Date: Wed, 10 Jul 96 10:04:00 PDT
From: Ramesh Hariharan (rameshh@tp.ac.sg)
Subject: Ghalib: ghar jab bana liya haiN.....

Hi
Who-else-but Ghalib's yet another ghazal! We will also talk about "Kaafiyaa"
today. 'Kaafiyaa' is the rhyming pattern which all the words before the
'Radif' *must* have. In our ghazal here, note that the 'Radif' is 'kahe
baGHair' and the 'Kaafiyaa' is "par", "ghar", "kyonkar", "sitamgar" etc,
where the 'ar' at the end forms a rhyming pattern. This rhyming pattern is a
necessary requirement.

To recap then, a 'beher' is the meter/length of the sher, a 'maqta' is the
last sher, which may or may not have the 'takkallus'(alias), a 'radif' is
the same ending words of a sher, a 'kaafiyaa' is the necessary rhyming
pattern before the 'radif', and the "matla" is the 1st sher of a ghazal,
having 'radif' on both its lines.

1. ghar jab bana liya hai tere dar par kahe baGHair
jaanega ab bhee too na mera ghar kahe baGHair

[when I have made my house at your doorstep, without telling you
you will even now, not know my house, without me telling you]

[Check the play around of words by Ghalib. He says that I have made your
doorsteps as my house(as in a lover lying at the steps of his beloved), but
since I have not told you about it, you will not know that it is my house
till I tell you]

2. kehte haiN, jab rahee na mujhe taaqat-e-suKHan
jaanooN kisee ke dil ki maiN kyoNkar kahe baGHair

[They say that when I do not have the strength to speak itself
Why should I know about someone's heart, without telling/speaking?

3. kaam us'se aa paDa hai ki jiska jahaan meiN
lewe na koee naam 'sitamgar' kahe baGHair

[I have got some work with that person in the world,
whom, people call by no other name but an oppressor/torturer(not in the literal sense)]

4. jee meiN hee kuchch naheeN hai hamaare, wagarna ham
sar jaaye ya rahe, na rahaiN par kahe baGHair

[There is nothing inside me/my self itself, otherwise I
whether my head rolls or not, I would not have stopped from saying something]

5. 'GHalib' na kar huzoor meiN too baar-baar 'arz
zaahir hai tera haal sab un par kahe baGHair

[Ghalib, don't keep repeating yourself in the presence of the king/beloved(as in a durbar)
Your state of affairs/condition is evident to them all, without you saying anything]

Dictionary : taaqat-e-suKHan = strength to speak; sitamgar = oppressor