Ghazal 27, Verse 6

Nazm:

That is, airs and graces are a claim that demands the heart. I didn't even let the occasion for the claim arise. (28)

== Nazm page 29

Vajid:

Urdu text: Vajid 1902 {27}

Bekhud Dihlavi:

To say that airs and graces are seeking out the heart and making a claim is a new kind of invention. The meaning is that on her side the airs and graces had as yet not even begun; even before them I offered up my heart. The second pleasure of thought in this verse is that I became a lover merely of beauty, which was in a state of simplicity. Not even airs and graces, which are considered the adornment of beauty, were necessary to overpower me. (57)

Bekhud Mohani :

The beloved's showing airs and graces is as if to make a claim of the heart. We are a lover of beauty, and a perfect beholder of beauty wherever it is visible. We offered our heart. We couldn't wait for the claim. (71)

FWP:

SETS == KAHAN

There's a nice doubleness in hame;N dimaa;G kahaa;N , which can be either a question, or a scornful exclamation. Literally (2a), where indeed would the speaker have a mind or desire for the 'claim' or 'dunning' or 'importunity' of beauty, after he had already given up his heart in the very first moment? In the absence of his heart, where would this mood or desire even be located? And in its idiomatic sense (2b), the expression is something like 'who needs that?!' or 'how could we put up with that?!' For another example of this idiomatic use, see {68,3}. (The idiomatic compound verb de bai;Thnaa suggests stubbornness and firm determination.)

Does the lover surrender his heart so quickly and absolutely, 'from' or 'through' (reading se as instrumental) the very first airs and graces (1a), because he couldn't stand it if Beauty had to dun him, or importune him, or nag him, or otherwise press its claim on him? Such an ordeal would be humiliating both for Beauty (since it shouldn't have to go to such lengths to receive the homage that is its due), and for the lover (since he shouldn't be so dilatory or reluctant, like a debtor trying to escape from a creditor).

Or does the lover surrender his heart so quickly and absolutely 'before' (reading se pahle hii ) any airs and graces at all (1b), because he finds 'airs and graces' and other explicit signs of the 'claim' of beauty distasteful, and wants to avoid being subjected to them? Perhaps he feels that flirtatiousness or coquetry on the beloved's part is somehow beneath her dignity-- she should command or ignore, but not flirt. Perhaps Beauty should just 'be', and not lower itself to make any overt 'claim'. Thus the lover has no 'mind' to put up with this; he will do anything necessary to spare her, and himself, the humiliating parade of 'airs and graces'.

For another example of the possibilities of taqaa.zaa , see {24,5}.