Verse 6x1816uusthaa
G1
1
the opening/expansion of the temperament extinguished/'rosed' the color of a 'whole-garden'
2
this bound/constrained heart was, so to speak, a peacock's egg
'Opening; expansion; dispersion, or vanishing (of sorrow, &c.); clearance (of clouds, &c.); —deliverance'.
'To extinguish (a candle or lamp)'.
'Bound; restrained; —referred back (to); related, connected (with), depending (on)'.
| References | |
|---|---|
| Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali | Ghazal# 31 |
| Raza, Kalidas Gupta | 160 |
| Nuskhah-e-Hamidiyah | 83-84 |
| Asi, Abdul Bari | 71-72 |
| Gyan Chand | 116 |
| Hamid Ali Khan | Open Image |
= made manifest []. For Ghalib, the peacock is a symbol of colorfulness and radiance; thus a peacock's egg is a sign/token of color and radiance to be obtained in the future.
For the temperament to be 'bound/constrained' has the meaning of grief-strickenness, and to 'open' has the meaning of happiness. When the heart opened, then it caused such liveliness and color and radiance as if spring would have come to a garden. It appeared that as long as the heart was bound/constrained, it was like a peacock's egg-- from within which later a peacock emerged, and in every direction colorfulfulness upon colorfulness became manifest. Through the opening of the temperament, the allusion is to poetry-composition. Poetry created the situation of a garden
== Gyan Chand, p. 116
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 For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in 4,8x .
The idiomatic meaning of as 'to extinguish' a candle is entirely established. (See the definition above, and also think of Faiz: .) It comes directly from the inverted cup (or flower) shape of most candle-snuffers. Here's an example, from India, that includes a snuffer that conveniently hangs from the candlestick itself:
graphics/candlesnuffer.jpg
If we adopt this reading, then the 'opening' of the previously 'bound/constrained' temperament turned it into a comparative candle-snuffer, for the peacock who emerged from this metaphorical egg was (eventually!) so radiantly beautiful that his glory outshone and thus 'extinguished' (by comparison) the color of a whole garden.
But Ghalib almost always uses such idiomatic expressions in both their colloquial and their dictionary meanings. On a literal reading, the peacock who emerged from the newly-hatched egg of the 'opened' temperament 'rosed' the color of the whole garden. That would suggest giving it a radiance, a brilliance, a roseate glory. Compare for example 15,4 , in which the of the rose turns the garden water-channel into a 'lamp-display'.
Gyan Chand insists on as 'to reveal, to make manifest'. I don't know where exactly he gets it from, and life is too short to do every bit of peripheral research. You, dear reader, can decide for yourself.
graphics/peacockegg.jpg