Ghazal 74, Verse 3x

{74,3x}

chaar-suu-e dahr me;N baazaar-e ;Gaflat garm hai
((aql ke nuqsaa;N se u;Thtaa hai ;xayaal-e intifaa((

1) in the four-directions of the world, the market of/for heedlessness is 'hot'
2) from the loss/harm of intellect arises the thought of profit/benefit

Notes:

chauk : 'A quadrangle; a square; a court-yard; an open place in a town where the market is held (and where also the chief of the police-office is stationed); a daily market; the main street or central thoroughfare of a city'. (Platts p.452)

 

;Gaflat : 'Unmindfulness, forgetfulness, neglectfulness, negligence, neglect, inattention, heedlessness, inadvertence, remissness, carelessness'. (Platts p.771)

 

((aql : 'Intelligence, wisdom, sense, understanding, intellect, mind, reason, knowledge'. (Platts p.763)

 

nuqsaa;N : 'Defect; deficiency; loss; waste; detriment, injury, harm, damage; blemish; prejudice; mischief'. (Platts p.1146)

 

intifaa(( : 'Being benefited, deriving advantage; profit, advantage'. (Platts p.87)

Asi:

That is, in every corner of the world the bazaar of heedlessness is 'hot', and the people of the world/age are heedless. These wretches don't understand that the reality of the thought of profit is only this much: that in this age, because of the harm of intellect, it arises. Beyond this, it has no existence.

== Asi, p. 139

Zamin:

chaar suu = chauk baazaar . ((aql kii nuq.saan = a lack/shortage of intellect

That is, in the bazaar of the world there is a 'hot market' in heedlessness because where there is a deficiency of intellect, there the thought of profit has kept departing.

== Zamin, p. 203

Gyan Chand:

In the world, in every direction heedlessness has free rein. People are not making use of intellect. In the 'loss of intellect'-- that is, in unintelligent/unwise ideas-- they consider there to be profit. From what ground does the 'thought of profit' grow? From unintelligence/unwisdom, and this is short-sightedness.

== Gyan Chand, p. 232

FWP:

SETS == IZAFAT
COMMERCE: {3,3}

For background see S. R. Faruqi's choices. This verse is NOT one of his choices; I thought it was interesting and have added it myself. For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.

I was wondering why there were only 'four directions' here, when Ghalib usually likes to have six (by including up and down), as for example in {41,4}. But then Zamin helpfully identified the (Persian) 'four directions' as chauk baazaar (see the definition above). Many North Indian cities have a market called Chauk, based on the idea of four corners and/or a crossroads, which can also suggest a kind of 'main street' market.

The verse makes a truly enjoyable use of i.zaafat constructions (and the ke ). First of all, what happens in a baazaar-e ;Gafla:t , a market 'of' heedlessness? Is 'heedlessness' a form of merchandise? Is it a characteristic of the merchants? Or is it like a dark cloud that envelops the whole area and everything that happens there?

And then, there are several ways-- all of them bleak-- to read the second line:

=Because people have suffered a loss of intellect, they heedlessly think they are acting profitably when they are not.

=Only because of a loss of intellect do people think there even exists such a thing as 'profit'; this is their heedlessness.

=Because of the harm done by intellect/knowledge (as in the bitter {201,8}), people decide they would be better off with heedlessness.