Verse 8x1821uudthaa
G3
1
a loser/'trick-eater' through deceit/beguilement, is the taste/relish of the people of insight
2
the gathering was eager/'hot' for/with the amazement of existence and manifestation/display
'Play, sport, game, trick; game of chance, hazard; gaming; stake (at play), wager, bet.... , v.n. To be beaten, to lose, be cast'.
'A convention, an assembly, a meeting; a crowd; --noise, tumult, commotion, confusion, uproar; sedition, disturbance, disorder'.
'Perturbation and stupor (of mind), astonishment, amazement, consternation'. (Platts p.
'The being or becoming apparent, visibleness; appearance; --prominence, conspicuousness; --show; --affectation; --display; --pomp; --honour, character, celebrity'.
| References | |
|---|---|
| Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali | Ghazal# 4 |
| Raza, Kalidas Gupta | 318 |
| Nuskhah-e-Hamidiyah | 29 |
| Asi, Abdul Bari | 51-52 |
| Gyan Chand | 65-67 |
| Hamid Ali Khan | Open Image |
The taste/relish of the people of insight has been deceived by tricky games in the world, because the gathering of the world was itself 'hot' because the taste/relish of the people of insight was becoming ensnared in thought about existence and nonexistence. That is, they were thinking about their own existence, or the existence of the world-- whether they are, or not. It was just such as in 196,4 .
== Asi, p. 51
He says that the people of insight, who are eagerly searching for the truth/reality of this gathering/turmoil of existence, have in reality fallen into a trick/deceit. The heat/enthusiasm of the gathering/turmoil of existence is only the running in circles of amazement at existence and nonexistence.
== Zamin, p. 29
The people who were looking at the scenes of the world and enjoying them, were in reality being deceived. All the world's turmoil is in the amazement at the way things come and go.
== Gyan Chand, p. 65
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 For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in 4,8x .
Asi's, Zamin's, and Gyan Chand's texts all have , which affects their interpretations; as usual I adopt Raza's reading (based on Arshi's), which seems in any case much more suggestive. Either way, there's some kind of confidence game going on, maybe a shell game. The con artist is befuddling the people of 'sight' or (presumed) 'insight'. The con artist is able to do so because they really want to believe him, they want to see magic and wonders. On the complexities of , see 71,3 .
What these people apparently want is to feel the 'amazement' or 'astonishment' generated by 'existence' and 'manifestation'-- the latter bearing all its freight of 'show', 'pomp', and so on (see the definition above). The spectators are so eager to be entertained that they suspend their normal skepticism and 'insight' so that they can fully enjoy the show. (As we all know, there's one born every minute.)
And the con artist is glad enough to oblige. Perhaps he's doing a cosmic card trick-- think of 81,2 , in which we ourselves are the card-trick. In that verse, he's the 'card-player of thought'. In this verse, who is he? Someone who shows us all kinds of wonders, spectacles, marvels, shows-- but then disperses them again in a moment, leaving us befuddled and forlorn (and perhaps fleeced, too). Would God treat us like that? If not God, than who? The sky? Fate? Life in general?
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