Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. mirza asadullah KhaaN Ghalib (1797-1869). I dare not write any introduction. On more than one occasion Ghalib has warned his readers that he needs no introduction or even address. I humbly comply. badri raina, retired professor of English, dehli University, poet, writer, columnist and a dear friend has translated several Ghalib Ghazal and published them as a book.
1
aah¹ ko chaahiye ek umr² asar³ hone tak
kaun jeetaa hai terii zulf⁴ ke sar hone⁵ tak 1.sigh 2.lifetime 3.effect 4.curls, tresses 5.’sar hona’ – to overcome
The lover is watching/imagining the beloved and sighing as she attempts to ‘overcome’ – straighten the curls of her long tresses. He hopes that she will be done and will observe his sighing which will have an effect on her, and she will soften towards him but realizes that his life is shorter than the time it takes to straighten out those curls – a sigh needs a lifetime to have an effect. I have a novel interpretation to offer … the ‘aah‘ is the poet’s longing to compose excellent verse. But the ideas/thoughts that go into it are all tangled up and it takes a lifetime to straighten those tangles out and come out with a beautifully arranged verse. This is not such an outlandish idea … josh malihabadi in talking about the pen writes …
shaana-e gesu-e Khamdaar-e uruus-e iijaad
iijaad is the creativity of writing verse and it is like a beautiful bride getting her curly hair ready. The shaana – comb, it takes to straighten her hair out is the pen. For details see
https://urdushahkar.org/azmat-e-insaan-josh-malihabadi-01-11-qalam/
2
daam¹-e har mauj² meN hai halqah³-e sad⁴ kaam⁵-e nihaNg⁶
dekheN kyaa guzre⁷ hai qatre⁸ pe guhar⁹ hone tak 1.net 2.every wave 3.circle, encirclement, trap 4.hundred 5.throat, jaws 6.crocodile 7.happens to 8.drop 9.pearl
There is a folk belief that some (selected/fortunate) rain drops get to the ocean floor and to the oyster, intact. It is only these drops that become pearls. The goal of human life is to become a pearl, but the process is fraught with danger. Every wave (of the ocean) is a like a net, like the circle of throat/jaws of crocodiles. See what the drop has to go through before it can become a pearl. This is like the sufi attaining fanaa/union. Extending the idea from the first she’r – the pearl here is the verse that the poet composes. Not every utterance becomes a she’r, just like not every drop can become a pearl. Every thought has to overcome a lot of hurdles before it becomes she’r.
3
aashiqii¹ sabr-talab² aur tamannaa³ betaab⁴
dil ka kyaa raNg⁵ karooN Khoon-e jigar⁶ hone tak 1.romance, love 2.patience demanding 3.desire 4.restless, impatient 5.colour, condition 6.blood of the liver, liver becoming blood, fortitude lost
dil-jigar – emotions-life – ‘jigar Khoon hona‘ is to lose fortitude, lose life. ‘raNg karna‘ is to keep a certain desired style/condition. Thus, the lover is torn between patience and impatience – his desire is impatient and wants immediate results while true love requires patience in wooing the beloved. He wonders how he shall ‘control’ his heart before he loses all fortitude or even life.
4
ham ne maanaa ke taGhaaful¹ na karoge lekin
Khaak² ho jaaeNge ham tum ko Khabar³ hone tak 1.negligence, forgetfulness 2.dust 3.awareness, news
It is generally accepted that the beloved promises to but never visits the lover. It is also the tradition that she visits him on his death bed. The lover agrees that she will not be indifferent to this tradition and will visit him as he is on his last breath. But he is afraid that he will be long dead by the time she gets the news of his passing.
5
partav¹-e Khur² se hai shabnam ko fanaa³ kii taa’leem⁴
maiN bhi hooN ek inaa’et⁵ ki nazar hone tak 1.rays of light 2.short for Khursheed, sun 3.destruction, oblivion 4.eduction, instruction
The rays of the sun are benevolent for the earth. But they are also an order/lesson to dew drops to evaporate and be gone. The lover is like dew and the beloved’s looks are like sun rays. A favourable look from the beloved is enough for his ‘fanaa’ much like ‘ke Khushi se mar na jaate agar aetebaar hota’.
6
yak¹ nazar² besh³ nahiN fursat⁴-e hastii⁵ Ghaafil⁶
garmii-e-bazm⁷ hai ik raqs-e-sharar⁸ hone tak 1.only one 2.glance 3.more, longer 4.liesure, leave/permission 5.existence, life 6.forgetful one 7.celebration of the assembly 8.dance of the spark
It is commonly believed that a lamp flares up even as it runs out of wax/oil and is extinguished. Extinguishing the lamp is also a metaphor for the end of the celebration of the assembly. The flaring up of the lamp is but a brief moment. The glance of the beloved is also brief and the lover has permission to live only for this brief moment. After this the celebration is over – one brief glance is all he gets. This may be about life itself … god’s benevolence is for a period period and this is an exhortation to make the most of it.
7
Gham-e-hastii¹ ka asad² kis se ho juz³ marg⁴ ilaaj
sham’a har raNg⁵ meN jaltii⁶ hai sahar⁷ hone tak 1.grief of existence/life 2.asadullah – Ghalib’s name. His ‘taKhallus’ was ‘asad’ before he adapted ‘Ghalib’ 3.except for 4.death 5.every condition 6.burn/suffer 7.dawn
There is no cure for the grief of life except death. See – the lamp too burns/suffers through all conditions, all night long, until dawn when it is relieved of its suffering/burning and is put out i.e.extinguished/killed.

asar hone tak – Badri Raina’s Rendition
1
Milleniums must pine away for sighs to take effect
How long can dwindling passion last, or dream that blissful act
2
Through the hungry jaws of crocodiles, undulates the sea
Such smitten waves throw up the pearl from unfathomed catastrophe
3
Patience is what love demands, yet desires singe the heart
What colours must I wear until my soul is rent apart?
4
I doubt not that some distant day, my love shall heeded be
Except I must be long interr’d ere she should hear of me
5
Those tiny drops of dew must die with the foremost streaks of morn
Nor may my life extend beyond one look of a gentler scorn
6
Life’s ecstasies are as prolonged as the twinkling of an eye
Passion’s embers are most ablaze the moment they must die
7
What else but death must rectify the agonies of Being
The candle must consume itself amid every gathering