FWP:
SETS == IDIOMS
MADNESS: {14,3}
ABOUT hī sahī : It's impossible to find one single satisfactory translation
for such a protean idiomatic expression as hī sahī
. (Even separately, both parts of it are thoroughly flexible and idiomatic; see the definitions above.) Here are some of the possible translations: 'indeed'; 'at least'; 'even if'; 'in any
case'; 'so be it'; 'let it be so' (as an assumption). For the purposes of
the present ghazal, my solution has been to translate the expression in one of these
ways, but to italicize the translation, to emphasize the colloquialness of
the original. (Compare its mirror image, nah sahī ,
which I've treated similarly in {175}.)
Wherever the commentators have used forms of the expression while discussing
this ghazal, I have shown the original Urdu. Ghalib himself declared sahī expressions untranslatable:
see {148,10}. Other verses that use the same
idiomatic hī sahī : {9,4}; {91,4},
{228,9}. For discussion of other sahī
expressions, see {9, 4}.
This ghazal is in a relatively short meter, and the refrain, hī sahī , while not unduly long, is conspicuous and powerful. It is emphatic both in its sounds (with the two mutually echoing hī syllables) and in its vigorous, argumentative colloquialness. Thus it stands out very markedly, and clever use of it constitutes one of the chief pleasures of the ghazal.
The first line, as the commentators note, seems to sarcastically echo something that the beloved has just said. (This effect of being in the midst of a vigorous argument is created largely by hī sahī .) The beloved has apparently said that what the lover feels is not passion, but merely (?) madness. He responds somewhat snarkily that even if that's true, at least she gets some advantage out of it. The advantage she gets out of it is 'fame' (or perhaps 'notoriety'; see the definition above).
The commentators suggest that this fame takes the form of gossip about her devastating beauty and its power to drive men mad. But of course, we're reminded also of the power of poetry-- think for example of Shakespeare's Sonnet 55 and Sonnet 60, which promise the beloved immortal fame through the sheer force of their own words. (For another verse along these lines, see {208,5}.)
The second line is so compressed-- it dispenses even with
a verb-- that it achieves a kind of sublime crypticness. After all, what is
the relationship between 'my madness' and 'your fame'? The multifariousness
of hī sahī leaves us ample room to frame our own
possibilities. The repetition of vaḥshat , and its partial echo in shuhrat , help to focus our attention. And doesn't shuhrat leave open the possibility that the beloved herself may be involved in spreading these rumors?
Nazm:
That is, upon my expressing passion, you say, 'You've gone mad!' I'm mad in such a way that my response is, [the verse]. (156)
== Nazm page 156