The Hidden Garden by Gopi Narang (top ten ebook reader txt) 📗

play— with someone who was a frequent visitor to the household or a guest of the family, which ended in separation. The second masnavi is more about a poignant engagement where the lover shows great affliction and deep wounds after the affair ended. Presumably, the person of Mir’s love interest was closely related to his unfriendly stepbrother. In this masnavi, Mir soulfully articulates how after receiving one shock after another, he developed a severe psychic disorder, something akin to what is described as junuun (unbounded madness in the pursuit of love of the beloved).

In Muaamlaat-e I’shq, Mir says:

ek sahib se ji laga mera

us ke a’shvon ne dil thaga mera

ibtida mein to y rahi sohbat

naam se un ke thi mujhe ulfat

khuubi un ki jo sab kaha karte

gosh mere udhar raha karte

bakht-e bargashta phir jo yaar hue

ik tarah mujh se ve do-chaar hue

kya kahuun tarz dekhne ki aah

dil jigar se guzar gayi vo nigaah

ek muddat talak y sohbat thi

kabhu ulfat kabhu y kulfat thi

rafta rafta suluuk biich aaya

haat paaon ko apne lagvaaya

gaah be-gaah paaon phailaate

meri aankhon se talve malvaate

chal kar aate the jab kabhi iidhar

paaon rakhte the meri aankhon par

dekhne mein to paae-maali thi

husn se chaal y n khaali thi

hans ke seene p paaon rakh dete

dil mera yuun bhi haath mein lete

kya kahuun kaisa qad-e baala hai

qaalib aarzu mein dhaala hai

ek din farsh par tha mera haath

baatein karte the ve bhi mere saath

paaon se ek ungli mal daali

lutf se dard vo n tha khaali

dard se ki main ne betaabi

dast-e naazuk se der tak daabi

yaad aate hain aise lutf jo ab

guzre hain jaan-e gham-zadah p ghazab

baare kuchh barh gaya hamaara rabt

ho saka phir n do taraf se zabt

vaaste jis ke tha main aavaara

haath aaii mere vo mah-paara

chand roz is tarah rahi sohbat

pyaar ikhlaas raabta ulfat

ho gaaye bakht apne bargashta

phir kiya aasmaan ne sargashta

baat aisi hi ittefaaq pari

k hui sar p furqat aan khari

lagi kahne k maslahat hai y

kitne rozon juda tu mujh se rah

yuun bhi aata hai i’shq mein darpesh

k nishaan-e bala hon ulfat kesh

main uthaaya nahien hai tujh se haath

kurhiyo mat tu hai meri jaan ke saath

is judaaii ka mujh ko bhi gham hai

kya karuun aarzu muqaddam hai

main kahuun kya mujhe n apna hosh

jaise tasviir saamne khaamosh

un se rukhsat hua jo baa’d-e shaam

tiirah dekha jahaan ko har gaam

yuun hua un ke kuuche se aana

jaise hove jahaan se jaana

ab jo ghar mein huun to afsurda sa

chaarpaaii p huun to murda sa

haal dil ka kahuun jo hamdam ho

karuun paighaam kuchh jo mahram ho

ji mein kuchh aaya ro ke beth raha

dil zada chapka ho ke beth raha

yaad kar rouun un ki kaun si baat

kis tarah kaatuun hijr ke auqaat

muddat-e hjir agar tamaam hui

varna apni to sub-h shaam hui2

I fell in love with someone irresistible.

Her coquetry robbed me of my heart.

In the beginning, my association

rested on the love of her name.

Everyone praised her, so fond of her.

I furtively listened to such talk.

Luckily, we became good friends.

This is how we came very close.

How can I describe the way she talked?

Her gaze pierced my heart!

Our association continued for some time.

Sometimes it was love, sometimes vexation.

Slowly, how we behaved became an issue.

I was permitted to touch her hands and feet.

Sometimes, she extended her feet.

She used my eyes to touch her feet.

When she would come to my side,

she placed her feet on my eyes.

We were stepping into ruination.

But there was a pleasure in all this.

Smilingly, she would place her foot on my chest.

She played with my heart.

What can I say about her tall swaying self?

A body moulded by desire!

One day, my hand was on the floor

while she spoke of love with me.

She used her foot to stroke one of my fingers.

That pain was mixed with great pleasure.

With her delicate hand, she kneaded it for long.

When I remember these little delights

terrible things happen to my saddened heart.

Slowly, we got more intimate.

There was a loss of control on both sides.

Something that I was madly in search of

I found that moon-faced beauty, fortunately.

Days passed like this with her.

Love, openness, contact, affection—

suddenly, our luck took a turn for the worse.

The heavens turned our good fortune.

Something surfaced, and we were

struck by the calamity of separation.

She said we need to be prudent.

You have to stay apart for some days.

It happens in love.

You have to get rid of all signs of love.

Though I do not want to leave you.

Do not feel sad; you’re the confidant of my soul.

I will suffer in separation too.

What to do when desire faces an obstruction?

What can I say? I had no control over my senses.

Like facing a picture that has no voice.

The evening I took leave of her,

I saw nothing but darkness in front of me.

I turned from her company

as if I had left my world behind.

I find myself in my house depressed;

I lay lifeless on my bed like a corpse.

I could share the malady of my heart if I had a friend.

I could have a conversation if I had a confidant.

When I remember something, tears come to my eyes.

Heart-broken, I sit silently, dumbstruck.

Of all the charming things about her,

which one should I talk about?

How should I spend these moments of separation?

If I meet her, my suffering might diminish.

I can come back and be counted among the living.

My life was filled with parting from the sweetheart.

Mornings came, and the evenings went by!

In his second masnavi, Khwab o Khayaal,3 Mir describes his traumatic departure from his hometown. The affliction became more severe, and the pain unfathomable. It appears from the nature of the text that it was a serious involvement, a heart-wrenching encounter, and as a result, Mir was forced to leave Agra. Mir talks of the agony of leaving home against his wishes and how miserable he felt. He also reveals what he had concealed in Zikr-e Mir—that this tragic love relationship was the reason for his obsession: the lovely face he saw in the moon and his strange fixation with that image. This masnavi touchingly narrates the details of Mir’s ailment and the treatments on the way to recovery.

chala akbarabaad se jis ghari

dar o baam par chashm-e hasrat pari

k tark-e vatan