SECTION 2j_1 |
*back
to section 2h-3*
(we're now
on page *kāf
, continued*)
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Munshi Sahib: Indeed, Janab
Agha Sahib, now you please graciously bestow something on us.
Agha Sahib: Very good! Let the first opening-verse be
considered: |
munshī
ṣāḥib :: hāñ janāb āġhā ṣāḥib ab āp kuchh ʿināyat farmāʾiye
-
āġhā ṣāḥib :: bahut ḳhūb - mat̤laʿ-e avval mulāḥaz̤ah ho - |
1) If only there would be such equipment,
then my heart would be somewhat at ease
'The peas would be boiled, and there would be one bottle of moonshine'
The friends: Vah, Agha
Sahib, what an opening-verse you have recited!
Agha Sahib: Oh indeed, as yet what have you even heard?
Please listen to the second opening-verse:
===========
==The meter of the ghazal is #26 in the *meter
list*. The second line seems to be some kind of colloquial saying
or proverb expressing simple satisfaction. I don't know what ḥaẓẓat
means (or if there's even really a tashdīd in
it). |
kahīñ
sāmān aise hoñ to kuchh dil ko mire kal ho
maṭar uble huʾe hoñ aur ik ṭharre kī botal ho
aḥbāb
:: vāh āġhā ṣāḥib kyā mat̤laʿ farmāyā hai -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: ay ḥaẓẓat - abhī āp ne sunā hī kyā hai
- dūsrā mat̤laʿ suniye -
|
2) I would search out and versify
a theme that would be shapelier than the shapely
I would compose a second opening-verse, that would be before the foremost
The friends: Without doubt,
it's ahead of the first.
Agha Sahib: All right, now let the verses be considered.
===========
==Putting two opening-verses at the start of a ghazal is a flashy display
of extra virtuosity, as the boastful toneof this one suggests. The wordplay
of avval se avval suggests "ahead of the
first" both in ordering and in quality. |
vuh maẓmūñ
ḍhūñḍh kar bāñdhūñ kih jo ashkal se ashkal ho
kahūñ vuh mat̤laʿ-e ṡānī kih jo avval se avval ho
aḥbāb
:: beshak avval se avval hai -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: le ab shiʿr mulāḥiz̤ah hoñ -
|
3) To speak candidly, if the Sahib would be delicate in such a way
Let him wear clothing of light-- neither of openwork, nor of muslin
The aim of this verse was at the
Navab Sahib, who was seated there wearing a thin openwork kurta in a
light almond color, and a light muslin angurkha with its ties unfastened,
and waving a surpassingly delicate fan in his hand. |
takalluf bar-t̤araf ṣāḥib agar aise hī nāzuk ho
pahan lo nūr ke
kapṛe nah jālī ho nah malmal ho
is
shiʿr kā ruḳh navāb ṣāḥib kī t̤araf thā - jo jālī kā kurtah
halkā bādāmī rangā aur bārīk malmal kā angurkhā pahne - band
khole huʾe baiṭhe the - aur ek nihāyat hī nafīs pankhā hāth
meñ thī use jhulte jāte the
|
4) If in the cold season you would be
available, then what harm in the cold?
If your curls would be on my shoulder-- let there be no double-shawl,
let there be no blanket
The friends: praise.
===========
==The idea seems to be that the Navab Sahib looks effeminate and is
being teased about it. |
agar
jāṛe meñ tū mil jāʾe to kyā ġham hai jāṛe kā
tirī zulfeñ hoñ shāne par do-shālah ho nah kambal ho
aḥbāb
:: taʿrīf -
|
5) Tell me, even in helplessness,
would Majnuun keep a happy temperament?
Since Laila's camel would graze when the bud of the heart would be green
Pandit-ji: Praise be to
God! Leaving aside everything else, what a 'help' he's pulled out of
'helplessness'!
The friends: By God, we understand it very well! If
there's understanding, let it be like this; otherwise, let there be
none.
Agha Sahib: Let there be none. All right, now please
listen to this verse:
===========
==The wordplay is based on the fact that be-chāragī
("helplessness, being without recourse") has the literal meaning
of being without chārah , or fodder (for an animal).
Laila's camel would charnā ("graze"),
which is also related. The Pandit-ji's wordplay rests on the common
use of chārah to mean "recourse." |
[*lām*]
kaho be-chāragī meñ bhī t̤abīʿat ḳhvush rakhe majnūñ
kih char le nāqah-e lailâ harī jab dil kī koñpal ho
pañḍit
jī :: subḥān allâh ! aur to aur - yih be-chāragī se chārah
kyā nikālā hai -
aḥbāb :: vāllâh samjhe bhī ḳhūb - samajh ho to aisī ho - nahīñ
to nah ho -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: nah ho - achchhā - ab yih shiʿr suniye -
|
6) Tell your lovers to please control
their weeping
The road of the house will be blocked, if there would be a swamp in
the street
Shaikh Sahib: He composed
a good one.
