It paints a picture of maximum, unrelieved misery, but it feels so cheerful as it does so! It leaves us feeling that there must be more to the story than that.

Along the same lines of concern with the pleasurableness (?) of life, compare Ghalib's

G{21,1}.

{1740,9}

Notes:

FWP: