24_08

{24,8}

nah de nāme ko itnā t̤ūl ġhālib muḳhtaṣar likh de
kih ḥasrat-sanj hūñ ʿarẓ-e sitamhā-e judāʾī kā

1) don't give the letter so much length, Ghalib, write {an abstract / briefly}
2) that 'I am a longing-measurer of the breadth/petition of the tyrannies of separation'

Notes:

muḳhtaṣar : 'Abridged, curtailed, abbreviated, contracted; concise; small; --a compendium, abridgment, an epitome; an abstract; a digest; --adv. In short, briefly'. (Platts p.1011)

ḥasrat : 'Grief, regret, intense grief or sorrow; —longing, desire'. (Platts p.477)

sanj : 'Weigher, measurer; examiner (used as last member of compounds, e.g., naġhmah-sanj or tarānah-sanj , s.m., A measurer of sounds, i.e. a musician; --suḳhan-sanj , s.m. A weigher of words; an orator; a poet)'. (Platts p.681)

ʿarẓ : 'Presenting or representing; representation, petition, request, address; --(v.n. fr. 'to be broad'), s.m. Breadth, width; (in Geog.) latitude; --a military muster, a review'. (Platts p.760)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

Nazm:

In Persian sanjīdan means 'to weigh' and 'to make measured/harmonious'. Thus navā-sanj , naġhmah-sanj , zamzamah-sanj , tarānah-sanj , nuktah-sanj are all familiar constructions and are on the lips of correct speakers. But later connoisseurs of the language and their followers, like Bedil, etc., have begun to formally versify ārzū-sanj , ḥasrat-sanj , shikvah-sanj as well, and this is not free of artificiality [taṣannuʿ].

== Nazm page 26

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, 'Oh Ghalib, when you lengthen the letter by writing all kinds of laments and all types of complaints, what's the point? Write a shortish sentence, that I have in my heart a longing to express the tyrannies of separation and the suffering of being apart.' (51)

Josh:

The meaning of ḥasrat-sanj is 'one who has a longing'. From sanjīdan to make sanj is proper for navā and na:gmah , but now shikvah-sanj , ḥasrat-sanj , etc. too are widely used. In short, to present the tyrannies of separation. The theme of the verse is clear. (87)

Arshi:

Compare {132,7}. (256)

FWP:

SETS == POETRY
WRITING: {7,3}

Ghalib has done an elegant thing with sanj and ʿarẓ , by exploiting the wide range of their meanings (see the definitions above). The lover adjures himself to cut to the chase, to describe the essence of his situation. He then depicts himself as either a strange kind of surveyor (a 'longing-measurer' of 'breadths') or a strange kind of expert judge (a 'longing-examiner' of 'petitions'). In other words, even when the lover urges himself to make a brief, pithy [muḳhtaṣar] abstract or statement of his situation, the result remains elusive. The lover wraps up his whole life within a single claim to a terrible kind of expertise: he's a professional assessor of suffering.

The objection that Nazm makes is that sanj is traditionally used with words evoking music or sound (as can be seen from Platts's examples too). Thus it can easily be used for a 'measurer' of the pace of music, or the metrical rhythm of poetry. But here it has been applied by extension to 'sorrow, longing, desire', which have no musical flow or poetic meter (unless the poet 'writes them in'). Nazm disapproves, but how much do we care? It's like criticizing Shakespeare for his neologisms.