Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. jamna parshad raahi (1940-2017), aligaRh. Sahitya Akademi, UP, awardee. President, Progressive Writers’ Association. He specialized in composing in the style of Ghalib and traced his literary lineage to daaGh dehlavi, though not a shaagird of Ghalib, was deeply influenced by him. He has a 200+ page book of Ghazal composed in the style of Ghalib called, ‘baazgasht-e Ghalib’. This Ghazal is in the style of Ghalib’s ‘dard minnat-kash-e dava na hua’.
1
haq-parasti¹ meN haq² ravaa³ na hua
haasil⁴-e arz⁵-e muddu’aa⁶ na hua    1.prayers/devotion to god 2.duties, rights 3.accepted practice, commonly followed 4.benefit, result 5.appeal 6.desire
Convention offers prayers to god but the practice of truthfulness did not become a part of these rituals. As a result of that, there is no benefit in (hypocritical) rituals.
2
saaNs-ukhRi¹ to kuchh pata² na hua
raKhsh³-e jaaN⁴ kis taraf⁵ ravaana⁶ hua    1.losing breath, dying 2.awareness, knowledge 3.horse, steed 4.soul 5.direction 6.departed
On breathing the last breath there was no awareness of where the soul went. The ‘steed of the soul’ is an expression to mean fast moving soul. This could be interpreted to mean that it is a divine mystery or that there is no such thing. You will not know, you cannot know what happened, you just breath your last.
3
bad-mazaaqi pe be-maza na hua
ouk se pii jo baadiya na hua    1.bad taste, bad manners 2.tasteless, annoyed, unhappy 3.cupped palm, ‘chullu’ 4.large brass cup
When the wine lover could not find a cup, he settled for drinking using his cupped hand. The saaqi was not annoyed at his bad manners.
4
ashk¹-e Gham² le uRi havaa laikin
abr³-e Gham⁴ aaNkh se havaa na hua    1.tears 2.sorrow 3.cloud
The expression ‘hava hona’ means to disappear, to cease. Thus, even though the breeze blew away tears of sorrow, the cloud of sorrow did not disappear. This might mean that one tear may have been blown away but the eyes continue to rain tears. Or it might mean tears were blown away, eyes were dry, but sorrow did not disappear.
5
kya inaayat¹ agar² jafa³ na hui
kya mohabbat agar² gila⁴ na hua    1.kindness, gift 2.if 3.torture 4.complaint
The shaa’er/suitor/admirer considers torture given by the beloved to be the most valuable gift. Thus, how can it be a gift, unless it is torture. The ‘gila/complaint’ is the second misra can be the shaa’er/suitor complaining that he has not received reciprocal love or the beloved complaining that he has not been sufficiently attentive to her. In either case, how can there be love without complaint.
6
jaaN ba-sajda gaii so jaani thi
varna kya mehrbaaN Khuda na hua    1.life 2.in prostration 3.had to go 4.otherwise 5.kind, benevolent
The shaa’er devotee has lost his life during prayer, during prostration towards god. Normally you expect to received benevolence during such an act of piety. So the shaa’er observes that death at such a time simply means that death was inevitable, it had to happen. Otherwise, do you think that god is not benevolent.
7
kitne ilzaam¹ mere sar aate
Khair² guzri³ ke maiN Khuda na hua    1.accusations 2.just as well 3.happened, came to pass
How many accusations would have been thrown at me. It was just as well that I did not become god. In a very humorous way the shaa’er seems to be holding god responsible for a lot of pain and suffering, deserving of a lot of accusations. He is relieved that this has not happened to him.
8
umr¹ sarf²-e Ghazal hui laikin
sh’er-goii³ ka haq⁴ ada⁵ na hua   1.life 2.spent 3.reading/composing verse 4.obligations, duties 5.paid, fulfilled
My whole life was spent in the service of Ghazal but still the obligations of composing verse could not be fulfilled i.e., I could not do justice to composing Ghazal.