Verse 41821aa;Nniklaa
G5
In this meter the first long syllable may be replaced by a short; and the next-to-last long syllable may be replaced by two shorts.
1
the longing-stricken heart was a banquet-table of the relish of pain
2
the friends' work/desire/'throat' turned out [to be] to the extent of their lips and teeth
'A table (esp. one covered with victuals)'.
'Pleasure, delight, enjoyment; sweetness, deliciousness; taste, flavour, relish, savour; --an aphrodisiac; an amorous philter'. .
'(Hindi) Action, act, deed, work, doing, handiwork, performance; work, labour, duty, task, job; business, occupation, employment, office, function; operation, undertaking, transaction, affair, matter, thing, concern, interest'.
'(Persian) Desire, wish; design, intention; --the palate'.
'Desire, wish; design, intention, pursuit;... the palate; the uvula; the mouth; chewing well, digesting well; masticated food; anything which assists digestion'. (Steingass p.1009)
| References | |
|---|---|
| Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali | Ghazal# 6 |
| Raza, Kalidas Gupta | 320-322 |
| Nuskhah-e-Hamidiyah | 33-34,36-37 |
| Asi, Abdul Bari | 54-55 |
| Gyan Chand | 70-72 |
| Hamid Ali Khan | Open Image |
That is, however much worth was in each one, to that extent he obtained from me the pleasure of pain; otherwise, on my side there was no lack. The word has a relationship of with 'lips and teeth' [because of its Persian meaning of 'mouth']. (7)
== Nazm page 7
Urdu text: Vajid 1902 {6}
He says, my longing-stricken heart was a dining-cloth of the pleasure of pain, on which were set out various types and kinds of food. According to their capability and relish, the friends received portions from my dining-cloth. Here there was no shortage. The meaning is that people receive benefit from me according to their individual capability. (17)
The point is that my verses were an album of despair and longing and pain. However much ability each person had, that was how much pleasure he received. (12)
Faruqi recognizes (July 2000) that this is not one of Ghalib's better verses. For a much finer treatment of this theme, he suggests that we consider one of Mir 's [M 454,3 ]:
[to one side, they roast a heart; elsewhere, they grill a liver
the gathering of the ardent ones is a kabob-seller's shop]
He has a point. Mir's verse has a playfulness and vigor that this one conspicuously lacks. There's also another of Mir's that includes as well [M 1384,1 ]:
[the burnt-ness of darvesh-ship-- well, it's savory
even/also the naan and salt of the wound is a savory thing]
Somehow the present verse seems uneasily poised between humor and morbid over-physicalness. Are we really supposed to imagine the heart as a banquet being literally eaten by the friends, who are using their lips and teeth to the best of their ability, and politely wiping the blood from their fingers with a dainty napkin? Without that specificity of image, the verse has little to recommend it; with that specificity, it becomes, so to speak, unappetizing. This is a verse of what I will call 'grotesquerie'; for further discussion, see 39,3 .
It's possible of course to take the verse as referring to poetry: the speaker's laments are a banquet of the 'relish of pain' because his pain produces a mental feast of eloquent words and expressions for his friends to enjoy according to their capacity. In this regard compare the last verse of the divan , 234,14 (one of the meanings of is, after all, an invitation 'to partake of food'). We can also think of compassion or sympathy, , in its literal sense of 'grief-eating'.
For a more detailed discussion of the very suitable double meaning of as both 'work' and 'desire' see 22,6 . But in this verse, Nazm is surely right to insist on 'mouth' as well (see the definitions above), since the interaction of all three meanings is an indispensable part of the pleasure.
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