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-16



1.
Last night,in our laments there was not even a trace of effect, the restless created no effect on the heart of beloved or the rival,
And my restlessness came to the tongue frequently, for the gathering of the other it became a black seed(Wild rue), which was saving the gathering from the evil eye.
(Wild rue is a black seed people burn to save the child from evil eyes).
(This is the unmatched thought of Ghalib.)
2.
The heart is delighted to welcome the flood, even though it will lose the house, that the flood will entertain playing with home,
And the flood delights the lover's heart with its siren song of the dissolution of normal life and all its sufferings(Like jaltarang).
(Sufism possibilities are constantly welling up(Sorry) from the interpretive depths).
3.
Although I was sitting in the dust(Humbleness), because of my heart's pride at its own contentment,
The body of thought, apparently, which is in fact lying in ermine(Sanjab) even while physical body lies in dust(Humbleness).
(It is ambitious, it is religious).
4.
My madness displayed incapability, and could not arrive at the limit of madness, otherwise,
Every grain of the realm of madness was the envy of the sun.
(Every sand grain, like the sun itself, is an expression of the divine light. The cause of our failure was the deficiency of our passion.)
5.
What is the new thing today, that you have become careless about your prey,
Until yesterday your heart was a door of faithfulness and love.
(The lover is astonished the moment he succumbs to the beloved's charms and is duly chained up(Prey) as part of her menagerie, all her show of kindness and faithfulness vanishes.)
6.
You remember those days too, when every circle of your net was the sleepless eyes, in waiting for prey,
Now why your eyes have averted.
(How eloquently the simile of the circle of a net for the sleepless eyes(Which is open at all times) has been established.In every way he wants to make the beloved gracious).
7.
Last night I prevented Ghalib from weeping, otherwise,
The sky would have swum in water the way foam does in a flood.
(The lover either did weep the sky into a mass of foam(Clouds),or would have done so if he had not been stopped by a prudent bystander. The COSMOS-DESTRUCTION theme involves sometimes weeping, and sometimes fire. Usually these cataclysms seem to occur only in the lover's own world).
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