Ghazal 230, Verse 2

Nazm:

The mirror of the heart has become henna [mih;Ndii]; that is, the longing for a sight has ground it up and turned its liver into blood. Having made the heart into a mirror, it then made it into henna. It's extremely contrived and devoid of pleasure. (259)

== Nazm page 259

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, the tension of the longing for sight had turned the heart into blood. Now it's as if it had become a mirror and risen into the hand of the idol intoxicated by henna, but even in her hands it is expressing her heedlessness. By 'intoxicated by henna' is meant a beloved who would have been transported outside herself by the ardor for applying henna. (316)

Bekhud Mohani:

[Disagreeing with Nazm:] About Janab [Nazm] Tabataba'i's commentary if the faculty of speech heads for the wilderness, then the pen has its finger on its teeth [in amazement]; and criticism turns its heart into blood.

It's like this: that this verse of Mirza's has no equal with respect to the beloved's self-regardingness and absorbedness in beauty. The meaning is clear, but only this confusion has come about in understanding and explaining it: that by some notable commentators the verse has not been correctly read. And the cause of the verse becoming an incoherent dream is this: that a number of gentlemen read bad-mast ;hinaa without the i.zaafat ....

The tension of the longing for a sight turns the hearts of those ardent for sight into blood. And the beloved has so much ardor for adornment that in her hands the mirror has turned into henna. That is, at no time does it leave her hand. And just such a thing he says at one more place: {98,9}. (475-76)

Faruqi:

The commentators have argued over time about whether between bad-mast and ;hinaa there's an i.zaafat or not. Maulana Arshi has written it without one. But there's also no doubt that meanings emerge from the verse with an i.zaafat also-- and good ones, too.... I've seen no commentary in which all possible meanings are entered. Thus here I note every meaning that has come into my mind. Some of them are not to be found in any commentary. It's possible that upon reflection even more meanings might emerge, but would not have come within my field of vision.

(1) The mirror too feels the longing to see the beloved's glory/appearance. The mirror also has many opportunities, because is often remains in the beloved's presence. But the beloved's glory/appearance is so brilliant that not even the mirror's eye can linger on it. The beloved's face is becoming rosy from the effects of wine. A mirror is before her. In the mirror the beloved's rosy face looks as if from the tension of the longing for a sight, the heart of the mirror would have turned to blood. In the hand of the wine-intoxicated beloved the mirror looks red like henna. This is the proof that the mirror's heart has turned to blood with the longing for a sight. The subtlety of the meaning is that usually the gaze of the mirror doesn't linger on the beloved because she is light from head to foot. But when through the effect of wine her face became rosy, then because of this redness the beloved's reflection comes into the mirror. (No i.zaafat .)

(2) Our heart is turning to blood, in the tension of the longing for a sight; for her part, the beloved has taken a mirror in her hand in such a way as if henna had been applied to her hand. That is, the way henna never leaves the hand, in the same way the mirror too doesn't leave her hand. Thus the mirror is interposed between her and me. If the mirror would be removed, then I would see her. I don't manage to see her; thus my heart is turning to blood in the tension of the longing for a sight. The beloved is intoxicated by the pride of beauty, thus he has called her 'intoxicated'. (No i.zaafat .)

(3) My heart, which has turned to blood in the tension of the longing for a sight, can be likened to a mirror in the hand of the intoxicated beloved. That is, when from the effect of wine the beloved's face would become rosy, then in the mirror its reflection would appear reddish, as if the mirror will turn red and become henna. My heart too, having turned to blood in this same tension, has taken on the color of henna. The affinity of the mirror and the heart is obvious. (No i.zaafat .)

(4) One the one hand there's our heart, which in the tension of the longing for a sight has turned to blood. On the other side there's the mirror, which has the astonishing good fortune to be in the hands of that intoxicated one. He has called the mirror 'henna' because it is becoming red with happiness that it is in the beloved's hands. And the proof of the mirror's redness is that the beloved's face is flushed with wine, and her face is reflected in the mirror. (No i.zaafat .)

(5) The beloved is intoxicated with henna, or through love of henna. That is, seeing her own henna-colored hands she is absorbed to such an extent that it's as if she has become intoxicated. Or she has so much ardor for applying henna that she can be called intoxicated in her ardor for henna. In the beloved's hand is a mirror. Her hands are red with henna; and the mirror of our heart, because of the tension of the longing for a sight, has turned to blood, and has become red. One mirror is in the hands of the idol intoxicated with henna; another mirror is our heart. (With an i.zaafat .)

(6) The beloved is intoxicated with henna (the meaning of this has been given above). This is a mirror of the fact that our heart, because of the tension of the longing for a sight, has turned to blood. (With an i.zaafat ).

(7) Henna is a mirror that is in the hands of the intoxicated one. That is, the beloved, who is drunk with the intoxication of wine, looks with pleasure at her hennaed hands as if she would be looking in a mirror. For our part, our heart has turned to blood with the tension of the longing for a sight. (No i.zaafat ).

(8) The beloved's face is rosy from the effect of wine. The effect of intoxication on her is so strong that when she looks at her own hennaed hands, she considers that she is looking at her face in a mirror. Thus henna is doing for the beloved the work of a mirror, and my heart is blood from the tension of the longing for sight-- also because I can't see her, and also because my heart too is red like her hands. If only she would have considered not her own hands, but rather my heart, to be a mirror! (No i.zaafat .)

(9) The heart is nothing. It's just a thing that has, through the tension of the longing for a sight, turned to blood. And the mirror is nothing, it's just henna on the hands of the intoxicated idol. In the mirror the beloved's face is reflected, thus it has become red like henna. Since its color is red, and it has become stupefied with the glory/appearance of the beloved and has become frozen and motionless, and it is in the beloved's hands, it is suitable to give it the simile of henna. (No i.zaafat .)

(10) The heart is nothing. It's just a thing that has, through the tension of the longing for a sight, turned to blood. And the mirror is nothing, except that when it is in the hands of that intoxicated one, then through embarrassment or happiness it becomes red like henna. (No i.zaafat .)

Just reflect a little, how unbridled and high-flying his imagination is-- but how strong is the youthful poet's grip on it.

== (1989: 363-66) [2006: 391-94]

FWP:

SETS == IZAFAT
HENNA: {18,4}
MIRROR: {8,3}
SOUND EFFECTS: {26,7}

I'm glad that Faruqi has done the heavy lifting on this one, since it's so abstract and vague. (My sympathies are divided between Faruqi's view and Nazm's.)

On the nature of henna, see {18,4}.

I'd just like to note the enjoyableness of the sound-sequence of bah dast-e but-e bad-mast . It's almost like a series of permutations; it makes the second line instantly striking. (Test it out, and see how much easier it is to absorb and memorize than the clumsy first line.) All those short, succinct, punchy words really have a bite to them. The sequence also nicely echoes kashmakash in the first line, with its own short a vowels and repeated consonants.

It's tempting to say that these sound patterns cleverly imitate the back-and-forth effects described in the verse, with the lover's blood-turned heart and the beloved's blood-red hennaed hands (on henna see {18,4}), and the question of what is the mirror and what does it reflect. But actually I think an inventive commentator could always come up with one or another such facile connection, so we should guard against over-reading.