Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. panDit dilaaraam ratan panDorvi (1909-1990), paThaankoT. There are many books to his credit including urdu instructional texts for school children, an explanatory, interpretive book of Ghalib’s Ghazal, literary history and criticism, rules of versification and representative compositions of muslim poets of hindi. A recognized authority of urdu, hindi and sanskrit and perhaps also of faarsi. This Ghazal is linked to other ham-radeef Ghazal under ‘tere vaade pe etebaar kiya’ on the Refrain Index page.
1
teri fitrat¹ par e’tebaar² kiya
aur bhi dil ko beqaraar³ kiya 1.nature, habit, character 2.trust, depend 3.restless
I foolishly trusted your nature (O beloved). It just increased the restlessness of my heart.
2
hum ne unn ke veqaar¹ ki Khaatir²
apni hasti³ ko be-veqaar⁴ kiya    1.dignity 2.for the sake of 3.existence, life 4.disgraced
For the sake of the beloved’s dignity, I disgraced my own life. This could be about trying to hide his love to safeguard the beloved’s reputation/dignity and in the process going into mad passionate restlessness destroying his own dignity.
3
teri rahmat¹ ka aasra² le kar
hum ne Khud³ ko gunahgaar⁴ kiya     1.mercy, kindness 2.support, refuge 3.self 4.sinner
Believing in/depending on divine mercy, I commit transgressions. Said panDit anand narain mulla …
us ke karam pe shak tujhe zaahid zaroor tha
varna tera qusoor na karna qusoor tha
… and muzaffar Khairabaadi …
mere gunah ziyaada haiN ya teri rahmateN
kariim tu hi bataa de hisaab kar ke mujhe
4
kah¹ ke afsaana²-e dil-e Ghamgiin³
kya kiya⁴ uss ko sharmsaar⁵ kiya 1.speaking, narrating 2.tale, story 3.sorrowful 4.what did I do 5.embarrassed
Oh what did I do, narrating the sorrowful story of my heart, I caused embarrassment to the beloved. Poetic/romance convention is that the lover hides his sorrow so as not to malign the reputation of the beloved. The poet/lover regrets violating that convention.
5
dil-e naadaaN¹ tera Khuda haafiz²
uss ne tiir-e-nazar³ se vaar⁴ kiya 1.naive, simpleton 2.protector 3.arrow of sidelong glance 4.strike
Only god can protect/save you, O simple heart; the beloved has shot the arrow of her sidelong glance at you i.e., there is nothing that can save you now.
6
mere hi ishq¹ ki haraarat² ne
husn³-e jaanaaN⁴ ko sho’la-baar⁵ kiya    1.love 2.warmth, passion, intensity 3.beauty 4.beloved 5.flame raining, blazing, brilliant
It is the intensity of the passion of my love that gives brilliance to the beauty of the beloved.
7
maut¹ se pahle² maut us’e aa’ii
jis ne jiine³ pe e’tebaar⁴ kiya    1.death 2.before 3.living, life 4.trust
Whoever trusted that he would live (long life), to him death came even before his death.
8
chashm-e-biina¹ ka mojeza² kahiye
unn ke jalvoN³ ko aashkaar⁴ kiya    1.discerning eye 2.miracle 3.glories 4.revealed
It is the miracle of a discerning eye that reveals your glories … this could have been addressed to the divine and the discerning eye that reveals divine glory is the poet’s.
9
raNg laaya¹ kamaal²-e shauq³ aaKhir⁴
husn⁵-e dilkash⁶ ko jalva-baar⁷ kiya     1.raNg laana-to bear fruit 2.excellence, perfection 3.desire, love, passion 4.at last 5.beauty 6.heart captivating 7.glory raining, radiant
At last the excellence of my love bore fruit; the beart captivating beauty of the beloved radiated glory. This could apply both to the conventional and the divine beloved.
10
dil to pahle nisaar¹ tha tum par
zindagi ko bhi ab nisaar kiya    1.sacrificial/devotional offering
The heart was already offered at your feet, now I offer my life too.
11
daur¹-e urdu-kushi² meN hum ne ratan³
sh’er-goii⁴ ko eKhtiyaar⁵ kiya     1.era, age, period 2.killing/suppression of urdu 3.pen-name 4.composing/reciting verse 5.adopted
In this age of suppression of urdu, O ratan, you have adopted urdu versification. This is a reflection on the oppression of urdu, a declaration of defiance and expression of the beauty and attraction of urdu.