DEATH METAPHORS IN THE POETRY OF GHALIB

DEATH METAPHORS IN THE POETRY OF GHALIB

Ali R Fatihi

fatihi.ar@gmail.com

Introduction:

Inthis paper, attempts have been made to investigate and explore the conceptualizationof death euphemism in the ghazals of Mirza Ghalib as exemplified in variouseuphemistic metaphors using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory initiated by Lakoffand Johnson (1980, 2003). Based on  aconsiderable number of  euphemisticexpressions in  the poetry of MirzaGhalib, it has been found, that in his ghazals, Ghalib uses  strikingly complex conceptual metaphors to mitigate and diminish  the effect of death, originating from blendingprimary metaphors with cultural and poetic assumptions.  

Thedeath metaphors observed in the poetry of Ghalib share the common humanexperience of avoiding mentioning death by means of using identical euphemisticconceptual metaphors; however, death metaphors in Ghalib differ as regards theemphasis, details and range of the complex metaphor. For him expressionsrelated to death is a source of enjoyment. In one of his letters in 1860 to hisfriend Ghalib makes use of death expressions in the most hilarious stylereferring to a well-known courtesan of his times who had fallen for Ghalib’spoetry and, perhaps, also for the poet. Ghalib writes:

Mughal bachchey bhiajab hote hain. Jis pe martey hain, us hi ko maar rakhtey hain Ek badisitam-pesh domni ko mainey bhi maar rakhkha hai.

(TheseMughal children are strange. The one whom they die for, they end up killing. Itoo have killed a cruel courtesan.)

Theidea expressed in the letter (. Jis pe martey hain, us hi ko maar rakhteyhain) is beautifully captured in  some of his couplets quoted below;

Muhabbat men nahin hai farq jine aur marne ka

Usi ko dekh kar jite hain jis kafir pe dam nikle

His philosophy of life and death is displayed in many couplets suchas:

Rau mein hai raksh-e-umr, kahaan dekhiye thamey

Nae haath baag par hai, na paa hai rakaab mein

The stallion of my life is in a race, let’s see where it stops   /

Neither are my hands on the reins, nor my feet in the stirrup

Jala hai jism jahaan dil bhi jal gaya ho ga

Kured-te ho jo ab raakh, justjoo kya hai

Rahi na taaqat-e-guftaar aur agar ho bhi

Toh kis ummeed pe kahiye ki aarzoo kya hai?

Wherethe body has burned, even the heart would have

Insearch of what are you now raking the ashes ?

Thestrength in my speech is no longer there and even if it is

Withwhat expectation shall I express my desire ?

Rahiye ab aissee jagah chalkar jahaaN koee na ho/

Ham-ssukhan* koee na ho aur ham-zubaaN koee na ho/

Be-dar-o-deewaar ssaa ek ghar banaayaa chaahiye/

Koee hamssaayaa na ho aur paasbaaN* koee na ho/

Padiye gar beemaar, to koee na ho teemaardaar/

Aur agar marjaaiye to nauaa-khwaaN* koee na ho/

                                *******

KyooN gardish-e-mudaam* sse ghabraa na jaaye dil/

inssaan hooN piyaalaa-o-ssaaghar naheeN hooN maiN/

*******

yaarab zamaanaa mujhko mitaataa hai kiss liye/

lauh-e-jahaaN  peharf-e-mukarrar naheeN hooN maiN/

      A weaker individual might have gone outof his mind.

The great thing aboutGhalib is the fortitude and temperamental forbearance with which he faced hisimmense misfortune.

Zindagee apnee jab iss shakl sse guzaree, Ghalib/

Ham bhee kyaa yaad kareN ge ki Khuda rakhte the !

Evidence based on data analysis supports theview about the universality of euphemistic conceptual metaphors in the languageof Ghalib.

There is always a feeling of discomfort atmentioning harmful and embarrassing words to which society is often sensitive(Crystal, 2003, p. 173); therefore, language has its own ways of avoiding suchtaboos. The process of substitution where the offensive or unacceptable wordsare substituted by more appropriate ones has come to be known as euphemism‘. Inits modern sense, euphemism refers to "the use of a mild or vague orperiphrastic expression as a substitute for blunt precision or disagreeableuse" (Fowler, 1957, quoted in Holder 1987, p. vii). In this vein,euphemisms can be seen as ―roundabout, toning down expressions" (Algeo andPyles, 2004, p. 235), a substitution process which causes replacements such asthe following: casket (coffin), fall asleep (die), push up the daisies (bedead), the ultimate sacrifice (be killed), under the weather (ill), and manyothers. Euphemism is considered a linguistically universal trait. Almost alllanguages have euphemistic expressions, particularly employed to avoidvulgarisms (Mashak, 2012, p. 202). However, it is a matter of convention whichtypes of words and expressions should be avoided. According to Trudgill (1986,p. 30), English-speaking communities use strongest euphemism to avoid explicitmentioning of sex and excretion, while in Norway the mention of the devilrepresents the target of euphemism. Compared with Roman Catholic culture inwhich euphemism mostly relates to religion, euphemism in traditional Africa,according to Mbaya (2002, p. 224), relates to words for sex, parts of the body,death, marriage, kinship relations, certain birds‘ and animals‘ names. Deathand dying are among the most commonly referenced semantic fields in linguisticdiscussions of euphemism (Hughes, 2000, p. 43-43; Mey, 2001, p. 33-34). Thereare various reasons why people want to keep away from touching upon the topicof death, probably the most cited one is that of relevance to fear, a deeplyseated human instinct; people are afraid for losing their loved ones and itsconsequences. They are afraid of what would happen after death, mysterious lifeand hidden destiny, evil spirits, which strikes fear into their hearts (Allanand Burridge, 2006, p. 222). The most common human strategy to cope with thisfear of death is by making no mention of it or replacing it by otherexpressions. Although some people do not openly express their fear of death,they try to protect themselves by making some gestures such as a finger-crossor a charm or wood knock (Allan and Burridge, 2006, p. 203), and may try to useeuphemistic metaphorical expressions to hide the unpleasant things and to healtheir wounds (Fan, 2006).

TheConceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as set forth by Lakoff and Johnson (1980;2003) provides a very useful tool for analyzing such a linguistic phenomenon.The main point of the theory is that our conceptual system is based on a groupof mental metaphorical images that determine our way of thinking and influenceour experience of the world. This section explains the main tenets of thetheory and how it relates to euphemism.

First of all, Lakoff and Johnson see metaphor as acentral component in our thought and language. While for most people it ismerely "a device of the poetic imagination and rhetorical flourish—amatter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language…as characteristic oflanguage alone, a matter of words rather than thought or action" (2003, p.4), for Lakoff and Johnson it is prevalent in everyday life and is not merely alinguistic device; it is key to thought and action. Conceptual system plays akey role in defining our everyday realities and our concepts are based on metaphors,hence "what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matterof metaphor" (p. 4). Lakoff and Johnson elaborate on what it means for aconcept to be metaphorical and they illustrate their point, giving manyexamples. To mention only one, they tackle the concept ARGUMENT and theconceptual metaphor ARGUMENT IS WAR. The metaphor is demonstrated in daily lifein such expressions as: your claims are "indefensible"; he"attacked every weak point" in my argument; his criticisms were"right on target"; I "demolished" his argument; I've never"won" an argument with him; you disagree? Okay, "shoot!";if you use that "strategy", he'll "wipe you out". He"shot down" all of my arguments. Those expressions are not merelywords of language; they actually represent realities of life that are witnessedin terms of the facts that we 'win or lose arguments', we see the person we arearguing with as an opponent, we attack our challenger'spositions  and wedefend our own, we  gain and lose ground, etc. (p. 5). According to thistheory there are two domains for conceptual metaphors. The source domain, theone from which we draw the metaphorical expressions; for example, with theexpression LOVE IS JOURNEY, JOURNEY is the source domain, (which is one domain ofexperience), while LOVE is the target domain that we try to unravel. Theprocess of mapping across those conceptual domains puts the two elementstogether (LOVE and JOURNEY) so that one can see the common ground,similarities, resemblances and parallels that may exist between the source andthe target. Metaphor as asserted by Lakoff and Johnson is primarily based onthis mapping and language is only secondary. From this standpoint, metaphor isdefined as a cross-domain mapping in the conceptual system‖ (Lakoff 2003, p.203). As Fernandez explains (2006, p. 101-130), the mapping process that occurswith metaphors such as TO DIE IS TO SLEEP involves mapping our perception ofsleep onto our perception of death and fulfils a euphemistic role where thesource domain mitigates the target domain. To illustrate this point, it can besaid that in the euphemistic mechanism, the euphemistic expression (source)replaces (mapped onto) the taboo expressions (target) and, in the process, thepositive aspects of the target domain are highlighted while the negativeaspects are hidden (Fan, 2006, p. 72).

Lakoffand Johnson admit the possibility of highlighting and hiding, suggesting thatmetaphors provide a coherent structure, highlighting some things and hidingothers. The avoidance of mentioning the negative aspect of death createsmultiple conceptual metaphors in both English and Urdu; this study exploresdeath metaphors in the Urdu poetry of Mirza Ghalib and compares how death iseuphemistically represented in his Ghazals. The euphemistic metaphors oftreating death in  Ghalib seem to reflectshared generic metaphors and yet different specifics of emphasis and attributesthat belong to Indo Iranian culture.  For Urdu and Persian speakers,the language of Ghalib’s verse is a miracle of music and meaning. Theout-and-in structure of the shers of Ghalib’s preferred ghazal formseems to pierce the mysteries of  deathand existence, each new excursion of thought returning by a new path to theroot rhyme established in the opening verse by the qafiya (a continuouslyrhyming syllable) and the radif (a word or phrase repeated at the end of eachcouplet without any change whatsoever).

The euphemistic similarities and differencesbetween  the language used in the poetryof Ghalib and English in terms of conceptual metaphors normally take us intodiscussing what has been referred to in the cognitive literature as

v  primary and

v  complex metaphors.

Cognitive literature differentiates between twotypes of conceptual metaphors: primary metaphors and complex metaphors (seeGrady, 1997a, 1997b; Gibbs, Lima, & Francozo, 2004; Kovecses, 2005; Lakoff& Johnson, 1999, 2003). While primary metaphors are based on our commonbodily experience and are more likely to be universal, complex metaphors blendprimary metaphors and cultural convictions and assumptions together and, hence,are culture-specific. Complex metaphors differ from one culture to anothersince cultural information may differ from one ambience to another (Lakoff& Johnson, 2003, p. 257; see also Yu, 2008 for discussion on metaphors,body and culture). Grady (1997b, p. 288) asserts that primary metaphors ―havethe widest cross-linguistic distribution. Since they arise directly fromexperience – and in many cases, from the bodily experience of the world sharedby all humans – they are more likely to be universal than the more complexmetaphors which are combinations of them.

Lakoff and Johnson (1999, p. 54) illustrate what is meant by primarymetaphor by explaining that a dimensional metaphor such as MORE IS UP isembodied in three ways. First in terms of our embodied functioning in theworld, we witness many cases in which we systematically see MORE is associatedwith UP. Second, the body‘s sensorimotor system constitutes the source domainfrom which the metaphor is drawn. Finally, the correspondence between thesource and target domains of the metaphor is established in the body via neuralconnections. Other primary metaphors based on bodily experience includePURPOSES ARE DESTINATIONS and ACTIONS ARE MOTIONS, which are likely to beuniversal since we, as humans, have almost the same bodily and mental structureand we live in similar environments (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003, p. 257).

