Verse 6after 1821aalkahaa;N
G8
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
it has been abandoned/left by us, the gambling-house of passion
2
if we would go there, wealth in the purse-- where?!
'To be got rid of, to be separated (from); to be left, be abandoned; to be left out, be omitted; to be left off, be given up, be relinquished'.
is an archaic form of ( GRAMMAR )
'A knot; knob; node;... a purse;... (fig.) an entanglement, a difficulty; impediment (in speech); prejudice; misunderstanding, dissension'.
| References | |
|---|---|
| Arshi, Imtiyaz Ali | Ghazal# 96 |
| Raza, Kalidas Gupta | 294-95 |
| Asi, Abdul Bari | 162-163 |
| Gyan Chand | 302 |
| Hamid Ali Khan | Open Image |
That is, now there's neither the cash of the heart, nor the gold-piece of the wound, nor the wealth of endurance. With what wealth can I gamble, and with what stakes can I throw the dice? (84)
== Nazm page 84
Looking over his lack of worldly pomp and circumstances, or his sad-heartedness, the lover exclaims, now we've left the gambling-house of passion. There it's necessary to have worldly wealth, or tumult and longings-- all of which I've lost forever. From the word the speaker's agitation of heart can be learned, and it's clear that whatever is happening is contrary to his will and his desire. (173)
In order to throw the dice of passion, relish and ardor, longing, desire, turmoil, eagerness, etc. are necessary. This wealth hasn't remained in our purse at all. Thus we've left off going to that gambling-house. (170)
Some general points about this whole gazal have been made in 85,1 .
In the previous verse, loss of health in the heart and liver was portrayed as a kind of impotence. And here too, the lack of 'money in the purse' means that the lover will never be admitted to the gambling-house of passion, and could never afford to join the game in any case. So once again he's lamenting his powerlessness. The other meanings of , which is literally a 'knot' and metaphorically a 'difficulty' (see the definition above), also hover within the semantic field.
In both cases, it's the sense of decline from a former state that gives the verse its bite. The reason the speaker can't go to the gambling-house any more is that he's already wagered and lost everything he had. He's bankrupt now. It's the drastic nature of the fall that makes his expulsion so bitter. Yet all this emerges only by implication , from our general knowledge of the parameters of the ghazal world.
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