ai bah saraab-e ;husn-e ;xulq tishnah-e sa((ii-e imti;haa;N
shauq ko munfa((il nah kar naaz ko iltijaa samajh
1) oh you [who are], through/with the mirage of 'beauty of disposition', thirsty for an attempt at testing,
2) don't cause ardor to be ashamed/afflicted-- consider coquetry/pride [to be] a prayer/plea!
sa((ii : 'Endeavour, attempt; exertion, effort; enterprise, essay; purpose'. (Platts p.661)
;husn-e ;xulq : 'Excellence of disposition; a good disposition'. (Platts p.477)
munfa((il : 'Done, performed; made; — suffering or receiving the effect (of an act), affected (by); disturbed, afflicted; — abashed, ashamed, bashful'. (Platts p.1079)
naaz : 'Blandishment, coquetry, playfulness, amorous playfulness, feigned disdain; dalliance, toying; fondling, coaxing, soothing or endearing expression; — pride, conceit, consequential airs, whims'. (Platts p.1114)
iltijaa : 'Fleeing to (one) for relief or protection, taking refuge (with); refuge, protection; entreaty, petition, urgent request or prayer, solicitation, supplication'. (Platts p.74)
The address is universal-- that is, Oh you who are making an effort to test people's beauty of disposition, listen! People's beauty of disposition is trickery and more trickery. The testing of such beauty of disposition will bring no result except shame alone. Enough of it! Consider your ardor for testing the beauty of disposition to be an ardor for shame, to the beauty of disposition; and consider the self-regard (coquetry/pride) of being an examiner of creation to be an artificial self-regard. Because in this veil/guise she petitions you for beautiful treatment; in reality, it's not self-regard.
Oh lover, you have become suspicious that the beloved has become very well-conducted, and you are thirsty to test her. For the Lord's sake, avoid this-- don't make your ardor regret it! Consider the beloved's coquetry [naaz] to be humble submission [niyaaz] and prayer/petition. If you actually tested her, then you would learn that even now she is sharp-tempered. Your feeling of passion would, willy-nilly, become embarrassed. It's better to let your suspicion remain a suspicion, and not to put it to the proof. Between 'mirage' and 'thirsty' there is wordplay.
For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.
In other words, 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth'. The good behavior you see in the beloved is only a 'mirage'-- don't let it make you 'thirsty' to test it out! For if you discovered the truth, it would cause shame to your ardor-- shame at having exposed and humiliated the beloved, shame at having given your heart to such a duplicitous beloved in the first place. Instead, you should consider her (show of) coquetry/pride to be a plea; she is begging you not to put her to the test.
Of course, this is what the addressee should 'consider', this is what he should tell himself. The speaker knows perfectly well that the good behavior is a 'mirage', and he's advising the addressee (who may well be himself) to take it at face value anyway, for basically prudential reasons (to avoid pain and shame). Thus the lover should try to persuade himself somehow that the beloved's naaz is really niyaaz , as Gyan Chand puts it. (On the use of samajhnaa as 'to consider', see {90,3}.)
We all know at first hand how this process works. 'Still I look to find a reason to believe.'
Asi:
Oh you who who have fallen into the trickery of the beauty of disposition of the hand, and are thirsty for an attempt at testing-- that is, who are absorbed in the absurd/meaningless longing for testing-- why do you cause your ardor to be embarrassed? To make any prayer to her is profitless and useless. And if you want this very thing, then it's enough simply to consider the coquetry of the friend/beloved to be your prayer; everything else is profitless.
== Asi, p. 211