As mentioned above, complex metaphors blend primarymetaphors and cultural assumptions. Lakoff and Johnson (1999, p. 60–61) explainthat a complex metaphor such as A PURPOSEFUL LIFE IS A JOURNEY is made up ofthe cultural convictions PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE PURPOSES IN LIFE and PEOPLE SHOULDACT SO AS TO ACHIEVE THEIR PURPOSES added to the body-based primary metaphorsPURPOSES ARE DESTINATIONS and ACTIONS ARE MOTIONS. The distinction betweenprimary metaphors and complex metaphors is utilized in this study to explainvarious aspects of the convergence and divergence of some metaphoricalstructures in the data. It is worth noting here that all the primary metaphorsreferred to in the data analysis section (section 3) are based on Grady (1997a) unless cited otherwise.

The current study is worth attempting since, to myknowledge, no work has been done on comparing English and  the euphemistic expressions used in thelanguage of the poetry of Mirza Ghalib within the Conceptual Metaphor Theory.Literature on either conceptual metaphor Mirza Ghalib death metaphors andEnglish death euphemism is much and varied but linking both is not attested.Previous work has only focused on euphemistic strategies and the linguisticaspects of euphemism and hedging but failed to address the conceptual aspectsof euphemistic metaphors of death, particularly in the poetry of Mirza Ghalib.The current work also introduces fresh data from poetry of Mirza Ghalib thathas never been dealt with in previous works on the topic. In addition, Englishand  the language of  the poetry of Mirza Ghalib are two languagesthat belong to two different language families and two different culturalaffiliations, so it is worthwhile investigating how both languages conceptuallyflesh out the euphemism of death.

Data and Methods

The study is based on a pool of data collected fromthe  poetry of Mirza Ghalib. The primarysource for English is A Dictionary of Euphemisms (3rd Edition). This is acomprehensive work that draws on a number of dictionaries, books, quotationsfrom various people, and live interviews and encounters with common people andfamous writers. This work includes many euphemistic expressions elicited fromvarious sources, which makes it an encyclopedic book, fit for our purposes ofdetecting the overall euphemistic conceptual image. This work consists of anumber of euphemisms that have been used in famous books and newspapers.

The data from the language of Mirza Ghalibis fromthe Diwan-e Ghalib that, despite being written in the nineteenthcentury, still vividly offer euphemistic expressions that are commonly andwidely used in Modern Standard Urdu till now; euphemistic expressions in thosesources that are no longer used are excluded from the data.  As mentioned above, the euphemisms elicitedfrom this work of Mirza Ghalib are still in currency and common inStandard Urdu. For example some of the Urdu euphemistic expression of death arelisted below:

خالق حقیقی سے جا ملنا , قضاء , اجل , مرگ ,وفات , دم احتضار , نزع , جاں کنی , نزاع , سکرات موت , سپرد خاک ہونا , رحلت ,دنیا فانی سے کوچ کرنا , آخری سفر پر روانہ ہو جانا , آخری قیام گاہ کو جانا ,اختتام حیات , فناء

It is also used in death euphemisms, since Standardliterary Urdu often resorts to standard expressions, such as the ones used inthe data, rather than to colloquialisms. The main reason the researchercollected data from the sources above is that their encyclopedic nature fitsthe purpose of the study, which is to capture the overall metaphoricalconceptualization image of death euphemism in both English and the languageused in the poetry of Ghalib. Reading the generic nature of conceptualmetaphors requires reliance on panoramic works. Given the qualitativeorientation of this work and its conceptual nature, the methodology employed isbased on the descriptive-comparative method and content analysis. Data for thisstudy was collected from the above sources, where a complete survey was madefor each of these works focusing only on what relates to death euphemism; atotal of 84 euphemistic expressions were collected  from the poetry of Mirza Ghalib andthematically classified into topics that represent generic conceptualmetaphors. The data elicited is dealt with within the framework of ConceptualMetaphor Theory as set forth by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003) whichmethodologically provides a useful tool that analyzes the metaphoricalstructure of different domains of knowledge and explain how the mapping processunfolds for the euphemistic expressions (cf. introduction part). Although anearlier work has been done on death and life domains in English (Lakoff andTurner, 1989), this study takes a fresh look at death in the poetry of MirzaGhalib with particular emphasis on euphemistic terms.

Data Analysis:

Based on the data collected, the following sectionanalyzes the conceptual metaphors that represent death euphemism in the poetryof Mirza Ghalib. It is strikingly amazing to see that the metaphors of deathused in the poetry of Mirza ghalib almost reflect identical metaphors to avoidthe term death. The following metaphors have been detected and will beanalyzed:

v  DEATH IS A BETTERLOCATION,

v  DEATH IS LIFE,

v  DEATH IS ASUMMONER,

v  DEATH IS PAYING ADEBT,

v  DEATH IS THEFINAL DESTINATION,

v  DEATH IS AJOURNEY OF DEPARTURE,

v  DEATH IS LOSS,

v  DEATH ISREGROUPING AND JOINING,

v  DEATH ISSURRENDER AND SUBMISSION, and

v  DEATH IS SLEEP.

DEATH IS A BETTER LOCATION:

The euphemistic substitutes for death in both  languages conceptualize death as a "BETTER LOCATION", that is death  is represented as a ‘place’ in which someone is 'better' than he/she  currently is. In English, death is depicted as a "better country",  "better state", and "better world". It is actually a move  to a "happy dispatch", a "happy release" where you can  occupy a "happier seat"; it is even "happy hunting  grounds". English euphemistically delineates death as some sort of  "exchange", where you "exchange this life for a better"  and "take refuge in a better world". In that 'better' existence,  "troubles in this world are over" and it is "peace at  last" and you are "relieved of your sufferings". In Urdu, a  dead person is also envisaged as existing in a "better" situation  in terms of being favored by Allah (God), as we see in the euphemistic  metaphor " Allah ne bula liya" (TH) (Lit. Allah favored him). The  meaning of "betterness" is sometimes embodied in the sense of  Allah's "selecting" the dead person to be to near to Him, and this  meaning is repeated over and over, as in: " Allah ki ghar  chalagaya" (YA) (Lit. Allah selected him to be near to Him.); In Hindi  there are expressions like  "  Svarg sidharna" (YA) (Lit. To move to paradise); " دار فانی سے رخصت  /  کوچ کرنا daar-e-faanii se ruxSat / kuuchkarnaaرحلت کرنا /وفات پانا reHlat  karnaa / wafaat paanaa 
 سمت  ملک ارم جانا samt-e-mulk-e-iram  jaanaa / سمت باغ ارم جانا samt-e-baaGh-e-iram jaanaa (Lit. Allah has  selected for him to move from the abode of perishing to the abode of the  pious).

