mujhe junūñ nahīñ ġhālib vale
bah qaul-e ḥuẓūr
firāq-e yār meñ taskīn ho to kyūñkar ho
1) I'm not mad, Ghalib, but, in the words of His
Majesty,
2) 'in separation from the beloved, if there would be peace/comfort, then how would
[it] occur/be?'
taskīn : 'Calming, stilling, tranquillizing, appeasing, soothing, allaying, assuaging; consolation, comfort, mitigation, rest, assurance, peace (of mind'. (Platts p.324)
He says, 'Oh Ghalib, I am not insane, that I should willy-nilly remain restless and agitated! But in the words of Huzur (Huzur refers to the Shadow of God, Bahadur Shah II, with the pen-name of Zafar, the last king of Delhi, and this second line is his), in separation from the beloved, no means for peace comes to mind-- if there would be peace, then how would it be?' (190)
Don't think that my restlessness is a sign of madness. I haven't gone mad. But I'm separated from the beloved. How would I not writhe in pain? (254)
This [second] line is Bahadur Shah Zafar's; probably some mushairah had been held with this as a pattern-line. In Ghalib’s first line ḥuẓūr refers to the King, Zafar. (249)
On the ambiguities of kyūñkar , see {125,1}.
There's not much to be said about this one, is there? It forms a graceful frame for Zafar's line. I tracked down Zafar's original opening-verse (p. 412 in the 4th vol., 'Kulliyat-e Zafar' (Delhi: Bismah Kitab Ghar, 2002)):
na.siib-e va.sl tumhaaraa kaho to kyuu;Nkar ho
firaaq-e yaar me;N taskiin ho to kyuu;Nkar ho
[the destiny of union with you-- tell me, how would [it] occur/be?
in separation from the beloved, if there would be peace, then how would [it]
occur/be?]
Although Nazm makes a point of how difficult and intractable this ground is, Zafar has not only the 11-verse ghazal cited above, but also
=a 9-verse one in the same meter (G5) (p.248 in the 2nd vol.),
rhyme ūr ; refrain ho to kyūñkar
ho
=a 9-verse one (p.251 in the 2nd vol.) in meter G2, rhyme at
; refrain ho to kyūñkar ho
=an 8-verse one (p.578 in the 2nd vol.) in meter G2, rhyme at
; refrain ho to kyūñkar ho
=a 9-verse one (p.582 in the 2nd vol.) in meter G5, rhyme ar
; refrain dil ko nah ho kyūñkar nah ho
=a 7-verse one (pp. 582-83 in the 2nd vol.) in meter G2, rhyme ānah
; refrain ho to kyūñkar ho
These were the ones I found in a cursory search (the book
has no index). The obvious point is that Zafar, a fine poet in his own way, apparently had no trouble working with this meter and these rhyming
elements. So why would Ghalib have any trouble? Very often such alleged difficulties seem to exist only in the eye of the (much later) beholder.
Nazm:
The second line is Huzur's, and the ground is a commanded [farmāʾishī] one in which rhymes are lacking. The author has achieved a wonder: he fulfilled the command in this ground. But it should be remembered that for an accomplished Ustad, everything is all right [ravā]. Otherwise, it's better to avoid rhymes like [the ones in this ghazal]. (135)
== Nazm page 135