be-;xvud z-baskih ;xaa:tir-e be-taab ho ga))ii
mizhgaan-e baaz-maa;Ndah rag-e ;xvaab ho ga))ii
1) {to such an extent / although} the restless temperament became self-less
2a) the slackly-open eyelashes became the 'vein of sleep/dream'
2b) the 'vein of sleep/dream' became slackly-open eyelashes
baaz : 'adv. Back; again; — adj. Thrown back; open'. (Platts p.121)
maandah : 'Slow, tardy, inactive, sluggish; ... dull, languid; ... abated, allayed, lulled, slackened, relaxed; slack'. (Platts p.1073)
rag : '... — rag-e ;xvaabii kase bah dast uftaadan ( aamadan , aavardan , buudan ), To conquer, to subdue, resp. to be conquered or subdued'. (Steingass p.586)
When self-lessness turned the restlessness of the heart into peace, then through the onslaught of self-lessness and amazement, the eyelashes became the 'vein of sleep'-- that is, they became motionless.
rag-e ;xvaab = According to the [Persian dictionary] bahaar-e ((ajam , in the body of every person there are some places such that when they are grasped, complete unconsciousness comes. The rag-e ;xvaab is exactly this. My restless temperament, through an excess of restlessness, has become self-less and unconscious. Since through sleeplessness my eyelashes had been open, they became the rag-e ;xvaab -- that is, the veins that bring unconsciousness. If the rag-e ;xvaab would be grasped and pressed, then unconsciousness occurs.
SETS == BASKIH; IDIOMS; SYMMETRY
BEKHUDI: {21,6}
DREAMS: {3,3}
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
On the nuances of 'self-lessness', see {21,6}.
It's clear that Ghalib meant for the expression rag-e ;xvaab to be the focal point of the verse, since it's placed in the crucial, emphatic, closural position. It's clear that it had idiomatic meaning(s) in Persian (see the definition above). It's also clear that it was unfamiliar to Platts-- and to the commentators, so they had to do the best they could. (As a matter of medical fact, the carotid artery that passes through the neck does have the property that if it is compressed, unconsciousness very quickly results.)
Because the verse is so abstract, the imagery so obscure and rebarbative, it's hard to get much beyond the juxtaposition of the thin, fibrous eyelashes with the thin, fibrous 'vein' of sleep. Unsurprisingly, the commentators disagree; and their disagreement forms an excellent illustration of the interpretive possibilities of what I call 'symmetry' (if A=B, then B=A). To Zamin and Gyan Chand, the speaker's self-lessness has cured his restlessness-- thus his open eyelashes have become the 'vein of sleep' (2a). To Asi, the speaker is terminally restless-- thus his 'vein of sleep' has become open eyelashes (2b).
The two possible readings of z-baskih also, by no coincidence, encourage these two interpretations. We could read: 'To such an extent' the restless temperament became entranced/'self-less', that the very eyelashes became the 'vein of sleep' (2a). Or we could read: 'Although' the restless temperament became entranced/'self-less', its restlessness proved unconquerable: even the 'vein of sleep' became open eyelashes.
In Persian ;xvaab means basically 'sleep', but in Urdu it has a much stronger component of 'dream' as well. (To see the difference, take a look at the full definitions in both Steingass and Platts.) Might that possibility be meant to enter into our thoughts as well? Perhaps being 'self-less' is associated with some particular kind of dreaming?
Asi:
Since my heart is limitlessly restless and extremely agitated, even/also my 'vein of sleep' has become slackly-open eyelashes-- that is, my condition of sleep too has become wakefulness. The 'vein of sleep' is a term by which the connection of sleep, or the state of sleep, is intended.
== Asi, p. 281