Death in Urdu  is, then, a  transition to a "better" state. The euphemistic effect generated by  the conceptual metaphor here is based on replacing the target domain, the  hateful word of death, by a source domain expression representing a  "better state" condition, or, to use Lakoff's and Johnson's terms,  the source domain, (better state), is mapped onto the target domain (death).  The euphemistic mitigating effect, therefore, is generated by mapping the  source domain onto the target domain. The observed similarities that we see  here emanate from the primary metaphor STATES ARE LOCATIONS shared by both  languages and are reported in the cognitive literature to have universal  application where we see the state of death is reinterpreted in spatial  embodiments: ―"better world", "better country",  "happy hunting grounds";   Urdu has the expressions given above.The complex metaphor in this  section blends the bodily primary metaphor with the subjective experience of  each culture. However, the differences lie in the specifics of the source  domain of complex metaphor DEATH IS A BETTER LOCATION. While Urdu and  English generically euphemize death conceptually in terms of being a  "BETTER LOCATION", the emphasis for the Urdu specific metaphor lies  in being close to Allah, while the English metaphor focuses on a better state  in terms of being more peaceful, relief of suffering, and reposing.

Ho Chuki'N Ghalib Balaye'N  Sub Tamam,
 Aik Marag-e-naghani Aur Hay.
 
 Translation.
 
 I have seen almost all the possible Troubles in my life,
 The last one that I have to face is the Death.

In this couplet Ghalib has  romanticised death. But tradition forbids  us from talking ill of the dead. Even if you didn't like somebody when he was  alive, your take on him is supposed to take a turn for the better once he is  dead. Like the scared water of the Ganges, death washes away all traces of  the sins a man might have committed in life. This plays on the mind of  anybody who sits down to write an obituary. No harsh words need to be said,  no skeletons need to be dug from cupboards. The metaphor  DEATH IS BETTER LOCATION is beautifully  depicted in the couplet below;

غم ہستی  کا اسد کس سے ہو جز مرگ علاج
 شمع ہر رنگ میں جلتی ہے سحر ہوتے تک
 gham-e-hasti kaa 'asad' kis se ho juz marg ilaaj
 sham;a har rang meiN jalti hai seher hote tak
 The sorrow of existence 'Asad', what is its cure but death
 The lamp burns in every color, until the morning comes

Morning (or more precisely, dawn) is often a  metaphor in poetry for birth or the start of a new life or a new social  order. Now in parallel, almost contrariwise, at least in South Asia, a  burning lamp or a flame is a metaphor for the soul or life-force. Thus the  familiar trope in Bollywood movies to show death or the passing away of the  soul from the body is to show the extinguishing of a flame. So here is the  rub. A lamp usually burns in the night. With the coming of dawn the lamp's  inevitable fate is to be extinguished. Thus here morning takes away rather  than gives life. Couple this now with the usual importance given, in the  Ghazal universe to the night as the realm of all poetry, of colorful  assemblies, of wine drinking and romance, or life itself. In the world of the  classical Ghazal, the poet comes alive during the night, whether because he  exults in shab-e-visaal (the night of union with the beloved, usually  singular!) or pines in shabaan-e-hijraN (nights of separation from the  beloved, usually plural!).

Thus perhaps it is not surprising that we find in  Ghalib a beautiful inversion of the dawn = birth metaphor to a dawn = death  metaphor. Metaphor (Istara) in general is a vital part of the Ghazal, and  metaphor creation is considered even one notch superior to ma;anii afiirnii  (meaning creation).

It is to be  noted that the verse follows a well-established pattern wherein the first  line offers a general proposition and the second line offers a poetic  "proof" for the "theorem." The first line is a  more-or-less straightforward proposition: life is suffering, and there is no  cure for it except death. To live is to suffer. So far so good. Poetically  said, but not quite sublime. ـIt  is the second line that takes the verse to Ghalibian levels. Here the lamp is  a metaphor for the human body, while its flame is the spark of life. But  Ghalib emphasizes not only the light given by the flame (the light of life)  but also the heat (burning, jalnaa). Not only is the flame life of the lamp,  as the soul is the life of the body, the flame also burns (jalnaa), its  essence is burning as the soul also suffers, its essence is suffering (what  is a flame if we take away the burning, what is life if we take away  suffering?). Here Ghalib deploys the double meaning of the verb  "jalnaa", to burn or to suffer. Further, not only does the lamp  burn, but as all the commentators note, it is powerless to extinguish  itself. Only the coming of morning will extinguish the lamp and relieve it of  its burning/suffering. But that relief is the relief of death, for then the  flame is extinguished and life is no more. So death extinguishes all the  types of burning/suffering that life brings as morning extinguishes every  colored flame of the lamp. It is worth mentioning here that  Frances Pritchett's commentary on the verse  as well as of other commentators she has collected cast enough light on the  death metaphors used by Mirza Ghalib in this couplet.
 Of course as Pritchett notes in passing, from the point of view of Sufism or  Vedanta death is only another beginning, the start of another journey. For  one who is aware of divinity, of the oneness of being (wahdat al-vujood), of  the True nature of Reality, death is a continuation of life by other means,  as it were. This is where Ghalib takes us in his Farsi verse:

