Ghazal 352x, Verse 4

Zamin:

That is, through longing for union with a Pari, amazement is created; and amazement is a mirror. It's possible that one might take this mirror and be attached/joined to the Garden of Iram, which is the place of Paris.

Or else this: analogize the 'mirror-binding' (adornment) of the Pari of the region of longing, to the amazement of the 'mirror-binding' of the Garden of Iram-- that is, offer up the longing for a Pari as a tribute to 'amazement'.

bah aa))iin-e gulistaan = with the title/subject of the adornment of the garden. aa))iinah-bandii = adornment.

== Zamin, p. 310

Gyan Chand:

For the longing for a Pari-- that is, some beautiful woman-- he has given the simile of a region/clime. If this longing would become excessively great, then it will turn into amazement. The place of amazement is the mirror. Iram is the name given to the 'Paradise on earth' made by Shidad.

More meaningful even than that is an allusion to the qissah 'Gul-e Bakavali', in which the name of Bakavali's country was the 'Gulistan-e Iram'. After the arrangement/editing of 'Maz'hab-e ishq' by Nihal Chand Lahori of Fort William College, this qissah had begun to be widely available. It's clear in this verse that by 'Gulistan-e Iram', the 'land of the Paris' is meant.

With what mirror should 'mirror-binding' [aa))iinah-bandii] be done? With the 'Gulistan-e Iram'. In this way amazement and the land of the Paris will become located in the same place, and the possibilities of meeting a Pari will increase. It is permissible to call the extremity of longing 'amazement'. In the Sufi orders too, 'amazement' is a sufficiently advanced stage-- that is, when ardor greatly increases, then it turns into amazement.

== Gyan Chand, p. 319

FWP:

SETS
MIRROR: {8,3}
SOUND EFFECTS: {26,7}

For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.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

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

The chief pleasure of this verse is the cleverly designed echo effect between aa))iine and aa))iin-e . In performance, the ear would hardly be able to distinguish them. And since mirrors are ubiquitous in Ghalib's ghazals, while aa))iin almost never occurs, the audience might well hear aa))iine pah aa))iine , 'mirror upon mirror'-- and would only retrospectively be able to revise their understanding.

This verse also offers a powerful reminder of Ghalib's deep and unapologetic Persianization. In Urdu, aa))iin means 'law, code'; the reference that at once springs to mind is the aa))iin-e akbarii . This meaning is the only one that appears in Platts. But in Steingass, the secondary possibility of 'ornament, decoration' also appears (see the definitions above). Free resort to non-idiomatic Persianisms is part of what Asi has called 'Ghalib's special Urdu' (see {352x,2}).

Then, by instructing the addressee to 'bind on' an ornament to the mirror, the verse also invokes the idea of aa))iinah-bandii as 'ornamenting with mirrors' (see the definition above).

The actual meaning of the verse emerges clumsily and is not very compelling. It seems to be that 'amazement' is the borderline of the 'zone of Pari-longing' (=the Garden of Iram), and this borderline is located in the mirror. Thus the addressee should decorate the mirror appropriately, with the 'adornment of the Garden of Iram', whatever that may be. Thanks to the i.zaafat , there are plenty of possibilities. But would it really be worthwhile to try to sort them out? Plainly the real point of the verse is its wordplay, and above all its sound effects.