Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. uma shaNkar varma shaadaaN (xxxx-xxxx). I could not find anything about the poet other than that he grew up around bhopal and gwalior. His collection, published in 1984, does not have a single word about him. It was selected and published by the madhya pradesh urdu academy. My guess is that at the time of the publication of his collection, he was already a mature person. This Ghazal is linked to Ghalib naqsh-e qadam – ‘kahte haiN keh Ghalib ka hai andaaz-e bayaaN aur.
1
k’aabe ka pata aur, kaliisa¹ ka nishaaN² aur
ye kya hai, vahi baat yahaaN aur vahaaN aur   1.church 2.mark, clue, emblem
The k’aaba gives one message and church has another emblem/marker. How can there be one message here and another there, when they are all the same god.
Said panDit anand narian mulla …
Khud tu ne baRhaaii hai ye tafriq¹-e jahaaN² aur
tu ek magar roop³ yahaaN aur vahaaN aur
2
maathay¹ pay baRha liijiye jhoomar² kay nishaaN aur
ban jaa’egi garduN³ kay liye kaahkashaaN⁴ aur   1.forehead 2.gem studded coin worn on the forehead 3.sky 4.constellation
Here the poet/lover seems to be asking the beloved to increase the marks of the jhoomer on her forehead, in addition to a jhoomer. What such marks can be, I don’t know. But whatever they are, they will add sparkle to her forehead like stars and constellations, enhancing her beauty even more. They will be like added constellation in the sky.
3
paaya tha hamaare hi dil-e-zaar¹ ka TukRa
aaiina banaaya tha sikandar² ne kahaaN aur    1.grief-stricken heart 2.Alexander
Legend is that Alexander wanted a mirror which would reflect both reality and the illusion of reality. It is said that his craftsment were finally able to make such a magical mirror. The poet says that what Alexander got was a piece of his heart (which can reflect reality and illusion); he did not really have to craft a new mirror.
4
maiN ne na banaaya kabhi mumtaaz¹ ka rauza²
thi meri Khalish³ aur, Gham-e shaah jahaaN aur    1.wife of shahjahaaN, buried in the taj mahal 2.tomb 3.pain, burning
I never made a tomb like that for mumtaz. My pain was different from that of shaah jahaaN. The poet leaves us to reconstruct what this might have been. shah jahaaN’s pain was the loss of his wife and he had a tomb built for her. The poet’s pain is something else … perhaps that the beloved does not reciprocate his love. Such pain does not call for the building of a tomb.
5
jaari¹ rahey sargarmi²-e alfaaz³ o mu’aani⁴
haaN soz⁵-e bayaaN⁶, soz-e bayaaN, soz-e bayaaN aur   1.ongoing, continuous 2.effort, passion 3.words 4.meaning 5.fire, pain 6.speech, words, verse
This is an exhortation to keep composing verse. May the passionate effort to compose meaningful words continue. Yes, more of the passion of words.
6
shaadaaN¹ kabhi dekhay to taRap² jaa’e zamaana³
hotay haiN Gham-e dil ki saliiboN⁴ ke nishaaN aur     1.pen-name of the poet 2.thrashing about in pain 3.world
Getting crucified is one thing, leaving marks of crucifixion. But the marks of bearing the cross of the pain of the heart are something else. O shaadaaN, if the world were to see this it would become so restless that it would thrash about in pain.