نشاط ھستی حق دارد از مرگ ایمنم غالب

چراغم چوں گل آشامد نسیم صبح گاھان را
 nishaat-e-hasti-e-haq daarad az marg aimaanam Ghalib
 chiragham chuN gul aashaamad naseem-(e)-subaH gaahaan raa
 I exult in the existence of God/Ultimate Reality, from death I am safe  Ghalib
 My lamp, like a flower/rose drinks off the morning breeze

Before we compare it with the Urdu verse, a couple  of small semantic points are to be mentioned: I haven't been able to find out  if gaahaan (گاھان  ) is used as a free morpheme, mostly Steingass uses it in combination with  some other word to mean at such and such time (andar-gāhān, Intermediate  times) or na-gahaan meaning unexpectedly or untimely. So perhaps naseem-e-subaH  gaahaan should be read as one phrase (morning time breeze). Secondly I am  not sure why Ghalib uses the verb aashaamidan (unless aashaamad  is not the third person singular of this verb) here. A lamp drinking or  sipping the breeze seems funny (unless the breeze is like oil that the lamp  drinks to burn). In any case back to the main theme. We know that the morning  breeze is the death of the lamp, but it enlivens the flower. Ghalib's lamp  (the lamp of life of a Sufi or of one immersed in the existence of  God/Brahman) unlike the regular lamp (the lamp of life of an ordinary person  who considers death to be the end of life) described in the Urdu verse, is  not extinguished by the morning breeze, rather it is enlivened by it. And why  is that? Of course, the first line offers the clue. Because he is immersed in  the existence of God or the Ultimate Reality. This verse follows a logical  structure quite similar to the Urdu verse. Once again, the first line offers  a proposition. Now instead of being told that suffering in life ends only  with death, Ghalib tells us he is secure from death because he knows the  secret of existence. Once again, the first line itself though poetic is not  particularly thought provoking. As Pritchett might note, like a good Ghazal  verse, we have to wait not only till the second line of the verse but till  the last part of the second line (the part about the morning breeze) to get  the full impact of the metaphor. And once again, as with the Urdu verse, the  second line takes the verse to a new level. It offers "proof" or  example of the proposition stated in the first line.

Of course in both verses, as always we need to  distinguish Ghalib, the historical personality, from "Asad" or  "Ghalib" of the poem. The question of whether, in real life Ghalib  would have been as sanguine about death, or as immersed in the Oneness of  Being, is in some ways a moot point. We cannot expect the classical Ghazal to  be personal in the same way as say the Romantic poets off the 19th century.  "The poet in the poem" in the case of the Ghazal is a vexed issue.  ( S.R. Faruqi's essay) on this theme. Finally, in one sense the  Farsi verse is also a response to the Urdu verse. It is true that life's  suffering ends only in death, but one need not be afraid of death, if only  one knows the secret of the Ultimate Reality.

DEATH  IS LIFE                      

The  collected data also reveals that death is euphemistically expressed as being  "LIFE". This is attested in English via the euphemistic expressions  "life assurance", "life cover", "life office",  "life policy". Death is generally associated with going below  earth, being buried and consumed by worms; however, the euphemistic touch  refers to life in "up" terms. It is not strange to see death as  movement towards an "up" position where heaven is associated with  the heavenly kingdom of God. This metaphor is detected in English, where  death is rendered as a "higher state (of existence)" and  "upstairs"; experiencing death is to "remain above ground"  and to be in a heavenly world where you can be "in heaven",  "in Abraham's bosom" and "in the arms of Jesus". As for  thae language of the poetry of Mirza Ghalib, death is sometimes seen as a  form of life; those who fall martyrs are never to be called 'dead'. Moreover,  a dead person is envisaged as having gone "up", as reflected by the  euphemistic expression "inteqal" (TH) (Lit. transfer from one life  to another).

The  new state of death is living in a new location, which is seen as another form  of life. This is in tandem with the primary metaphor STATES ARE LOCATION. The  euphemistic effect is brought about by considering ‘death’ to be another  location where life is resumed. English seems to delineate more attributes  and specifics of life so that guarding against death is sketched in reverse  terms as "life assurance", "life cover", "life  office", "life policy". The euphemistic significance of death  is not regarded as being earthly life but as an "up" life.  Ghalib makes use of this philosophy of life  in some of his couplets;

Sab  kahan kuch lala-o-gul men numayan ho gain

Khak  men kya suraten hongi ki pinhan ho gain

Translation

Not  all, only a few have become evident as tulips and roses

What  images may lie in the dirt that remain hidden from us?

Before  getting into the meaning let me highlight two Interrogative Pronouns that  play a role in adding multi valence of meaning to this couplet   کیا kya and   کہاںkahan. Both these Interrogative  Pronouns carry within themselves nuances of inquiry and exclamation. Try  reading sab kahan twice, once with the emphasis on sab and once on kahan  consequently two meanings emerge out of the couplet. The examination of the  couplet at a very macro level prompts us to ask questions

·          What are these ‘faces’ Ghalib is talking about.

Broadly  it could have two readings – a more mundane one, where one is talking of dead  people, people who are buried under the dust, some are remembered even after  death, some are completely forgotten; and a more abstract one, where the  faces refer to the various aspects of the Universe itself. The second reading  therefore refers to the countless possibilities that the Universe offers,  some have become evident taking on a beauteous façade, while some remain  hidden. Time to get more micro into it and explore the nuances. And here, I  choose to quote Farouqui:

“Ghalib, saying   kya suraten has created possibilities upon possibilities.   For example, consider these:

·          what faces will there be? (inquiry, reflection)

·          what (wonderful) faces there will be (for which  beautiful flowers are the return) (wonder)

·          what faces there will be! (praise)

·          what faces will there be? (which ones? of which  people?) (reflection)

·          well, what faces will there be? (of what kind will  they be?) (ignorance)

·          no telling what kind of faces there will be, for  they've become hidden (thought)

… But putting the two lines together creates even  richer possibilities:

·          Where did they all become manifest? Only some  faces were able to become manifest in the form of tulips and roses.

·          Only some are tulips and roses-- among them, all  faces could hardly have   kahan   become manifest!

