Ghazal 101, Verse 5

{101,5}

vāʾe maḥrūmī-e taslīm-o-badā ḥāl-e vafā
jāntā hai kih hameñ t̤āqat-e faryād nahīñ

1) alas, deprivation/ill-fortune of submissiveness! and woe to the state/condition of faithfulness!
2) she considers that we don't have the strength for complaint

Notes:

maḥrūm [from which maḥrūmī comes]: 'Forbidden, prohibited; debarred, excluded (from hope, or favour); frustrated, disappointed, repulsed; denied, or refused (a gift, or good, or prosperity); deprived (of), plundered (of); deprived of the support of life; unlucky, unfortunate, wretched'. (Platts p.1008)

 

tasliim : 'Saluting, greeting; salutation, obeisance, homage... health, security;... surrender, resignation;... to concede, acknowledge, grant; to assent to, to accept'. (Platts p.324)

 

badā : 'Bad, wicked, &c.; --( bad , with the ā of the vocative) O wicked one! woe upon! (opp. to ḳhvushā ). (Steingass p.161)

Nazm:

That is, the patience/endurance that we practice, out of regard for contentment and faithfulness-- you consider that we don't have the strength to complain. (107)

== Nazm page 107

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, because of our habit of acceptance and faithfulness, we refrain from lament and complaint. But our beloved considers that we don't have the strength. For this reason, we have adopted a policy of silence. It's a pity that justice is not even done to our self-control. (158)

Bekhud Mohani:

Alas! What respect for acceptance and obedience and faithfulness! We show the mettle of acceptance and faithfulness on receiving her cruelty. And that cruel one considers that we are simply unable to complain. (208)

Josh:

A verse of Hazrat Dagh's is in the same tone as thie verse:

huʾe maġhrūr vuh jab āh merī be-aṡar dekhī
kisī kā is t̤araḥ yā rab nah dunyā meñ bharam nikle

[she became arrogant when she saw my sigh [to be] ineffective
in the world may nobody's illusion, oh Lord, be shown up in this way!] (199)

FWP:

SETS == EXCLAMATION; GENERATORS; IZAFAT

This verse, with its doubly inshāʾiyah first line, is a wonderfully complex display of iẓāfat pyrotechnics. For more on the iẓāfat , see {16,1}. Both maḥrūmī (which can be something the lover experiences, or something the beloved imposes on him) and taslīm (which can be something he does toward her, or something she does to him) have a remarkable range of meanings (see the definitions above).

When combined with the various possible iẓāfat uses, the possible meanings include these (and more, if we're willing to become more and more finicky about small subtleties of difference):

=Alas, for our being debarred from her acceptance!
=Alas, for our being denied the chance to humbly salute her!
=Alas, for our being deprived of well-being and security!
=Alas, for the wretchedness of our condition of submissiveness!
=Alas, for the deprivation which is caused by our obedience!
=Alas, for the deprivation which is the essence of obedience!

Then of course, ḥāl-e vafā has two major possibilities of its own:

=Woe to the state/condition of faithfulness!
=Woe to the state/situation in which faithfulness finds itself!

When we come to the second line, the double meaning of jān'nā as either 'to know [accurately]' or 'to consider, believe [perhaps wrongly]' provides the final touch of complexity. (For more on the possibilities of jān'nā, see {16,5}.) Depending on how we read the first line, one or the other of these two possibilities will connect with it perfectly:

=Alas, that she thinks we have no strength to complain (so she gives us no credit for our submissiveness, patience, etc.)!
=Alas, that she knows we have no strength to complain (so she feels free to maltreat and reject us)!

Counting all the permutations and combinations, that's really a staggering number of possible readings to generate with a mere thirteen words. Still, it's a rather static and perfunctory-feeling verse, with nothing much going on in it.

 

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