دلِ ناداں تجھے ہوا کیا ہے Dil-e-Nadaan Tujhe Hua Kya Hai — Foolish Heart, What Has Happened To You

Mirza Ghalib

1797– 1869

Ghazal

Ghalib opens by asking his own heart what is the matter with it, which is the sort of question anybody might ask themselves at two in the morning. A few couplets later he is asking what a cloud is. Nothing in between marks the change of subject.

That is the strange pleasure of this one. The question keeps getting larger while the wording stays exactly the same, and he never answers a single one of them. Eleven couplets ahead, and the same question keeps growing between them.

01 — dil-e-nadan tujhe hua kya hai Matla · the opening

دل ناداں تجھے ہوا کیا ہے
آخر اس درد کی دوا کیا ہے

दिल-ए-नादाँ तुझे हुआ क्या है
आख़िर इस दर्द की दवा क्या है

dil-e-nadan tujhe hua kya hai
akhir is dard ki dava kya hai

Foolish heart, what has happened to you? And what, in the end, is the cure for this pain?

He talks to his own heart the way you would talk to a child who will not say what is wrong. Nadan does not mean stupid, it means unknowing, the innocence of something that has not learned yet. And he asks the question rather than answering it, which is how the whole ghazal is going to go.

دلِ ناداں dil-e-nadan: the foolish or innocent heart
دوا dava: medicine, cure

02 — ham hain mushtaq aur vo be-zar

ہم ہیں مشتاق اور وہ بیزار
یا الٰہی یہ ماجرا کیا ہے

हम हैं मुश्ताक़ और वो बे-ज़ार
या इलाही ये माजरा क्या है

ham hain mushtaq aur vo be-zar
ya ilahi ye majra kya hai

I am full of longing and she wants nothing to do with me. God — what sort of business is this?

Look who he complains to. Not to her, and not to a friend. He takes it upward. Majra means an affair, a proceeding, the sort of word you would use about a dispute, so he is filing his unanswered love as an irregularity for God to look into.

مشتاق mushtaq: eager, full of longing
بے زار be-zar: fed up, wanting nothing to do with it
ماجرا majra: an affair, a business, what is going on

03 — main bhi munh men zaban rakhta huun

میں بھی منہ میں زبان رکھتا ہوں
کاش پوچھو کہ مدعا کیا ہے

मैं भी मुँह में ज़बान रखता हूँ
काश पूछो कि मुद्दआ' क्या है

main bhi munh men zaban rakhta huun
kaash puchho ki muddaa kya hai

I have a tongue in my mouth as well. If only you would ask me what I actually mean.

The whole couplet is about not being asked. He has the equipment to speak and no invitation to use it, and kaash, if only, carries the entire complaint. He never does tell us what the muddaa was.

مدعا muddaa: the point, what one means to say

04 — jab ki tujh bin nahin koi maujud

جب کہ تجھ بن نہیں کوئی موجود
پھر یہ ہنگامہ اے خدا کیا ہے

जब कि तुझ बिन नहीं कोई मौजूद
फिर ये हंगामा ऐ ख़ुदा क्या है

jab ki tujh bin nahin koi maujud
phir ye hangama ai khuda kya hai

When nothing exists except you — then what is all this uproar, God?

This is the couplet the ghazal turns on. The premise is orthodox enough in Sufi thought: only God truly is. Ghalib takes it seriously and finds that it leaves him with a problem, because something is plainly going on. And look at the word he reaches for. Hangama is a commotion, a racket, a scene in the street. He describes the existence of the universe with the word you would use for a disturbance outside your window.

موجود maujood: existing, present
ہنگامہ hangama: an uproar, a commotion, a scene

05 — ye pari-chehra log kaise hain

یہ پری چہرہ لوگ کیسے ہیں
غمزہ و عشوہ و ادا کیا ہے

ये परी-चेहरा लोग कैसे हैं
ग़म्ज़ा ओ इश्वा ओ अदा क्या है

ye pari-chehra log kaise hain
ghamza o ishva o ada kya hai

And these fairy-faced people, what are they? What are these glances and airs and graces?

The question from the last couplet is still running, only now it is pointed at beautiful faces. If nothing exists but God, these are hard to account for. He names three separate kinds of flirtation in one line, ghamza, ishva, ada, which rather gives away how closely he has been looking.

پری چہرہ pari-chehra: fairy-faced
غمزہ ghamza: a sidelong, flirtatious glance
عشوہ ishva: a coquettish gesture
ادا ada: charm, a graceful way of doing something

06 — shikan-e-zulf-e-ambarin kyuun hai

شکن زلف عنبریں کیوں ہے
نگہ چشم سرمہ سا کیا ہے

शिकन-ए-ज़ुल्फ़-ए-अंबरीं क्यूँ है
निगह-ए-चश्म-ए-सुरमा सा क्या है

shikan-e-zulf-e-ambarin kyuun hai
nigah-e-chashm-e-surma sa kya hai

Why is there a curl in that perfumed hair? What is that kohl-darkened look?

He has gone from people in general to one specific face, and he is still using the same words. Asking why a curl exists is a silly question and a real one at the same time. Everything in the couplet is arranged rather than natural, and that arrangement is the question.

شکن shikan: a fold, a curl
زلف zulf: a lock of hair
عنبریں ambarin: fragrant with ambergris
سرمہ surma: kohl, worn on the eyes

07 — sabza o gul kahan se aae hain

سبزہ و گل کہاں سے آئے ہیں
ابر کیا چیز ہے ہوا کیا ہے

सब्ज़ा ओ गुल कहाँ से आए हैं
अब्र क्या चीज़ है हवा क्या है

sabza o gul kahan se aae hain
abr kya chiiz hai hava kya hai

Where did the grass and the flowers come from? What sort of thing is a cloud? What is wind?