·          What faces there will be that became hidden in the  dust!

·          What faces there will be in the dust, that became  hidden!”

The  six variations of the second line as mentioned by Farouqui are a little  difficult to comprehend in one go. The trick lies in reading the verse with  different emphasis on the words to reveal the nuances of the wonderfully  multivalent word “ kya”. And as I mentioned before, even then, they will  alternately blur and focus making you head spin!

English  represents going up through different angles, "upstairs"  "above ground", and portrays in more detail who the deceased will  be up with: "in Abraham's bosom", "in the arms of Jesus".  Urdu only refers to the deceased person as living in a higher type of life,  and the "up" concept is embodied merely via the verb "انتقال" "transfer" without offering further detail.  Although the description of the other life in the is illustrated more often  elsewhere in the Islamic religious writings, death euphemistic expressions  focus on life as euphemism for death only in general terms. The difference  between the two languages, therefore, seems to lie in the metaphoric range,  i.e. the detailed versus scanty delineation of the specifics of the complex  metaphor.

DEATH  IS FINAL DESTINATION

This  metaphor involves mapping the perception of "final destination"  onto that of "death", thus fulfilling the euphemistic function. The  metaphor here is in tandem with the primary metaphors CHANGE IS MOTION and  CHANGE OF STATE IS A CHANGE OF LOCATION. The change from life to death is  seen as a journey into final destination; it is a move from the life of here  and now to the hereafter. English encompasses a number of metaphors about  death being replaced by the "end". Somebody on the verge of death  is said to be "at the last day" , "at his last" ; to die  is to "breathe one's last", to reach "last resting  place", and to experience the very "last" thing, e.g.  "last round-up" "last trump" "the last call",  " the last debt", "last journey", "last  voyage". To die is to "cease breathing", "bring one's  heart to its final", "come to a sticky end", to  "finish", to "cease to be", to "pause", to  "expire", "fade away"; death is "the end" and  "the end of the road". A dead person is euphemistically said to be  "written out of the script", "off the voting list", and  "off-line". The euphemistic metaphor "end" is also rich  in Urdu. It encompasses so many expressions; someone who died is said to have  " قضا" (Lit. ended), (Lit.  finished);  or (he has completed his  appointed lifetime), Death is sometimes seen as a point in time that  everybody must get to, hence the euphemistic term " وقت ہو جانا" (appointed time). Urdu sometimes  refers to the failure of the body organs at the final stage of life to avoid  mentioning death, as illustrated by ―آنکھیں  بند ہونا  (He has (Lit. His eyes have closed). A few  other euphemistic expressions in Urdu endorse this philosophy of life and  death. The are قضاء , اجل ,  مرگ , وفات , دم احتضار , نزع , جاں کنی , نزاع , سکرات موت , سپرد خاک ہونا ,  رحلت

As  we see for this metaphor, the cultural influence on the primary mapping is  quite clear. While emphasis is laid equitably in both languages on the idea  of 'lastness', English particularly focuses on death as being the  "last" thing and as being removal from a "list". Urdu on  the other hand, focuses on the entity being expired. Ghalib has made use of this  metaphoric expression in the couplet below;

Ho  Chuki'N Ghalib Balaye'N Sub Tamam,

Aik  Marag-e-naghani Aur Hay.

Translation.

I  have seen almost all the possible Troubles in my life,

The  last one that I have to face is the Death.

DEATH  IS SURRENDER AND SUBMISSION

Death  is euphemized in both languages as an inevitable event to which one has to  surrender. This concept is common in English euphemistic expressions; a dying  person is euphemistically said to "give up the ghost", "yield  up the ghost" (RN),"resign his spirit", "give up his  life", to be "beyond help"; death is also seen in terms of  hanging up one's living items: hanging up "hat",  "dinner-pail", "mug", "spoon"; and laying down  one's utensils and tools: "lay down one's knife and fork" (RN),  "lay down one's pen" (RN),"lay down shovel and hoe" (RN).  The idea of giving up and surrendering is observed in the ghazal  of Ghalib   below:

Israt  e qatra hai darya men fina ho jana

Dard  ka had se guzarna hai dawa ho jana

English Translation

The  drop dies in the river of its joy

pain  goes so far it cures itself

Since  surrender is a type of giving something up and what is given up is no less  than one‘s soul‘ whose residing seat is the body, this calls up the primary  metaphor of BODY IS A CONTAINER. Differential metaphorical range between  English and Urdu  manifests itself also  in the metaphor DEATH IS SURRENDER. Surrender is more elaborated in English  than Urdu ; while it is generically expressed in  Urdu as being surrender to Allah or His  fate, it is asserted in English more exhaustively, enumerating the worldly  things given up at the event of death. Death is euphemized in both languages  as an inevitable event to which one has to surrender. The notion of surrender  is beautifully displayed in the couplet cited above.

Israt  e qatra hai darya men fina ho jana

Dard  ka had se guzarna hai dawa ho jana

DEATH  IS SLEEP:

The  complex metaphor here is guided by the primary metaphor INACTIVITY IS SLEEP  which is motivated by the correlation between stillness and slumber. Death  effect is mitigated by replacing it by sleep; so, we find in our data that in  English the event of death is alleviated by being replaced by expressions  such as "sleep", "sleep in Ghalib

koii ummiid bar  nahii.n aatii

koii suurat  nazar nahii.n aatii

maut kaa ek din  mu'ayyaa.N hai

nii.nd kyo.n  raat bhar nahii.n aatii

aage aatii thii  haal-e-dil pe ha.Nsii

ab kisii baat  par nahii.n aatii

jaanataa huu.N  savaab-e-taa'at-o-zahad

par tabiiyat  idhar nahii.n aatii

hai kuchh aisii  hii baat jo chup huu.N

varna kyaa baat  kar nahii.n aatii

kyo.n na  chiiKhuu.N ki yaad karate hai.n

merii aavaaz  gar nahii.n aatii

daaG-e-dilagarnazar  nahii.n aata

buu bhii ai  chaaraagar nahii.n aatii

ham vahaa.N  hai.n jahaa.N se ham ko bhii

kuchh hamaarii  Khabar nahii.n aatii

marate hai.n  aarazuu me.n marane kii

maut aatii hai  par nahii.n aatii

kaabaa kis  muu.Nh se jaaoge 'Ghalib'

sharm tumako  magar nahii.naatii

English  Translation.

