Ghazal 398x, Verse 6

Zamin:

i;hraam-e fusurdan baa;Ndhe = would become cold.... kisii kaam kaa i;hraam baa;Ndhnaa = to do that task with full resolve and determination. Because after putting on the pilgrimage robe, doing the Haj becomes absolutely necessary. This latter meaning, he has taken in the verse.

The gist is that heedlessness has deprived them of the heat of passion-- otherwise, what stone is there in which a spark is not hidden? That is, what heart is there in which the fire of passion would not be hidden? For this the poet says, 'Perhaps the illusion of heedlessness would become cold'-- that is, the thought would emerge from the heart that 'I am deficient in obtaining mystical knowledge', so something would be done. For the spark of passion to be lit in the heart is the finding of that same light of mystical knowledge.

Another interpretation is that as long as in the heart there's the illusion that we can do nothing, for that long we can do nothing. If this cold-thinking and lowness of courage would be banished, then in the heart the heat of the relish for action will certainly arise, since by nature mankind has been created to do work, not to remain idle and downhearted.

== Zamin, p. 444

Gyan Chand:

i;hraam baa;Ndhnaa = to form an intention or resolve. i;hraam-e fusurdan baa;Ndhnaa = to prepare to wither and disappear. Toward what has 'heedlessness' come to exist-- toward beauty, or toward passion? The verse can have two meanings.

1) If the beloved would have the illusion that people have no taste for beauty, that they show heedlessness toward her, then this suspicion ought to be removed. Within every stone a spark is hidden, and in every person's heart is the emotion of passion. It will show its style/color.

2) The illusion we have, that the beloved shows heedlessness toward us-- now it ought to be removed. Because in the heart of every stone there is a spark. In our heart is the kind of flame that will definitely have an effect, and heedlessness will be overcome.

== Gyan Chand, pp. 464-465

FWP:

SETS == IDIOMS

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.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

For a discussion of 'spark within the stone' imagery, see {20,6}.

When Ghalib brings in an idiom, he almost always makes a point of using it in both its idiomatic and its literal sense. In this verse, the idiom i;hraam baa;Ndhnaa means 'to make a firm resolve'; this is because, as Zamin explains, once one has put on the pilgrimage-robe, it is religiously obligatory to do the Haj. The idiomatic sense is thus clear-- but since it's such a conspicuous, even obtrusive, idiom, surely there must be some role for the literal meaning as well? It seems that there ought to be, but if there is, I can't find it. The juxtaposition of the 'congealing, freezing' and the inner 'spark' is obvious, but how does the pilgrimage-robe fit in?

The highly abstract vahm-e ;Gafla:t is a wonderfully clever use of the i.zaafat . For vahm in particular has a range of meanings (see the definition above); but for convenience let's take it as 'illusion'. Here are some of the possible readings of such an 'illusion of heedlessness':

=The heedlessness is not real, it's merely illusory.

=Some illusion (nature unspecified) has been caused by heedlessness.

=There is a specific illusion called 'heedlessness'.

Moreover, the verse gives no hint either of who might be subject to this 'illusion', or of who might be showing this 'heedlessness'. The lover? The beloved? The universe? The stone?

These questions are in fact enjoyable. But the question mark next to i;hraam baa;Ndhnaa is not enjoyable; it's a sign that the young poet has not fully polished this verse.