Ghazal 286x, Verse 2

Asi:

What the hell-- that person who would be a traveler on the road of amazement, what prospect is there of his return, and how can he turn back? The heedless ones, considering it unconcious, are sprinkling water on the mirror. The custom is that when someone faints, they sprinkle water on his face, so that he would return to consciousness. For this reason he says, 'I have not fainted, such that I would return again to consciousness. Now my return is impossible.'

There's also the custom that when a traveler sets out on a journey, those close to him take the necessary omens for his coming back: they sprinkle water on a mirror, so that he would come back as they desire. For this reason he says 'The heedless ones have considered that I will come back-- although the travelers of amazement never come back, and never at all return to consciousness from this faint'.

== Asi, p. 121

Zamin:

That is, the travelers of the valley of amazement never turn back and come home. The mirror too is among those very travelers. People suspect the mirror's amazement to be a faint, and sprinkle water, and want to awaken it; they are heedless (uncomprehending).

The simile is good, but the theme is meaningless, because it is not the custom to sprinkle water on a mirror; a mirror is polished and made clear. Through the sprinkling of water, a mirror 'sleeps' more deeply, it becomes blind.

== Zamin, p. 173

Gyan Chand:

aab bar aa))iinah re;xtan = In Iran, the custom is that when someone goes on a trip, behind him they place leaves on a mirror and sprinkle water on them; and this is an omen that he would come back safe and well. It's possible that for fainting too this custom might be brought into practice.

== Gyan Chand, p. 202

FWP:

SETS == KAHAN; SUBJECT?
MIRROR: {8,3}
ROAD: {10,12}

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.

On the nature of ;hairat , see {51,9x}.

A mirror is an emblem of 'amazement' because it helplessly 'gazes', in a state of complete prostration and immobility. So perhaps the mirror might be the subject-- it might be considered to be 'traversing the road of amazement'. Apparently its absolute immobility gives it the appearance of being in a faint or swoon, so that ignorant, 'heedless' people sprinkle water on it to revive it.

Alternatively, if we take the subject to be some (Sufistic) lover overcome by 'amazement', then it might be that the traveler on the 'road of amazement' seems merely to have fallen into a faint; well-intentioned bystanders might believe that the leave-taking ritual of sprinkling water on a mirror to bring the traveler back safely, could similarly 'bring back' the traveler from such a faint. Or perhaps-- more plausibly-- to revive him, they sprinkle water on the amazement-frozen, stupefied 'mirror' of his face.

But in any case the remedy is doomed to fail; that kahaa;N in the first line is a sort of negative rhetorical exclamation. (Compare its use in, for example, {4,1}.) As if there could be any such return! Of course there couldn't! Where/how could such a thing take place?! The traveler can no more 'come back' to normal life than the mirror can 'recover' from its swoon.