Ghazal 326x, Verse 2


;xayaal-e saadagiihaa-e ta.savvur naqsh-e ;hairat hai
par-e ((anqaa pah rang-e raftah se khe;Nchii hai;N ta.sviire;N

1) the thought/idea of the simplicities of imagination is a shape/image of amazement!
2) on the wing of the Anqa, with gone-away color, it has drawn pictures


;xayaal : 'Thought, opinion, surmise, suspicion, conception, idea, notion, fancy, imagination, ...; consideration; regard, deference; apprehension; care, concern'. (Platts p.498)


saadagii : 'Plainness, absence of ornament; artlessness, simplicity, openness, frankness, sincerity, purity'. (Platts p.623)


ta.savvur : 'Imaging or picturing (a thing) to the mind; imagination, fancy; reflection, contemplation, meditation; forming an idea; idea, conception, perception, apprehension'. (Platts p.326)


naqsh : 'Painting; colouring; drawing; designing, &c.; — delineation; — embroidery; — a painting, a picture; portrait; drawing; a print; a carving, an engraving; ... a design; — an impression; a stamp; a mark'. (Platts p.1145)


khe;Nchnaa : 'To draw, drag, pull; to attract, to draw in ... ; to draw (a sword, or a bill, or a line or figure); to delineate, to sketch; to paint;'. (Platts p.887)


ta.sviir : 'Picture; drawing; sketch; painting; portrait; an image'. (Platts p.326)


That is, the thought of the simplicity of imagination is an amazement-increasing shape, that from flying color makes pictures on the wing of the Anqa. Flown-away color [in the face] is also a proof of amazement; and the color that has flown away is also nonexistent. 'Simplicity' is in the sense of 'foolishness/ignorance'.

The gist is that imagination keeps cooking an extraordinary imaginary pulao, to think of which is amazement. By drawing pictures on the Anqa's wing with gone-away color is meant that those ideas that have already become a story of the past, and the adoption of which is now impossible-- it always versifies hopes for them. This is Mirza's life-story [of his troubles with his English pension].

== Zamin, p. 261

Gyan Chand:

Nowadays how empty and simple is our imagination! When I think of it, then it becomes a shape of amazement. The reason for versifying the shape as being amazed like a mirror is that in whatever direction it looks, it too keeps on looking. By the thought of simplicity being a shape of amazement is meant that from seeing the simplicity of the imagination, there is amazement.

Look at the exaggeration of the simplicity of the imagination. The Anqa is an imaginary bird. rang-e raftah = flown-away color-- that is, which at some time was present, but now is not. The pictures that will be made on the wings of a nonexistent bird, with nonexistent color, will themselves be nonexistent. Our pictures are only such pictures, and nothing more. That is, the imagination is blank of every kind of picture.

== Gyan Chand, p. 293



For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}. See also the overview index.

On the special nature of ;hairat , see {51,9x}.

Zamin feels that the verse ruefully contemplates the 'extraordinary imaginary pulao' that the imagination concocts, especially when deluding itself about past events and lost hopes. Gyan Chand maintains that the verse laments the empty 'blankness' of the imagination, which can create only images that are 'nonexistent' several times over. It's that kind of verse, in the full-on Ghalibian mode. Given the abstractness and multivalence of the first line, quite a variety of readings would be possible.

In terms of wordplay, ta.savvur and ta.sviir of course come from the same root. But more striking is the conspicuous overlap between ;xayaal and ta.savvur (see the definitions above), which can both mean 'idea', 'conception', 'imagination', 'fancy', 'apprehension' (in the older sense of 'becoming aware' of something). We are left to decide for ourselves how to interpret these two protean words, and whether to emphasize their considerable similarities or their equally apparent differences.

My own favorite reading of the first line would be, 'The idea of the (presumed) 'simplicities' of imagination is a source of amazement!'. That is, people who think the imagination comes up only with naive 'simplicities' are astonishingly wrong. Why, the imagination has its own immense resources-- it can do impossibly extravagant, grandiose feats, like the one described in the second line. Using an unobtainable drawing surface and vanished colors, it can make pictures! In short, I read this verse along with {5,4}, another exclamation of amazement at the power of the human mind.