Verse 61850arnahii;N huu;N mai;N
G3
1
why do you withhold your foot from my eyes?
2
in rank/dignity, I am not less than the sun and moon
'To withhold from ( ), be niggard or grudging (in respect of), to grudge'.
'The foot; sole of the foot; a foot's length; a footstep, step, pace'.
'Station, standing, honour, rank, condition, quality, degree, dignity; high station or dignity, &c.; distinction'.
'To treat with esteem, veneration, or honour; to prize, hold dear, love, regard highly'.
| References | |
|---|---|
| Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali | Ghazal# 112 |
| Raza, Kalidas Gupta | 410 |
| Hamid Ali Khan | Open Image |
In both these verses [this and 110,7 ] he has addressed the Lord of the Ascent to Heaven [the Prophet]. (116)
== Nazm page 116
That is, why don't you put your foot on my eyes? In rank, I am not less than the sun and moon. In the night of the Ascent [], you had bestowed on both sun and moon the opportunity for foot-kissing. (166)
Why do you hesitate to place your foot on my eyes? I'm not less than the sun and moon. In this verse he's praised both himself and his beloved. He says, you're of such a rank that if you place your foot on the sun and moon, then their honor is increased. And I too am of a rank comparable to theirs. And this is the situation of the next verse also. There can also be in them a gesture toward the story of the Ascent [of the Prophet]. (218)
For discussion of this verse as part of an informal three-verse set, see 110,5 .
The implication is, as Bekhud Mohani says, that the beloved is of such a rank that the sun and moon are grateful and proud to have his/her foot placed on them. The speaker (plaintively? indignantly?) inquires whether his rank is not equal to theirs-- isn't he entitled to the same favor? Hovering over the verse is the idiom (defined above), 'to spread out the eyes [as a carpet, in token of humility] (compare the welcome offered to the Advisor in 19,3 ). However we read this verse, it's wonderfully grandiloquent and sweeping. The vision of it captures the imagination at once.
For another verse about being human versus being the sun and moon, see 124,3 .
For other such verses that seem to be addressed to a divine Beloved, see 20,10 .
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