Ghazal 179, Verse 3

Nazm:

To demand a number of hearts is a rare/choice eloquence, and this has made the verse rare/choice [naadir]. (202)

== Nazm page 202

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, 'If such an abundance of sorrow and grief had been written in my destiny, then, oh Lord, in hearts too-- instead of one, if only you had bestowed on me ten or twenty!' So much grief can't be contained in one heart. Its rareness/choiceness of expression is worthy of praise. (261)

Bekhud Mohani:

The first excellence of this verse is that he demands a number of hearts, and this is a new idea. The second excellence is that 'this much' [itnaa] is only 'this much' of a word, but in this verse, to envision the expanse of its meaning is impossible. It doesn't tell us how much the grief is, but says that it's 'this much', such that for enduring it a number of hearts are necessary. Within the scope of 'this much', the extremest grief of passion, and the greatest possible grief of daily living [rozgaar]-- all this is included. (357)

Mihr:

Compare {62,6}. (225)

FWP:

SETS == BHI; EXCLAMATION

Bekhud Mohani outdoes himself on this verse-- his analysis of 'this much' is excellent. He says we can form no concept of the amount of grief, and basically he's right; but we do get a small bit of help from 'even/also' [bhii]. Since the lover asserts that he should have been given 'several' or 'some' or 'a number of' hearts 'as well', we can deduce that he has already been given 'a number of' times the normal individual amount of grief.

Mihr suggests a comparison with {62,6}, in which the lover longs for 'a number of' not hearts but 'pure-blood-scattering eyes'. That image becomes grotesque, while the present verse does not: the extra hearts would be internal, and also we're not really made to envision them in any physical detail.