I am left with  no hope at all,

No possibility  to reach my goal,

The Day of my death  is fixed,

I am so very  anxious that I can not sleep all night.

Though I know  the reward of obedience and worship,

But I have no  tendency for it.

I am silent for  a certain reason,

Otherwise I can  convince you with my words,

Why I shouldn’t  cry,

For when I  don’t, she asks about me,

My heart is  burning, though you cannot see the spot,

But O my  doctor, can’t you smell my heart burn?

I have reached  to a certain state,

From where even  I cannot find myself.

I am dying  (Waiting anxiously) for my death,

I don’t know  where the hell my death has gone.

With what face  you will go to Ka’ba, O! Ghalib,

You should be  ashamed of yourself while thinking to go there.

This  euphemistic metaphor is attested in Urdu with the use of the    expression " abadi nind sona"  (sleep), which is illustrated by the two common expressions " nind  sona" (Lit. sleep in peace), and "abadi nind sona" (Lit. He  slept his last).  Ghalib has made use  of sleep image  in the ghazal cited  above. The sleep image is more  loud  and detailed in the couplet below:

maut  kaa ek din mu'ayyaa.N hai

nii.nd  kyo.n raat bhar nahii.n aatii

The  Day of my death is fixed,

I  am so very anxious that I can not sleep all night.

marate  hai.n aarazuu me.n marane kii

maut  aatii hai par nahii.n aatii

I  am dying (Waiting anxiously) for my death,

I  don’t know where the hell my death has gone.

DEATH  IS A JOURNEY OF DEPARTURE

The current corpus clearly shows that death is  sometimes delineated in English and Urdu as a journey of departure. In  English, someone who dies is said to "leave", "depart",  "depart this life", "leave the building", "leave the  land of the living", "quit", "quit cold", "quit  the scene", "quit breathing", "take leave of life",  have the "last journey", and the "last voyage"; a dead  person is euphemistically declared to be "no more", "no longer  with us". Urdu also euphemizes death as being a journey of departure; a  dying person is someone who moves away from the worldly life. There are  number of euphemistic expressions in urdu which capture the sense of journey;  خالق حقیقی سے جا ملنا،  آخری سفر پر روانہ ہو جانا،    اختتام،   دنیا فانی سے کوچ کرنا، آخری قیام گاہ کو جانا، دنیا سے رخصت ہونا، دار  فانی سے رخصت ہونا، رحلت کرنا، کوچ کرنا، وفات پانا، سمت باغ ارم جانا، سمت ملک  ارم جانا،  ملک عدم کا رخ کرنا،              

(daar-e-faanii se ruxSat,  / kuuch karnaa,  reHlat karnaa, / wafaat paanaa,  samt-e-mulk-e-iramjaanaa , /  samt-e-baaGh-e-iramjaanaa mulk-e-3adam kaa rux karnaa Etc.)  

The complex metaphor here seems to be motivated by  the primary metaphor CHANGE IS MOTION and CHANGE OF STATE IS A CHANGE OF  LOCATION. Moving from life to death is seen as an inevitable journey that  everyone has to undertake, which softens the horrifying effect of mentioning  death. We also see here a difference in focus for the complex metaphors DEATH  IS A JOURNEY OF DEPARTURE based on cultural assumptions; while English  focuses on the "leaving" event, Urdu lays special emphasis on  "sabiil" (Lit. way) and catching up with one‘s predecessors  "man γabar" (predecessors).

DEATH  IS LOSS OF IDENTITY

In the poetry of Ghalib, death is softened as  being a game; death effect is mitigated, being looked upon as a game lost, a  natural result of practising sports in real life. A dead person is someone  who is "knocked out"; "struck out", "takes the last  count". A dead person is "out of the game" (or  "running"); "his race is run" (or" ran the good  race"); "take the last (or long) count"; "throw in the  sponge", "throw sixes", "throw up the cards"; death  itself is the "end of the ball game". In Ghalib  death is also a game lost to fate; someone  who died is depicted as being hunted in a hunting sport:

The loss metaphor in this section is induced by  the primary metaphor LIFE IS HEAT IN THE BODY; DEATH IS LOSS OF IT (see  further discussion in Özcaliskan, 2003, p. 297). Losing one‘s game is losing  the heat in your body and this reflects the act of perishing. We can see here  also the role of culture in terms of range and focus. The complex metaphor of  DEATH IS LOSS is pictured in English in imagery of sports and games such as  boxing and wrestling: "knocked out", "struck out",  "takes the last count"; running: "out of the running";"his  race is run". Moreover, the metaphorical image reflects the signs of  loss: "throw in the sponge", "throw sixes", "throw  up the cards"; no such particularities do we find in the Urdu  euphemistic metaphor of loss, where the focus on loss is reflected only in  terms of being hunted or caught. What then makes the Urdu poet Mirza Galib  unique in his poetic representations of death? Certainly, his trademark  childlike fairy-tale manner of exploring death in its many forms demonstrates  a rare fearlessness in the face of the end, ‘but it is also the volume of  poetry Mirza Galib wrote about death that is startling. The metaphors for  death in his poetic catalogue are innumerable. For example in the couplet  below he makes use of the DEATH IS LOSS metaphor.

