Verse 7x1816ilkaa
G2
1
in the road/path of poetry/speech, I have no fear of losing the road, Ghalib
'Staff, stick, rod, club, mace, sceptre'.
| References | |
|---|---|
| Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali | Ghazal# 16 |
| Raza, Kalidas Gupta | 151 |
| Nuskhah-e-Hamidiyah | 59-60 |
| Asi, Abdul Bari | 64 |
| Gyan Chand | 95-97 |
| Hamid Ali Khan | Open Image |
Oh Ghalib, in the road of poetry I have no fear of losing the road, because I am a follower of Bedil, and for me the pen of Bedil does the work of a staff in the desert of poetry.
== Asi, p. 64
That is, in poetry I am a follower of Bedil; I cannot become lost.
== Zamin, p. 60
Travelers go along behind the staff of the guide. In the journey of poetry, I have no fear of losing the road, because Mirza Bedil's pen is guiding me. That is, I am imitating [] his style.
== Gyan Chand, p. 97
For background see S. R. Faruqi's choices . This verse is NOT one of his choices; I thought it was interesting and have added it myself. For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in 4,8x .
This closing-verse is one more of the young Ghalib's many tributes to Bedil; on Ghalib's deep admiration for Bedil , see 8,5x .
Bedil's pen is equated with Khizr's staff-- they are both, it seems, guides on the road of poetry. But it's also possible that Ghalib is imagining himself as Bedil's heir; on this reading, Ghalib wouldn't fear getting lost, because he himself now had the 'pen of Bedil' that would act as Khizr's staff, so that he himself was now a kind of Khizr of the 'desert of poetry'.
Alternatively, if we take as a word, the pen of 'a heart-less one'-- a lover who had lost or given away his heart, not one who was 'heartless' in the usual English sense-- might be the key to right guidance in the 'road of poetry'.
And Ghalib didn't in any case show much respect to Khizr: consider the patronizing view of 159,6 , or the denunciation in 234,3 .
graphics/reedpen.jpg