kuchh na hota to Khuda hota-mirza Ghalib

کچھ نہ ہوتا تو خدا ہوتا ۔ مرزا غالب

 

نہ تھا کچھ تو خدا تھا، کچھ نہ ہوتا تو خدا ہوتا

ڈُبویا مجھ کو ہونے نے، نہ ہوتا میں تو کیا ہوتا

 

ہوا جب غم سے یوں بے حِس، تو غم کیا سر کے کٹنے کا

نہ ہوتا گر جدا تن سے تو زانو پر دھرا ہوتا

 

ہوئی مُدّت کہ غالب مر گیا، پر یاد آتا ہے

وہ ہر اِک بات پر کہنا، کہ  یوں ہوتا تو کیا ہوتا

कुछ न होता तो ख़ुदा होता – मिर्ज़ा ग़ालिब

 

न था कुछ तो ख़ुदा था, कुछ न होता तो ख़ुदा होता

डुबोया मुझ को होने ने, न होता मैं तो क्या होता

 

हुआ जब ग़म से यूं बे-हिस्स तो ग़म क्या सर के कटने का

न होता गर जुदा तन से, तो ज़ानू पर धरा होता

 

हुई मुद्दत के ग़ालिब मर गया, पर याद आता है

वो हर एक बात पर कहना, के यूं होता तो क्या होता

Click on any she’r for word meanings and discussion.

na tha kuchh to Khuda tha, kuchh na hota to Khuda hota
Duboya1 mujh ko hone2 ne, na hota maiN to kya hota
1.drowned (in calamities), destroyed 2.being
This is a very famous she’r bordering on sacrilege. When there was nothing, there was god. If there had been nothing (if god had not created anything) then there still would have been god. Being – the state of being/existence – has drowned me (in problems). If I had not been created/if I had not existed, then what would I have been/what would have happened? Ghalib leaves this as rhetorical question to which there are many interesting answers – (a)why did you create me and cause all these problems for me. I was better off in non-being (b)you (god) existed/would continue to exist with or without creation. My creation (or the creation of this world) does not/did not make any difference to you. Why did you create this/me. (c)Having created us why did you make life so difficult that it appears to be worse than non-being.

hua jab Gham se yuN be-hiss1 to Gham kya sar ke kaTne ka
na hota gar juda2 tan3 se to zaanu4 par dhara5 hota
1.insensitive, hardened to sensation 2.separate 3.body 4.lap 5.placed, lying (listlessly)
For the head to lie listlessly in the lap is a sign of extreme dejection. I have suffered so much that I have become insensitive to pain. If my head were chopped off, it would not cause any more pain. If it were not separated from the body, then it would be lying listlessly on the lap. Is it possible that the one who is insensitive to pain is god himself! You have become so insensitive to my pain, why don’t you cut my head off.

hui muddat1 ke Ghalib mar gaya par yaad aata hai
vo har ek baat par kahna ke yuN hota to kya hota
1.long time
It is not unusual for urdu poets to write about their own death. Ghalib had been dead for a long time but I/we still remember him. On every occasion he used to ask, ‘what would have happened if this had been thus’ – not just curiosity but also questioning belief, orthodoxy, tradition.

Khuda hota – mirza Ghalib

na tha kuchh to Khuda tha, kuchh na hota to Khuda hota
Duboya1 mujh ko hone2 ne, na hota maiN to kya hota

1.drowned (in calamities), destroyed 2.being

This is a very famous she’r bordering on sacrilege.  When there was nothing, there was god.  If there had been nothing (if god had not created anything) then there still would have been god.  Being – the state of being/existence – has drowned me (in problems).  If I had not been created/if I had not existed, then what would I have been/what would have happened?  Ghalib leaves this as rhetorical question to which there are many interesting answers – (a)why did you create me and cause all these problems for me.  I was better off in non-being (b)you (god) existed/would continue to exist with or without creation. My creation (or the creation of this world) does not/did not make any difference to you.  Why did you create this/me.  (c)Having created us why did you make life so difficult that it appears to be worse than non-being.

hua jab Gham se yuN be-hiss1 to Gham kya sar ke kaTne ka
na hota gar juda2 tan3 se to zaanu4 par dhara5 hota

1.insensitive, hardened to sensation 2.separate 3.body 4.lap 5.placed, lying (listlessly)

For the head to lie listlessly in the lap is a sign of extreme dejection.  I have suffered so much that I have become insensitive to pain.  If my head were chopped off, it would not cause any more pain.  If it were not separated from the body, then it would be lying listlessly on the lap.  Is it possible that the one who is insensitive to pain is god himself!  You have become so insensitive to my pain, why don’t you cut my head off.

hui muddat1 ke Ghalib mar gaya par yaad aata hai
vo har ek baat par kahna ke yuN hota to kya hota

1.long time

It is not unusual for urdu poets to write about their own death.  Ghalib had been dead for a long time but I/we still remember him.  On every occasion he used to ask, ‘what would have happened if this had been thus’ – not just curiosity but also questioning belief, orthodoxy, tradition.

Khuda hota – mirza Ghalib – Raina’s Rendition

There was god even before there was Nothingness;
Had Creation not intervened, he would have been, no less.

Myself am I the root and cause of all my despair;
What if I should have remained unborn, unaware?

Ages since Ghalib gave up the ghost, yet his memory is with us;
How, at every argument he would wonder: ‘thus or thus?’

2 comments:

  1. Na tha kuch to khuda tha, kuch na hota tu khuda hota
    Great lines

  2. Nawab:

    “Is it possible that the one who is insensitive to pain is god himself! You have become so insensitive to my pain, why don’t you cut my head off.”

    (1) The above sentiment is neither explicit nor implied by Ghalib.

    (2) Furthermore this ghazal is not sacrilegious in any sense of the word. In fact it is profoundly worshipful of God. It acknowledges and asserts His being as infinite in time and space, that He was when there was nothing and would still be there when the entire firmament would have perished.

    (3) What Ghalib is saying is that: he (lower case, poet) is so dejected that he wouldn’t care even if his head were cut off. And that had his head not been severed (not by God), it would have been found lying in his lap. (Out of sheer despair.)

    (4) God and His cruel heartlessness/absolute indifference is expressed nowhere in this verse.

    (5) Don’t take my opinion too seriously. I am not Ustad M. Siddiqui.

    Shamim

Comments are closed.