211_06x

{211,6x}

sunbulī-ḳhvāñ hai bah żauq-e tār-e gesū-e darāz
nālah-e zanjīr-e majnūñ rishtah-dār-e naġhmah hai

1) it is a 'sunbuli'-singer, with the relish/taste of/for the strands/'strings' of long curls/ringlets
2) the lament of the chains of Majnun is a relation/'string-possessor' of melody

Notes:

sunbul : 'A plant of sweet odour, spikenard (to which the Persians compare the locks of a mistress); — the hyacinth; maiden-hair

;xvaan : 'Reading, reciting, singing, chanting; — reader, reciter; chanter, &c. (used in comp.)'. (Platts p.495)

rishtah : 'Thread, string, line; series; connexion, relationship, kin; relation by blood or marriage; alliance, affinity; ... — rishtah-dār , Relation, kinsman; a dependent'. (Platts p.593)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

Asi:

sunbulī and ʿamal-e gesū are the names, in music, of two voices or two mouths. And sunbul is also used as a simile for gesū . The idea of the verse is based on this verbal wordplay. He says that the sound of Majnun's chains is , so to speak, a relation of melody; that is, it mingles with melody and is close to it, because it too is a sunbulī-ḳhvān of the memory of the long tresses of the beloved. On the one hand sunbul , gesū-e sunbulī , zanjīr have a relationship; on the other hand rishtah , tār , naġhmah , sunbulī have one as well. All these are verbal wordplay-- and that's it [aur bas]. (261)

Zamin:

sunbulī is the name of a rāginī . That is, the lament of Majnun's chains, in memory of the strands/strings of Laila's curls, sings the raga of sunbulī . It is, so to speak, a relation of the melody. sunbulī , z̤ulf, tār , rishtah are words with a ẓilʿa . (376)

Gyan Chand:

sunbulī = a musical tune. sunbul-ḳhvāñ = a singer of sunbulī . Similarly there is another raga, ((amal gesuu , that according to 'Bahar-e ajam' is the Hindustani raga Dhanasri. Majnun has a taste for the strands of Laila's long hair. The sound that is created by his chains is singing the raga sunbulī . Since Majnun had a taste for gesū , and sunbulī has a similitude to gesū , the raga has been called sunbulī . He has called the lament 'a relation of melody'.

Among sunbulī -ḳhvān , tār, nālah , naġhmah there is wordplay; and on the other hand sunbul , tār , gesū have a relationship of wordplay.

== Gyan Chand, p. 379

FWP:

SETS
CURLS: {14,6}
MADNESS: {14,3}
MUSIC: {10,3}

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

On the distinctiveness of this ghazal, see {211,1}.

It's clear enough that the verse offers an enjoyably interlocking system of wordplay, as the commentators carefully explain. Asi then wraps it up somewhat dismissively: sab murāʿāt-e lafz̤ī haiñ -- aur bas . I love that aur bas ! I'm inclined to agree with him. Even the most elegant tangles of wordplay, if they have hardly any meaning behind them, are low-power work for a poet like Ghalib. (Another such example: {211,7x}.)

Majnun doesn't even spend much time chained up as a madman, in most stories, so even the minimal theme itself seems a bit forced.