SECTION 2j-3 *back to section 2j-2*
(we're now on page *nūn , continued*)   

[Agha Sahib:] Please listen to a [verse of] 'subtlety of thought'.

17) In the matter/account of your delicate waist, we'll put a 'chahlak'
How would he understand this subtlety, he whose temperament would be lumpy/coagulated?

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==On 'subtlety of thought' see also *verse 6*.
==On chahlak see below.

āġhā ṣāḥib :: nāzuk-ḳhiyālī suniye -

tirī nāzuk kamar ke bāb meñ chahlak banā deñge
vuh kyā samjhe yih bārīkī t̤abīʿat jis kī gaṭṭhal ho
Khan Sahib: I acknowledge that my temperament is such as you are pleased to describe. But for the Lord's sake please explain the meaning of that 'chahlak'.
Agha Sahib: For your sake, I will; please listen. Accountants, in order to fill in a space, instead of leaving it blank always make a '+'. Thus from this the meaning emerges that the waist is nonexistent; and also that one mark has cut through the other right in the middle; from this it is clear that the beloved's waist has been cut, and then also joined together again.
ḳhāñ ṣāḥib :: maiñ taslīm kiye letā hūñ kih merī t̤abīʿat aisī hai jaisā āp irshād farmāte haiñ - magar barāʾe ḳhudā us chahlak ke maʿnī samjhā dījiye -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: ḳhair-e ḳhāt̤ir hai - sun lījiye - muḥāsib log ḳhānah-purī ke liye bajāʾe nadārad ke yih nishān " " banā diyā karte haiñ - is liye is se yih mat̤lab niklā kih kamar maʿdūm hai - dūsre ek ḳhat̤ ne bīchoñ bīch se dūsre ko kāṭ diyā hai - is se yih z̤āhir huʾā kih maʿshūq kī kamar kaṭī huʾī aur phir juṛī huʾī bhī hai -
Khan Sahib: How is this?
Agha Sahib: Now don't ask about this subtlety! Oh well. Sir, let it be clear that 'chahlak' in the science of mathematics is a symbol of addition. The enjoyable thing is that a symbol has no magnitude. The meaning emerges that the waist, despite being nonexistent, has joined together both parts of the body. 
ḳhāñ ṣāḥib :: yih kyūñkar ?
āġhā ṣāḥib :: ab is bārīkī ko nah pūchhiye ! ḳhair - ḥaẓrat vāẓaḥ ho kih chahlak ʿilm-e riyāẓī meñ ʿalāmat jamʿa kī hai - lut̤f yih hai kih ʿalāmat kī koʾī miqdār nahīñ hotī - mat̤lab yih niklā kih kamar bāvajūd maʿdūm hone ke jism ke donoñ ḥiṣṣoñ ko joṛe huʾe hai -

The friends: Sir, enough-- it's the limit of 'delicacy of thought'. He who knows so much science would understand your verses.
Agha Sahib: Just for this reason I don't recite in front of ordinary people. Alas, that my late Ustad is no longer alive-- otherwise, I'd receive some praise/justice for these verses. Now among those who understand, who any longer remains? Well, now please listen to the closing-verse. I'm feeling melancholy. There's no connoisseur anywhere. 

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==I'm adding the ko after t̤abīʿat based on later editions, and because it's needed.
aḥbāb :: ḥaẓrat - bas nāuzk-ḳhiyālī kī ḥad ho gaʾī - jo koʾī itne ʿilm jāntā ho vuh āp ke shiʿr samjhe -
āġhā ṣāḥib :: isī se to maiñ aise vaisoñ ke sāmne paṛhtā nahīñ - afsos ustād marḥūm zindah nah huʾe nahīñ to un shiʿroñ kī kuchh dād miltī - ab samajhne vāloñ meñ kaun rah gayā hai - ḳhair - ab maqt̤aʿ sun lījiye - t̤abīʿat ko kulfat ho gaʾī - koʾī qadar-dān nahīñ hai -

18) Enough, oh Qazzaq, enough-- rein in the doomsday-producing temperament
There will be a furor in the army of themes if there would be turmoil

The friends: May the closing-verse be bestowed again.
Agha Sahib recited it again.
Navab Sahib: What an excellent pen-name you've chosen, 'Qazzaq'!

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=='Qazzak' is literally 'Cossack', and thus metaphorically 'Robber' or 'Brigand'.

bas ay qazzāq bas t̤abʿa-e qiyāmat-ḳhez ko roko
ġhaẓab ho jāʾegā fauj-e maẓāmīñ meñ jo halchal ho

aḥbāb :: maqt̤aʿ phir ʿināyat ho -
āġhā ṣāḥib ne dobārah paṛhā -
navāb ṣāḥib :: kyā zabardast taḳhalluṣ rakhā hai - qazzāq !

Agha Sahib: Please excuse me-- it's just so-so. But it's not so unbecoming. First with respect to family, because your humble servant's ancestors used to fight and loot in the Qipchak desert. Second, because my late Ustad used to use the pen-name Sariq ('Thief'), and this was not so inappropriate either. Because (may his spirit not be embarrassed!) his whole life he kept stealing and versifying earlier poets' themes. Take a look at his whole divan: perhaps there may be one single new verse. When the reins of the steed of the pen came into the hand of my judgment, then I considered 'theft' to be a reminder of my glory, and adopted the pen-name Qazzaq. If nothing else, there's at least a kind of rakishness in it. Your servant has made, and will continue to make, a practice of seizing by violence the themes of poets past, present, and future, and bringing them into control and usage.
Navab: That's very fine.

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==I'm making it sharmindah nah ho on the strength of later editions, and also because it seems more probable.

āġhā ṣāḥib :: muʿāf farmāʾiyegā - hai to kuchh aisā hī - magar kuchh aisā nā-zebāñ nahīñ hai - ek to ḳhāndānī ětibār se - isliye kih fidvī ke āba-o-ajdād dasht-e qifchāq me lūṭ-mār kiyā karte the - dūsre is sabab se kih ustād marḥūm sāriq taḳhalluṣ farmāte the aur yih kuchh aisā nā-munāsib bhī nah thā - isliye kih ( un kī rūḥ sharmindah nah ho ) ʿumr bhar agle shāʿiroñ [*sīn*] ke maẓmūn churā churā ke shiʿr-e mauzūñ farmāyā kiye - sārā dīvān mulāḥiẓah kar lījiye - shāyad hī koʾī shiʿr nayā ho - jab ashhab-e ḳhāmah kī lagām mere dast-e iqtidār meñ āʾī to maiñ ne sarqah ko apnī shān ke manānī samajh ke qazzāq taḳhallus rakh liyā - kuchh nah sahī - us meñ ek t̤araḥ kā bāñkapan to hai - bandah kā yih dastūr rahā hai aur rahegā kih shuʿarā-e māẓī-o-ḥāl-o-istiqbāl ke maẓāmīn zabardastī chhīn chīn ke apne qabẓah-e taṣarruf meñ kar lūñgā -
navāb :: bahut mubārak !
 
 

 
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