Ghazal 66, Verse 5

Nazm:

In this verse hāñ is not in its own place-- it's the place of kyūñ . (66)

== Nazm page 66

Bekhud Dihlavi:

In this verse the word hāñ has been used by way of an attention-getter, before addressing the Sky. This hāñ has no connection with affirmation; that is, it's not the opposite of nahīñ . He wanted to make to the Sky the complaint that the one dying was young, he hadn't reached his natural lifespan. 'If he had remained alive for some days more, what harm would it have done you?' (114)

Bekhud Mohani:

[Contrary to Nazm's assertion,] in this verse hāñ has been used in its own place. From it, sir, we learn the absorption and immersion in mourning. As though some people would be seated, and the master of the house would be absorbed in some thought. When his absorption lessened, he would begin his speech with hāñ .... It also sometimes happens that if sophisticated people complain to someone of some important matter, then they don't begin all at once; first they speak of this and that, then often they begin the complaint with hāñ . (147)

FWP:

SETS
SKY {15,7}

For general comments on this most unusual ghazal, see {66,1}.

This is one of the very rare times in the whole divan that a 'real person' (rather than a literary or symbolic figure) is mentioned by name. A few verses later, in {66,8}, we find another such reference, to Arif's friend Naiyar.

The Sky's ancientness and Arif's youth are juxtaposed as forcefully as possible: in the first line, we find the cleverly framed sequence 'ancient young' [pīr javāñ]. The term pīr also has associations of venerableness and mystic insight. It is the proper role of a pīr to teach and guide the young, not to cut them off in their prime. These associations are further emphasized through the name Arif; an ʿārif is a possessor of (mystical) knowledge.

The idiomatic hāñ charms the commentators, though they struggle to express its exact nuances. I was taught to consider it as something like 'indeed'-- a way of introducing a new subject, or a new aspect of a previous subject, such that it feels like another stage of an ongoing discussion. Thus this introductory hāñ turns the verse into part of a continuing dialogue between Ghalib and the Sky; it gives the air of pressing home with an additional argument some other point that has already been urged.

Note for grammar fans: terā kyā bigaṛtā is an idiomatic expression that seems to have a missing masculine noun, like kām or muʿāmalah . Compare {100,1}, in which bāt bigaṛnā appears; and also {36,8}, in which bigaṛnā is used without an object.