Verse 61821aabhai


G3

1 a
what would/might I do for the comfort of the disappointed heart?
1 b
what would/might I, disappointed, do for the comfort of the heart?
2
granted/assuming that the vision/sight is successful with [reaching] your face

'Respected, regarded, heeded; accepted; supposed; granted, &c.'.

References
Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali Ghazal# 140
Raza, Kalidas Gupta 344
Nuskhah-e-Hamidiyah 193-194
Hamid Ali Khan Open Image

Bekhud Mohani chooses an excellent verse for comparison: in it a contrast is drawn between the satisfied mind and the unsatisfied eyes. In the present verse, the eyes are satisfied although the heart is not. At least, so the commentators generally assume. But the convenient ambiguities of remain. Consider 151,9 , in which appears in exactly the same position, and offers us two possibilities: one of hypothetical 'assuming' (which is clearly undertaken only for the purposes of argument and is not extended to the real world); and the other of genuine 'granting' (which is used for things conceded to be true about the real world). In the present verse, the commentators assume the latter sense: they take it for granted (so to speak) that the eyes will, or do, in fact have the 'success' of seeing the beloved. But the former sense is also possible: on this reading, the poor lover is counting his chickens before they're hatched. His eyes haven't yet even succeeded in seeing their fill of the beloved, and he's already worried about his heart's feeling envious and disappointed when they do! He tosses in that little concession in the second line so offhandedly,so dismissively, that perhaps his listener won't even notice it. The lover, in the ghazal world, is always trying to make the best of an intolerable situation, but he rarely has much to work with. To be is, after all, his normal state. And the verse is so framed that the occupies a 'midpoint' position: it can apply either to the heart (1a) or to the speaker himself (1b). In the lover's world, there's plenty of for everyone. graphics/sadheart.jpg