Ghalib, his ghazals, his poems, his genius, and his wits have always fascinated millions of Urdu lovers including myself. Those who want to receive my previous three installments; I shall email them for asking. My email address is asgharf@adelphia.net

This is my 5th installment.

Today we are going to deal with second Ghazal of Divan-e-Ghalib. To understand to-day’s she'r we have to know one (Riwayat) tradition witch says that when prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was three or four years old and was with his wet-nurse Halima and was playing outside with Halima’s son, at that moment an angel(s) came down and gently took charge of Mohammed (PBUH), opened his chest, removed his heart, and put on a tray. Then angel(s) washed Mohammed’s (PBUH) heart and removed the black spot/mole. Halima’s son saw this and ran to his mother and told her what happened. Halima thought that it might have been a devil; so, she took back Mohammed (PBUH) to his mother Amina and narrated what happened. Amina told Halima not to worry about it and told her that her son was destined for a great position. This tradition has been narrated in prophet’s early biographies. Scholars and Aalims narrate following Aaya  or verses of Qur’an and think that this verse refers to above episode.                                       AIm nashrah laka sadrak (Have We not expanded thee thy breast?)

In to-day’s she'r, Ghalib expands on this belief that humans are born with a black spot/mole on heart and that this evil spot leads humans to wrong ways.

The second aspect we have to understand is burning process of charcoal. When it burns, smoke is released, and charcoal loses its blackness and becomes white ash. It shows that charcoal was a bundle of smoke or was impregnated with smoke and that this smoke had made the charcoal black. Ghalib thinks that the mole/black spot on heart is packed/impregnated with troubles/predicaments/grief etc. In other words it is a bundle of trouble/grief. Once we experience these troubles/predicaments/grief, the impregnation is released like smoke and heart gets cleared of this black mole and we become pure.

Now let us look at this second She’r of third  Ghazal 

  Ashuftagi ne naqsh-e-saweda kiya durust      zahir huwa ke dagh ka srmaya dood tha

Meaning: My experiencing grief fixed (moved) the black spot (of my heart). So, it proved that the content of this spot was nothing but troubles (smoke)

ashuftagi = troubles/botherations/grief    naqsh= impression/spot/mark     saweda=black/bad durustrepair/fix

zahir huwa=became evident/proved     daagh= spot/mark     sarmaya= worth/content     dood = smoke

Ghalib has cleverly compared smoke with troubles because in period of grief/trouble it is said: heart is burning; and, when some thing burns, smoke is released.

He says: once I started experiencing trouble and grief, the black mole/spot of my heart started to disappear and I started becoming pure as if “Naqsh-e-saweda” was nothing but a bundle of grief/trouble that got depleted little by little. He wants to say that people should welcome troubles and grief as these troubles and grief actually remove the black spot of heart an make us pure. I think Ghalib, without making it explicit, says that “Yes Mohammed (PBUH) got help from Angeles; but, with patience, we also can remove the black mole and be pure by ourselves” This is an excellent way to look at troubles and problems of life, that troubles in fact  removes the black spot and cleans our hearts.

Ponder at the choice of words and color combination. Ghalib do not use the same word twice in one she'r. In first Misra he calls mole/spot as ‘Naqsh-e-swayeda’ in second line or misra he calls it as ‘Dagh’; Naqsh-e-swayeda, Dagh, and Dood are all black in color.

 
 The more you ponder over it, the more you would enjoy it.