dayam para hua tere dar par nahi hun  main

khak aisi zindagi pe k paththar nahi  hun main

kyun gardish-e-mudam se ghabra na  jaye dil

insan hun, pyala-o-sagar nahi hun  main

yarab! zamana mujh ko mitata hai kis  liye

lauh-e-jahan pe harf-e-mukarrar nahi  hun main

had chahiye saza mein uqubat k waste  

akhir gunahgar hun, kafir nahi hun  main

kis waste aziz nahi jante mujhe

lal-o-zumarud-o-zar-o-gauhar nahi hun main

rakhte ho tum qadam meri ankhon se

kyun daregrutbe mein mahr-o-mah se  kamtar nahi hun main

karte ho mujhko mana-e-qadambos kis  liye

kya asman k bhi barabar nahi hun  main

‘ghalib’ wazifakhwar ho, do shah ko  duawo

din gaye ki kahte the “naukar nahi  hun main”

English  Translation:

I  am not eternally placed at your door, woe to such a life that I am not a  stone, Why shouldn’t the heart become worried of perpetual rotations, I am a  human being, not a cup or glass Oh Lord, why does the world attempt to erase  me, on the Tablet of the world, I am not a twice written word. There should  be a limit to the penalty for punishing; after all, I am a sinner, not a  disbeliever.

Mirza  Galib adorned death in elaborate disguises, and delivered it to his readers  as the ultimate gift of emancipation from the horrors of existence.

3.8  DEATH IS REGROUPING AND JOINING

This conceptual metaphor is common in English and  Urdu. In English, the experience of somebody's death is delineated in light  of being "gathered to his fathers", "gathered to his  ancestors"; "gathered to God", "gathered to Jesus";  to die is to be "with your Maker" (RN), "with God" (RN),  "with Jesus", "with the Lord" (RN). The coronation of the  experience of death is to "meet your Maker", "meet the  Prophet" (RN) "join the (great) majority" (RN), and finally to  be "in the arms of Jesus"(RN). Urdu has a number of metaphorical  expressions that embrace the same concept of REGROUPING AND JOINING. InUrdu,  a dead person is someone who "laqiya rabbah" (YA) (Lit. met his  Lord), "?afDaa ?ilaa rabbih" (YA)(Lit. went off to his Lord),  "?inSarafa ?ilaa jiwaarai rabbih" (YA) (Lit. went off to be near to  his Lord); "inqaTa؟a  ?ilaa jiwaarai mawlaah" (YA) (Lit. went off to the neighborhood of his  Lord); "laħiqa bil-laTiifi l-Xabiir" (YA) (Lit. joined the Subtly  Kind and the All-Aware). The complex metaphor as reflected in the expressions  above is motivated by the primary metaphor CHANGE OF STATE IS A CHANGE OF  LOCATION. Changing from life into death is seen as a move to a new location  where being separated from life company is changed into another location  where you can be in new company. However, in terms of the complex metaphor  shared by both languages we can also detect some differences in metaphoric  range. Reference to "REGROUPING AND JOINING" to avoid uttering  death is multiple in English; a dead person may come together with: "God",  "his Maker", "Lord", "his fathers", "his  ancestors", "Jesus", "the Prophet", "the  (great) majority". Joining  (visal)  in  Urdu is only to Allah, whose  attributes are multiple in the  Urdu data  for this conceptual metaphor: rab, mawlaa (Lord), This is in accord with the  Islamic monotheistic dogma.

3.9.  Summary and Conclusion

This study has investigated conceptual euphemistic  metaphors of death in the poety of Mirza Ghalib. It has been observed that  these conceptual metaphors used by Mirza Ghalib almost match with Islamic  Philosophy.. In his use of death metapho, the target domain (death) is  euphemized in terms of being BETTER LOCATION, LIFE, SUMMONER, PAYING A DEBT,  THE FINAL DESTINATION, JOURNEY OF DEPARTURE", LOSS, REGROUPING AND  JOINING, SURRENDER AND SUBMISSION, and SLEEP However, the difference in metaphorization  of death euphemism in the poety of Ghalib does not lie in the generic-level  primary conceptual metaphors but in the emphasis, details and range of the  specific-level complex metaphors. Although the conceptual component of the  metaphor is almost the same, i.e. referring to a particular concept, the  difference lies in the specifics, i.e., the attributes of the metaphorical  image and its cultural connotations as reflected by the focus of the complex  metaphor and its range. This implies that the difference seems to lie in how  language and culture shape the metaphor rather than its generic orientation.

The above result is in agreement with Kovecses'  (2005) view that metaphors tend to be universal and near-universal at generic  level; emphasis and attributes in our data are referred to in Kovecses (2005)  as specific-level metaphors which show differences cross-linguistically and  cross-culturally. Evidence from the above comparative analysis data suggests  that the English and Urdu share the generic (primary) euphemistic conceptual  metaphors in mapping the source domain (euphemistic metaphors) onto the  target domain (death), which is a natural result given the embodied nature of  the primary mappings (Grady 1997a; Lakoff and Johnson, 1999); the only  metaphorical difference lies in the specifics of cultural differences as well  as the differences emanating from differential emphasis laid on certain  aspects of the metaphorical image. The data also substantiates Grady‘s claim  (1997a) about the universality of primary metaphors for all human languages.  As we see from the analysis above only a small group of primary metaphors  (STATES ARE LOCATIONS, CHANGE OF STATE IS CHANGE OF LOCATION, CHANGE IS  MOTION, EVENTS ARE ACTIONS, LIFE IS HEAT IN THE BODY, DEATH IS LOSS OF IT,  BODY IS A CONTAINER, and INACTIVITY IS SLEEP) are the raw material for the  complex metaphors detailed in the study.

Based on the discussion above, this work leads us  to conclude that the metaphorical difference between the language of Ghalib and  English as regards death euphemism does not reside in the body-based primary  conceptual orientation, but in the specific metaphorical emphasis and detail  realizations of the complex metaphors which , being blends of primary  mappings and cultural connotations, are expected to show variation. The fact  that the two languages share common conceptual metaphors in euphemizing death  indicates that fear of death is not only deeply instilled in the human  nature, but ways of avoiding its mention seem to be also universal. We, as  humans, try every possible way to mitigate the experience of death.

‍