Urdu: بزم کو برہم ہوئے

[Gop]

Friends,
Could you please tell me the meaning of بزم کو برہم ہوئے in the following couplet by Halii:
بزم کو برہم ہوئے مدت نہیں گذری بہت
اٹھ رہا ہے شمع سے اس بزم کی اب تک دھواں


Also what is the first couplet in this Ghazal, so that I can read it fully. Thanks.

 

[Qureshpor]

Gope SaaHib, have you checked what بزم and برہم, both of Persian origins, mean in a dictionary? برہم is made up of two words, the preposition بَر and ہم.

 

[Gop]

Gope SaaHib, have you checked what بزم and برہم, both of Persian origins, mean in a dictionary? برہم is made up of two words, the preposition بَر and ہم.

I do get the meanings of the two words separately:
P بزم bazm, s.f. Assembly, company, party, entertainment, feast, banquet.
P برهم bar-ham, adj. Confused, jumbled together, turned upside down or topsy-turvy, entangled, spoiled; offended, angry, vexed, enraged, sullen: — barham-darham, adj. Confused, entangled, topsy-turvy: — barham-zadan, s.m. Confusing, mixing together; striking together: — barham-zada, adj. Confused, convulsed, turned topsy-turvy: — barham-zan, s.m. Exciter of quarrels, embroiler: — barham-zanī, s.f. Confusing; embroiling; interference, prevention, putting a stop to: — barham karnāor kar-denā, v.t. To throw into confusion or disorder; to embroil, complicate; to mar, ruin, destroy

I am unable to choose, from among the meanings of bar-ham, the one which goes with بزم here.
Hence my question.

 

[Qureshpor]

"turned upside down or topsy-turvy" is likely to be the most obvious meaning for برہم here.

I've tried to look up this Ghazal but have not been able to find its مطلع matla3 (the opening couplet).

 

[Gop]

"turned upside down or topsy-turvy" is likely to be the most obvious meaning for برہم here.

I've tried to look up this Ghazal but have not been able to find its مطلع matla3 (the opening couplet).

Thanks for the term مطلع for the opening couplet.
So we don’t know why the banquet turned topsy-turvy. I thought the Ghazal would give a clue.

 

[Qureshpor]

Gope SaaHib, Ghazal poetry, especially that of the masters, is very symbolic and it is not always possible to deduce the meaning without knowing the period in which the poet lived and the imagery associated with the Ghazal. Hali lived through the events of 1857 and the death and destruction which followed, especially within the ruling Muslim nobility and gentry. Remember Ghalib said, "haa'e itne yaar mare kih jab maiN maruuN gaa to ko'ii rone vaalaa bhii nahiiN ho gaa!"

The "bazm" could be Hindustan and the sham3, Delhi. The "dhu'aaN" seen from the "sham3" could be the after effects of those cataclysmic times.

By the way, it would help if the couplet quoted is quoted correctly! Please return to the book and make the necessary amendment.

 

[Gop]

Gope SaaHib, Ghazal poetry, especially that of the masters, is very symbolic and it is not always possible to deduce the meaning without knowing the period in which the poet lived and the imagery associated with the Ghazal. Hali lived through the events of 1857 and the death and destruction which followed, especially within the ruling Muslim nobility and gentry. Remember Ghalib said, "haa'e itne yaar mare kih jab maiN maruuN gaa to ko'ii rone vaalaa bhii nahiiN ho gaa!"

The "bazm" could be Hindustan and the sham3, Delhi. The "dhu'aaN" seen from the "sham3" could be the after effects of those cataclysmic times.

By the way, it would help if the couplet quoted is quoted correctly! Please return to the book and make the necessary amendment.

A thousand apologies to the great poet, I have corrected my mistakes. Your explanation of this couplet makes it wonderfully and poignantly alive. Thank you very much, Qureshpor SaaHib.

 

[Qureshpor]

Thanks for the term مطلع for the opening couplet.
So we don’t know why the banquet turned topsy-turvy. I thought the Ghazal would give a clue.

My "explanation" is only a possibility, Gope SaaHib. There may be other explanations and I could be completely off the mark. Altaf Hussain "Hali" (1937-1914) would have been a 20 year old young man in 1857. He was a pupil of Ghalib for a short time and wrote "yaadgaar-i-Ghalib" in his ustaad's memory. Hali, as his nom-de-plume suggests, was a modernist and vehemently against the Ghazal genre. Despite this, he wrote Ghazal poetry as well as Nazm bringing in new themes, laying the foundation stones for Iqbal. Had he lived longer, he would have witnessed more death and destruction resulting from the First World War. Also, if he could see what had happened during the partition and what is happening in his motherland now, he probably would have thought about 1857 and the period after it as only a minor event!

This is how the matla3 goes. ٓYou will agree, it makes much more sense and easier to understand.

بزم کو برہم ہوئے مدت نہیں گزری بہت

اٹھ رہا ہے شمع سے اِس بزم کی اب تک دھواں

 

[Gop]

My "explanation" is only a possibility, Gope SaaHib. There may be other explanations and I could be completely off the mark.

May be. But your explanation is highly plausible, given the historical context.

This is how the matla3 goes. ٓYou will agree, it makes much more sense and easier to understand.

بزم کو برہم ہوئے مدت نہیں گزری بہت

اٹھ رہا ہے شمع سے اِس بزم کی اب تک دھواں

Yes, it does. Thank you very much.