Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. syed kalb-e ahmed maani jaa’esi (1885-1963), deoria, uttar pradesh. His taKhallus is the name of a legendary ancient Persian artist. His father worked for the British government of India was transferred frequently. He received urdu and faarsi education at home and in local schools. By the time the opportunity to learn English at school came around, it was too late for him. He seems to have had, clerical and later office supervisory positions in local principalities and later worked as the editor of a magazine. He did get some patronage from raja mahmoodabad and a few others. It seems that in 1954 he was able to meet nehru and azad who granted a government pension to him. Two of his early collections were lost, and three later ones published. This Ghazal with the same radeef-qaafiya as Ghalib’s “shooKhi-e tahriir ka” is linked to Ghalib naqsh-e qadam.
1
Khaamoshi achchha hai sheva¹ paikar²-e tasviir ka
yaani³ kya kahna⁴ kisi ki shooKhi⁵-e tahriir⁶ ka   1.preoccupation, habit, nature 2.image 3.meaning 4.what can be said 5.mischief 6.writing
It is better for the image in the picture to acquire the habit of silence, meaning what is the use of saying anything about the mischief of writing/drawing of this image. Consider the following … the ‘picture’ is the universe, and the ‘image’ is the human. god has drawn this image in this picture i.e., placed the human being on earth in this universe. This is considered to be god’s mischievous hand that has done this. What is the use of complaining. Hence, it is better to be habitually silent about this.
2
lutf¹ khoya ashk² ne nazzaara³-e tahriir⁴ ka
dekhta huN aaNkh se likkha hua taqdiir⁵ ka   1.pleasure 2.tears 3.scene, sighting 4.writing 5.fate
I have lost the pleasure of looking at this writing because of the blurred image caused by my tears. Tears well up because what I have seen is my fate written out.
3
raunaq¹-e baazaar-e sauda² uqda³-e gesu⁴ tera
ziinat⁵-e bazm⁶-e junooN⁷ halqa⁸ meri zanjiir ka    1.glory, brilliance 2.trade, passion, love, madness 3.knot 4.hair 5.adornment 6.gathering 7.passionate madness 8.circle, link (of chain)
The use of ‘sauda’ with its double meaning juxtaposed with baazaar and the parallelism between ‘uqda-e gesu’ and ‘halqa-e zanjiir’ is noteworthy. Thus, the ringlets of the beloved’s hair are the glory of the baazaar where hearts are traded or mad passionate love is on offer. Parallel to this the link of the chain on the lover’s feet are the adornment of the gathering of passionate madness. The lover has been chained because he is mad like majnuN. He wears his chain as a badge of honour to match the glory of the ringlets of the beloved’s hair.
4
dast¹-e vahshat² se na bachta daaman³-e dasht⁴-e junooN⁵
aa gaya hai biich meN laikin qadam⁶ zanjiir ka   1.hand 2.madness 3.hem of the robe 4.wilderness 5.passion 6.step, feet
This she’r, like several others, evokes the picture of majnuN as a mad passionate lover who is chained. In the fable, majnuN wandered through the wilderness looking for laila. Holding the hem of the robe of the wilderness of passion means to demand from the wilderness that it disclose the whereabouts of laila. Thus, the hem of the robe of the wilderness could not have escaped the hand of madness. This hand would have grabbed it and demanded to know where laila was. The only problem is that the chains of the feet of the poet/lover prevent him from doing this.
5
aur saamaaN¹ to nahiN ab qabr²-e majnuN par magar
naGhma³-pardaaz⁴-e junooN⁵ hai Ghul⁶ meri zanjiir ka   1.provisions, offerings 2.grave 3.music/song 4.completing/perfecting 5.passion, madness 6.noise, sound
There may be no other offerings, but the sound of my chains completes the musical offering of passion at the grave of majnuN.
6
kya Ghazab¹ hai kohkan² ko hasrat³-e shiriiN rahi
aur shiiriiN ko raha armaan⁴ juu⁵-e shiir⁶ ka     1.calamity 2.stone mason, another name of farhaad 3.longing 4.desire, wish 5.river 6.milk
This has reference to the legend of shiriN-farhaad. farhaad was set an impossible task of carving a channel through a mountain and making a river of milk flow through it. In the story, he very nearly succeeded but ended up killing himself because of a rumour that shirin had died. I some ash’aar, shirin is portrayed as an egotistical woman. Thus, shirin is desirous to see a river of milk flow as a tribute to her beauty but what a calamity that farhaad had a longing for her to his last breath. In the same vein, munshi naubat rai nazar lakhnavi …
rote rote hijr meN yaaN ho gaiiN aaNkheN safed
aap ke nazdiik ek qissa hai juu-e shiir ka
7
baKht¹-e vahshat²-aashna³ kaa bal⁴ hai aye maani⁵ vahi
naf’a⁶ kya hai mere paa’uN meN Kham⁷-e zanjiir ka     1.fate 2.passion, madness 3.familiar with 4.loop, kink 5.pen-name of the poet 6.profit, use 7.curve, curl, kink, bend
O maani, it is the kink in my passion knowing fate. Otherwise, what is the meaning of the links of the chain on my feet i.e., it is my fate that my passion leads me to being chained.