Ghazal 360x, Verse 1

Zamin:

a((yaan = flowers, ornaments [:zavaahir]. The poet's point seems to be that the sound of existence has become a means for the discernment of ornaments. The second line is as an illustration, such that he has called the discernment of ornaments the dregs of the wine of the voice because the voice (which he had already heard in a mystical state) had been recognized. Thus the way one blind from birth recognizes the voice of a friend/familiar, in the same way the recognition of ornaments has recalled to mind the fact that these ornaments are the dregs of the very same wine that we had at one time drunk in a mystical state.

== Zamin, p. 407

Gyan Chand:

In the poet's view, to identify through the voice is a lofty thing, and to recognize through the eyes is lower. If the voice would be considered 'wine', then sight/vision is its dregs. For a blind one, the voice of one who makes himself known is the greatest token of recognition. It is the 'collyrium of the eyes'-- that is, having heard the voice, the friend's face is, so to speak, 'seen'. rab:t-e tamiiz-e a((yaa;N = the relationship of seeing with the eyes and recognizing. The gist is that one ought to identify someone only/emphatically through the identity-revealing voice. If one would recognize someone by seeing his face, then this was a weak relationship.

== Gyan Chand, p. 406

FWP:

SETS == SYMMETRY
EYES {3,1}
WINE: {49,1}

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.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

Zamin goes completely wrong on this one, since he misinterprets a((yaa;N . Gyan Chand's reading makes excellent sense. But there's more to it than that. For one thing, in the ghazal world collyrium is the natural enemy of the voice. For discussion and examples of this very striking convention, see {44,1}.

To put collyrium on the eyes is comforting, soothing, reassuring, vision-enhancing. For someone who's blind, however, it cannot be so efficacious; for a blind person, the counterpart to 'collyrium of the eye' is the voice of a friend, which has the same effects; this is the reading of (2a). But equally, to put collyrium on the eyes enhances the vision; sometimes in the ghazal world it's even considered a cure for blindness. For someone who's blind, hearing the voice of a friend acts as collyrium (by enhancing the 'vision' and permitting recognition); this is the reading of (2b). These two readings are like Siamese twins: they can't be entirely separated from each other, but neither can they be entirely collapsed into each other.

As Gyan Chand notes, the first line strongly implies that seeing is inferior to hearing; vision is the 'dregs, lees' of the wine of the voice. It might be tempting to take this idea and run with it (orality over literacy, shruti over samriti, etc.). But don't. Images of vision, sight, insight are among Ghalib's favorites; images of hearing are much less common. This is just a single line, tailored for the context of a particular verse; and Ghalib didn't even choose to include the verse in his divan.