Monday, October 29, 2007

Jirahat tohfa.H

jirahat tohfa.H, almas armughan, daag-e-jigar hadiya.H
mubarakbad Asad, ghamkhwar-e-jaan-e-dardmand aaya.

[jirahat: wound, almas: diamond, armughan: souvenior/gift, daag-e-jigar: scars of liver, hadiya.H; offering]
[jaan-e-dardmand: sympathetic beloved]

जराहत तोहफा, अल्मास अर्मुघा, दाग-ए-जिगर हदिया
मुबारकबाद असद, गम ख्वार-ए-जाने दर्द मंद आया


The offerings of wounds, scars of liver and a diamond,
Congratulations Asad, your sympathetic beloved has arrived.


This is another sher having multiple interpretations. “Ghamkhwar-e-jaane dardmand” may refer to a friend who acts as a messenger, taking Ghalib’s message of love to his beloved. In response, Ghalib gets wounds, scars of liver/heart and a diamond from her. This diamond is either meant to be swallowed, thus lacerating his heart and jigar, or be powdered and applied to his wounds causing him great pain. Some others have interpreted “Ghamkhwar-e-jaane-dardmand” as a sarcastic reference to the beloved herself by Ghalib, who brought him these gifts.