Here the joke stops being a joke. The same phrasing that asked about a hairstyle is now aimed at the weather, and it sounds no different. He has arrived at the position where nothing whatsoever is allowed to be obvious, and he gets there without changing his tone once.

سبزہ sabza: greenery, grass
ابر abr: cloud

08 — ham ko un se vafa ki hai ummid

ہم کو ان سے وفا کی ہے امید
جو نہیں جانتے وفا کیا ہے

हम को उन से वफ़ा की है उम्मीद
जो नहीं जानते वफ़ा क्या है

ham ko un se vafa ki hai ummid
jo nahin jante vafa kya hai

I go on hoping for faithfulness from people who do not know what the word means.

After all that, a plain sentence. He is not accusing her of betrayal. He says she has no idea what she would be betraying, which is worse and also lets her off. It is the one couplet in the ghazal where he seems to know the answer, and it is about himself.

وفا vafa: faithfulness, keeping one's word

09 — haan bhala kar tira bhala hoga

ہاں بھلا کر ترا بھلا ہوگا
اور درویش کی صدا کیا ہے

हाँ भला कर तिरा भला होगा
और दरवेश की सदा क्या है

haan bhala kar tira bhala hoga
aur darvesh ki sada kya hai

Yes, yes — do good and good will come to you. What else does a beggar at the door ever call out?

He quotes the standard advice, agrees with it in the first three words, then puts it where he thinks it belongs. It is the line every dervish shouts, all day, at every house. Sada is a call, the cry of someone asking. Good advice and begging turn out to sound identical.

درویش darvesh: a dervish, a wandering ascetic
صدا sada: a call, a cry

10 — jaan tum par nisar karta huun

جان تم پر نثار کرتا ہوں
میں نہیں جانتا دعا کیا ہے

जान तुम पर निसार करता हूँ
मैं नहीं जानता दुआ क्या है

jaan tum par nisar karta huun
main nahin janta dua kya hai

I offer up my life for you. I do not know how to pray.

Two flat statements with nothing joining them, and the gap between them is the couplet. He has been asked, in effect, to wish her well in the proper way, and he cannot, so he hands over the only thing he actually possesses. It reads as devotion and as an admission of failure at once.

نثار nisar: scattered as an offering, given up for someone

11 — main ne maana ki kuchh nahin ghalib Maqta · signed by the poet

میں نے مانا کہ کچھ نہیں غالبؔ
مفت ہاتھ آئے تو برا کیا ہے

मैं ने माना कि कुछ नहीं 'ग़ालिब'
मुफ़्त हाथ आए तो बुरा क्या है

main ne maana ki kuchh nahin ghalib
muft haath aae to bura kya hai

Granted, Ghalib is worth nothing at all. But if he comes to you free, where is the harm?

He signs off by agreeing with his critics and then finding an angle. Main ne maana, I concede the point, is the language of someone losing an argument on purpose, and muft haath aae, if he comes free, turns him into stock nobody would pay for. After eleven couplets of unanswerable questions, the last one he asks is about his own price.

مفت muft: free, at no cost

Reading it whole

Underneath this is somebody who has stopped being able to take anything for granted. It begins as ordinary misery, the kind that asks what is wrong with me and what will fix it. Then it keeps going, straight past the misery, until beautiful faces and kohl-darkened eyes and grass and cloud and wind are all being asked the same question in the same tone, as though not one of them had ever properly explained itself.

The ghazal turns in the fourth couplet, and the turn is easy to miss because the tone never changes. If nothing exists except God, which is standard Sufi ground rather than a provocation, then what is all this? He answers with hangama, and the choice is the joke and the argument at once. He describes the whole of creation the way you might describe a racket coming from the street outside.

Having taken on the structure of reality, he comes back down and ends up talking about money. The ninth couplet quotes the ordinary pious advice, do good and good will come to you, and immediately files it as the only thing beggars ever shout at doors. The tenth admits he does not know how to pray and offers up his life instead, on the grounds that his life is the one thing he has to hand.

And the last couplet shrugs the whole poem off. Granted, Ghalib is worth nothing at all, but if you are getting him free, where exactly is the harm? A ghazal is not supposed to have an argument running through it. This one does anyway. It asks what is wrong with me, works its way up to what is anything, and comes back down to a man haggling over his own price.

Talat Mahmood and Suraiya sang it in the 1954 film Mirza Ghalib, and that version decided which couplets most people know. Abida Parveen takes it slower and is more interested in the metaphysics than the complaint.

How it rhymes

Every second line closes on the same word — کیا ہے , kya hai. That repetition is the radif. The rhyme falling just before it is the qafiya: The -a sound just before the refrain: dava, majra, muddaa, khuda, ada, sa, hava, vafa, sada, dua, bura. Hearing the two land together at the close of every sher is most of what makes this form sound the way it does.

Recordings

Talat Mahmood and Suraiya

From the 1954 film Mirza Ghalib. This is the version that decided which couplets most people know.
Abida Parveen

Slower, and more interested in the metaphysical couplets than the complaint.

Text and rights

Devanagari text supplied and checked by a reader who knows the language. The Urdu script and the transliteration follow that reading.

Sung versions usually take four or five couplets from this and drop the rest.

Ghalib died in 1869, so the poem itself is out of copyright everywhere. The translation, the reading of each couplet and the essay around them are original work written for Harf.