1791_02

{1791,2}

saʿī-o-talāsh bahut sī rahegī is andāz ke kahne kī
ṣuḥbat meñ ʿulamā fuẓalā kī jā kar paṛhye gunyegā

1) the 'effort and pursuit' of composing in this style will remain considerable
2) go into the company of the learned and the accomplished, and recite, and praise/judge/practice it

Notes:

saʿī : 'Endeavour, attempt; exertion, effort; enterprise, essay; purpose'. (Platts p.661)

talāsh : 'Search, quest; scrutiny; study, research; pursuit'. (Platts p.333)

gun'nā : 'To praise, laud; —to think upon, consider, judge of; —to put in practice, to practise'. (Platts p.919)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

S. R. Faruqi:

For this verse Mir has adopted such a peerless rhyme-word that that even Amr' ul-Qais would have been proud of it. The meanings of gun'nā are as follows: to praise, to admire, to meditate upon, to pronounce judgment upon, to practice. Every single one of these meanings is suitable to the situation.

Then, notice that in the opening-verse [{1791,1}] it's mentioned that people will pass through the streets reciting Mir's poetry, or will recite it with ardor and taste in their homes. That is, it will have the aspect of universal acceptance, and lovers of his poetry will, in memory of him or in ardor for the poetry, beat their heads.

Now in the second verse it's being said that you people will perform the 'effort and pursuit' of composing poetry in my style, or of those who compose poetry in my style. Then, in order to understand the beauty of my poetry, to examine it, and to learn the methods of praising it, you will go to learned ones and accomplished ones. That is, this poetry is not such that every random person would be able to understand and examine its excellences.

The ambiguity of the addressee in both verses is also fine, because the addressee can be the beloved, or a friend or companion, or a Rival, or the people of the world.

FWP:

SETS == POETRY
MOTIFS
NAMES
TERMS

This verse and the previous one, {1791,1}, seem to constitute almost an informal 'verse-set'; for discussion see {1791,1}.

In this verse ʿulamā is obviously not a religious term, but simply a way to refer to learned people (it's of course the Arabic plural of ʿālim , one who possesses ʿilm ).

The emphasis on 'effort and pursuit' [saʿī-o-talāsh] is further evidence of the absurdity of the 'natural poetry' vision of Mir as a pathetic 'innocent' who would simply weep out his own personal suffering and would never stoop (!) to any kind of artifice. Here, Mir makes it entirely clear that composing poetry in his style is a matter of 'effort and pursuit', and will continue to be so after his death. He emphasizes the need for technical judgment and mutual discussion among the 'learned and accomplished'. In other words, his poetry was made through work and skill, not through tears and sorrow.

The talāsh is often envisioned as the 'search' for fresh themes and fresh words.