21_07

{21,7}*

dimāġh-e ʿit̤r-e pairāhan nahīñ hai
ġham-e āvāragīhā-e ṣabā kyā

1) [I/we] have no mind/taste/nose for the perfume of the garment

2a) what grief is there, over the wanderingnesses of the breeze?
2b) what grief there is, over the wanderingnesses of the breeze!
2c) as if there were any grief over the wanderingnesses of the breeze!

Nazm:

If the breeze were not a wanderer and disturber, then the scents of all the flowers would collect in one place. But the poet says that he has no mind/heart for the scent of a garment. What does he care about the wandering disposition of the breeze? He who feels no desire for the world, why would he grieve over the faithlessness of the world? (22)

== Nazm page 22

Vajid:

Urdu text: Vajid 1902 {21}

Bekhud Dihlavi:

I don't care for the scent of the beloved's garment, on which Others have put perfume. If the breeze comes from the Rival's street, bearing the scent of perfume on a garment, then what's it to me? The word 'wandering' tells us that the breeze has come from the Rival's street. (45)

Bekhud Mohani:

It's possible that he might have said this to some critical friend, or to the Rival, or to the beloved herself. We ought not to consider that the lover has renounced passion. Such words emerge from a person's tongue at times when complaint reaches a limit, and apparently no hope remains. (54)

FWP:

SETS == GENERATORS; IDIOMS; KYA

As usual in this ghazal, the second line with its refrain of kyā opens up a multitude of possible relationships with the first line (see {21,1} for more on this).

(2a) I {am in no mood / have no 'nose'} for the perfume of the (wanton, inaccessible) beloved's garment. So what is this grief that I feel over the fickle behavior of the breeze, when it blows the perfume indiscriminately all around, to the Rivals and everybody else as well as to me; or when it blows the perfume away from me entirely? Another reading would be as a yes-or-no question: 'Do I feel any grief?'

(2b) What grief I feel over the fickle behavior of the breeze! It blows the perfume all over, to everyone else as well as to me; or it blows the perfume away from me entirely. Therefore, I {am in no mood / have no 'nose'} for the perfume of the garment.

(2c) I {am in no mood / have no 'nose'} for the perfume of the garment-- as if I care whether the wind blows the perfume toward me, or away from me, or to the Rivals, or all over the place!

At the heart of this verse is the multivalent word dimāġh (see the definition above). Its range of normal meanings centers on 'mind, intellect', but idiomatically to say mujhe dimāġh nahīñ is somewhat like saying 'I have no taste for, I'm not in the mood for'. And then of course, an additional, perfect, punchy meaning here is what Platts calls 'the organ of smell' (perhaps he considered the word 'nose' to be vulgar). The verse thus gets maximum mileage out of a single perfect word. For more on dimāġh , see {11,2}.

'Wanderingnesses' seems a bit hyperbolic, but perhaps it's meant to emphasize how extremely fickle the breeze is. For other examples of such pluralized abstractions, see {1,2}.

Ghazal 21, Verse 7