Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. hakim aGha jaan aish dehlavi (1779-1874). Famous for a qita he composed criticizing the difficult style of Ghalib – ‘aap samjhe ya Khuda samjhe’, Ghazal included on the site. But Ghalib had a sharp repartee and they remained very good friends. There are many Ghazal in the same zamin as Ghalib, probably composed in the same mushaa’era. He was a third-generation hakim by profession and was personal physician to one of bahadur shah zafar’s sons. He fled dehli in the aftermath of 1857 and years later crawled his way back a decent means of living based on his healing practice. This Ghazal is in the style of Ghalib’s ‘zikr us parivash ka aur phir bayaaN apna’ and is linked to the poet, Ghalib peshrau-ham asr and Ghalib naqsh-e qadam. There are Ghazal of momin KhaaN momin and bahadur shah zafar also in the same zamin linked to it.
1
jalva-farma¹ ho agar shab² ko vo jaanaaN³ apna
muNh na dikhlaa’e falak⁴ par mah-e-taabaaN⁵ apna    1.deign to show her glory 2.night 3.dear, beloved 4.sky 5.brilliant/full moon
Should that dear beloved deign to display her glory at night, then even the brilliant moon in the sky will want to hide its face (out of shame in comparison to her brilliance).
2
gul dikhaate haiN udhar chaak¹ garebaaN² apna
rona roti hai idhar bulbul-e naalaaN³ apna    1.torn, ripped 2.collar, shirt front 3.mourning, wailing
In urdu poetic tradition ‘gul o bulbul’ – rose and nightingale are considered lovers. The birdcatcher and/or flower picker separates them. The bulbul sings its heart out in a cage and the rose rips its shirt off (sheds its petals). Thus on one side the rose rips its collar/shirt front in sorrow and on the other, the bulbul cries in its wailing songs.
3
kaavish¹-e dast²-e junooN³ ishq meN tere haathoN
chaak⁴ rahta hai sada⁵ jeb⁶ o garebaaN⁷ apna    1.seek, effort 2.hand 3.passion 4.torn, ripped 5.always 6.shirt front 7.collar
This appears to be addressed to the ‘hand of passion – dast-e junooN’. Because of its constant search (for the beloved) in love, at your hands the poet/lover’s shirt front and collar are always ripped (because of his distress).
4
abr-e-isyaaN¹ ki ho pal² bhar meN abhi siTTi gum³
gauhar-afshaaN⁴ ho agar diida-e-giriyaaN⁵ apna    1.rain bearing spring clouds 2.moment 3.siTTi gum hona is an expression meaning ‘hosh uR jaana’ – losing senses, not knowing what to do 4.pearl scattering 5.weeping tears
Here when the poet is weeping tears he is scattering pearls. The imagery is that he cries with such intensity and outdoes rain-clouds in showers so much, that they are lost and don’t know what to do.
5
falak¹-e piir² ki devega dhueN dam bhar meN bikher³
aaya gar⁴ lab pe koii naala⁵-e sozaaN⁶ apna    1.sky 2.ancient 3.dhuaaN bikherna or dhuaaN uRaana is an expression meaning to scatter like smoke, to silence, to shame 4.if 5.wail 6.fiery, passionate
The sky is considered to be all powerful, sending down calamities and misfortunes. But if the poet/lover were to let one of his suppressed fiery/passionate sighs/wails escape his lips, it would travel straight up to the sky and shame it into silence.
6
qais¹ kahta tha keh naNge khule rahne ka mere
kyuN fasaana² hai aji³, ghar hai biyaabaaN⁴ apna    1.another name of majnuN 2.fable 3.a colloquial way of addressing the interlocutor 4.desolate wilderness
qais/majnuN is a legendary passionate/mad lover wandering the desert looking for his beloved, laila. Sometimes he is portrayed as wandering with clothes shredded and other times as naked. Here he asks his interlocutor – why this fuss, why make a legend out of my nakedness. Afterall I go around naked in a desolate wilderness that is home.
7
le ke aaiine se taa¹ nargis² o mahtaab³ har ek
dekh hairaan⁴ hua diida⁵-e hairaaN⁶ apna    1.to as in from here to there 2.narcissus, often used as a metaphor for eyes 3.full moon 4.perplexed 5.eye 6.used here in the sense of senseless, mad, distraught, deranged
From the mirror to the nargis and the full moon and everything in between is perplexed. Why? The mirror has never seen anything like this before. The nargis itself a beautiful eye has never encountered such a wild-eyed expression. The full moon is considered the exemplar of beauty, but it does not compare.
8
aish¹ gar² aashiq-e shaida³ ki pareshaani⁴ ko
zulf⁵ sun le, na rakhe naam pareshaaN⁶ apna   1.pen-name of the poet 2.if 3.doting, offering devotion 4.madness 5.hair 6.used here to mean scattered/tangled/dissheveled
There is an interesting play on the word pareshaan with its two intepretations. The beloved’s hair are long and dark and tangled –which is constantly trying to comb and straighten out. Its name has become synonymous with it – being called ‘zulf-e pareshaaN’. But if the hair were to find out that the doting lover is called ‘pareshaan – mad, insane’, then it would never call itself ‘zulf-e pareshaaN’.