141_08x

{141,8x}

pahluu tihii nah kar ;Gam-o-andoh se asad
dil vaqf-e dard rakh kih faqiiro;N kaa maal hai

1) do not withdraw/'make empty' your side/flank from grief and sorrow, Asad
2) keep the heart as an endowment of pain, since it is the property/wealth of faqirs

Notes:

tihii : 'Empty, void, vacant, vain'. (Platts p.348)

vaqf : 'A bequest or legacy for pious purposes, a religious or charitable endowment (as habitations for the poor, books for the use of learned men, &c.)'. (Platts p.1197)

maal : 'Riches, money, property, wealth, possessions, merchandise, stock, goods, effects, estate; rent or revenue (from land)'. (Platts p.982)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

Asi:

Oh Asad, do not withdraw your side from sorrow and grief, and don't save/spare your heart. Rather, make it an endowment for pain, because it is the property of faqirs, and an endowment is no one's possession. That is, as far as possible; through sorrow and grief is the existence of the heart.

== Asi, p. 219

Zamin:

pahluu tihii karnaa = To fall short in doing some task. He says, your heart is the property of faqirs, and the property of faqirs is the property of an endowment. If grief and sorrow want to make use of this property, then don't avoid them.

== Zamin, p. 326

Gyan Chand:

pahluu tihii karnaa = To avoid. The 'people of the heart' [ahl-e dil] are usually darveshes, they are 'people of pain'. That is, they keep/maintain the pain of passion. Oh Asad, don't withdraw yourself from pain. Let pain remain in the heart, because the capital of mystically-knowing people of the heart is only/emphatically pain of the heart.

== Gyan Chand, p. 335

FWP:

SETS

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 For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.

This was apparently an earlier closing-verse, omitted from the divan in favor of {141,7}. In this case it's easy to see why Ghalib might have made such a choice, for he replaced this uninspired closing-verse with a superb one.