Ghazals Of Ghalib

The Almighty Of Rekhta

Mirza Asadullah Khan (Ghalib)-27-12-1797(Agra) To 15-02-1869 (Delhi)

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Indian Classical Music
 

Interpretation-Ghazal-15


1.
He has supposed the cloud to be a person, then he has shown that he has gall-bladder,
He has made the gall-bladder melt into water and
run off, and in it he has shown the spectacle of blazing flame.
(This was only the effect of the burning of my heart.)
(This is a form of enjoyable wordplay.The conceptualization of an idiom,as the cloud's gall-bladder literally,rather than metaphorically "Turns to water" with fear.)
2.
The rain prevented her from showing mercy(Union),
And I was in such a state from weeping that here, instead of a cotton pillow there was the foam of the flood.
(The cloud burst of my tears itself prevented her from moving along,tears which were caused by her not coming. The foam
of the flood was the cotton of the pillow,the cotton pillow had floated away.)
(Surely this image lets her off too easily, the words also suggest
that she was not so eager to visit the lover anyway.)
3.
There for her self-adornment and decoration she was making string pearls,and in that occupation her promise was also forgotten,
Here I was in such a state that while waiting I had wept to the degree that the profusion of tears had obscured even the thread of vision.
(A picture of self-adornment and the restlessness of passion can not be drawn in better words than these.)
4.
There,there were so many flower beds, and they extended so far,that their reflection lamps seemed to be lit in water-channels,
And here,tears of blood were flowing like a river from the eyes.
(He has given for roses the simile of lamps, and with the wordplay of their redness the mention of blood has come in.)
5.
In sleeplessness the head of the lover is in search of a wall, to smash the head and attain at least unconsciousness, if not death,
And there the beloved's own head, lies unconscious, deeply asleep, having sunk itself luxuriously into satin pillow.
(The two comparisons are very apt.)
6.
Here our breath was lighting the candle in the gathering of selflessness, we are always on the verge of fainting,
And there, there was a gathering of companions, and there were so many flowers that it was as if a carpet of flowers had been spread.(It is all in the past tense__is it over?Have both lover and beloved moved on?)
7.
There from earth to sky a storm of waves of happiness had arisen,
Here from ground to sky was filled with fire to burn us, that is longing, regret,envy of the rival,a turmoil of love, restlessness of the heart, all these disasters giving us trouble.
(The beloved's universe extends from carpet to the celestial heavens,the lover has merely the plainer earth and sky.)
8.
All of a sudden the heart, which was acquainted with the relish of pain and difficulty, began to drip blood,
The pain filled heart began in this way to complain.
(the scratching of fingernails is a metaphor for the scratching of grief.)
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