Rusva: (To the Khan Sahib) Why are you silent? Please
bring out some objection.
Agha Sahib: Indeed, sir, silence from poetry-knowers
is not proper.
Khan Sahib: So that you won't think my praise is a
compliment based on ignorance-- this is why I'm silent.
Agha Sahib: No, sir, I have no such perverse understanding.
The friends: They were ravished with pleasure at this
comment.
Agha Sahib: Let a verse be considered: |
kaho
ʿushshāq se apne kih ẓabt̤-e giryah farmāʾeñ
rukegā rāstah ghar kā agar kūche meñ daldal ho
shaiḳh
ṣāḥib :: achchhī kahī -
rusvā :: ( ḳhāñ ṣāḥib se ) āp kyūñ sukūt meñ haiñ - koʾī
ětirāẓ nikāliye -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: hāñ janāb sukūt-e qadar-shinās ṭhīk nahīñ
hai-
ḳhāñ ṣāḥib :: āp merī taʿrīf ko taḥsīn-e nā-shinās nah
samajhiye - is liye chup hūñ -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: nahīñ ḥaẓrat merī aisī ulṭī samajh nahīñ
hai -
aḥbāb :: is faqre par lūṭ gaye -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: shiʿr mulāḥizah ho -
|
7) We would be envious/jealous of
ourself, an other would be born from our own self
Two like us would be seen, if the beloved would be squinty-eyed
The friends: Agha Sahib,
praise be to God! What a [verse of] 'subtlety of thought' you've made!
===========
== nāzuk-ḳhiyālī , "subtlety or refinement
of thought," was one of the traditional virtues that a good verse
could have; carried to excess, it could also become a term of reproach,
as in *verse 16*. |
hameñ rashk
āʾe apne se hamīñ se ġhair paidā ho
ham aise do naz̤ar āʾeñ agar maʿshūq aḥval ho
aḥbāb
:: āġhā ṣāḥib - subḥān allâh - kyā nāzuk-ḳhiyālī kī
hai -
|
8) He's still young, he has an ardor
for kite-fighting
There would be one small-kite with a string, there would neither square-kite
nor takkal (?)
The direction of this verse too was toward
the Navab Sahib, for from his own lofty dominion the wedding-procession
of a kite-flyer had set out with great pomp.
===========
==The idea seems to be that the Navab permits child-marriage. A boy
so young he's interested only in kite-fighting would be given a wife
('a small kite with a string'), but neither a square-kite nor some other
kind of kite. I don't know what a takkal is,
but I think it would be the name of a kind of kite. Kite-fighting (with
kite-strings dipped in glue and then in ground glass, so they could
saw through other kites' strings) was very popular, and many specialized
kinds of kites existed. |
abhī
kam-sin haiñ un ko shauq hai langar laṛāne kā
takallā ḍor kā ho ik nah kankayyā nah takkal ho
is
shiʿr kā ruḳh bhī navāb ṣāḥib kī jānib thā - isliye kih
āp hī kī sarkār-e ʿālī-jāh se kankvī kī barāt baṛī dhūm
se niklī thī -
|
9) Let someone go and say to those
who compose 'meaningful' verses
How would a concealed secret be revealed, if the door would be padlocked?
Rusva: Agha Sahib, what
can I say! Umrao Jan, just listen to what a verse he's composed.
Umrao Jan: Praise be to God! I had understood it already.
He may say whatever he wishes, he's the master.
Agha Sahib: Why don't you say clearly that I'm the
doorkeeper of Hell? All right, listen:
===========
==Apparently they consider Umrao Jan to be a composer of verses that
might emerge from her own experience of life, and they are hinting to
her that she should reveal more of her piquant romantic secrets. |
koʾī
un se kahe jo shiʿr-e maʿnī-band kahte haiñ
khule kyā rāz-e sar-bastah jo darvāzah muqaffal ho
rusvā
:: āġhā ṣāḥib kyā kahnā ! umrāʾo jān - żarā sunnā - kyā
shiʿr kahā hai -
umrāʾo jān :: subḥān allâh - maiñ pahle hī samajh gaʾī
- jo chāheñ kaheñ - malik haiñ -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: to ṣāf ṣāf kyūñ nahīñ kahtīñ kih dozaḳh
kā darbān hūñ - achchā suniye -
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