M6:1326 — گفت رو هین خیر بادت جان عم / من تماشای لب جو می‌روم

Translation: He said, "Go now, may good be with you, dear uncle! I am going for tamāshā (stroll/watch) by the riverbank." Meaning:* Upon being told by his physician that his condition was hopeless, the patient joyfully declared his intention to do as he pleased and go for a stroll by the riverside.

This couplet is uttered in the story of the 'star-faced' physician and a patient whose hope for recovery has been deemed futile. I have often remarked that Mowlana, unlike many thinkers and scholars, does not perceive the world we inhabit as crooked or flawed; he sees it as perfectly ordered and complete. However, here, we encounter a patient for whom the doctor has determined that "the hope of his health was impossible." In such circumstances, the physician abandons conventional treatments and offers a peculiar prescription: "Whatever your heart desires, do that / So that this ancient suffering may leave your body." This implies that there is no longer any need for "patience and abstinence"; indeed, these would be "detrimental" to him. This is a radical yet realistic remedy; when the path of conventional hope is closed, one must turn to immediate desires and pleasures. The patient, accepting this command with joy, declares: "I am going for tamāshā by the riverbank."

A crucial point here is the meaning of the word tamāshā, which, in my view, has undergone a peculiar semantic transformation in Persian. In Arabic, mashī means 'to walk,' and tamāshī means 'to walk together,' to accompany. Yet, in Persian, this word has entirely come to mean 'to look at,' 'to observe,' or 'watching.' Poets like Hafez have also employed it in this sense, as he states: "O face that is the world's tamāshā-place / Whither do you go for tamāshā?" Here, too, Mowlana uses "tamāshā-ye lab-e jū" to mean strolling and observing by the riverside. This act by the patient symbolizes liberation from constraints and surrender to one's desires; when there is no longer a battle for survival, one can seek refuge in the simplicity of observation and presence in nature. This couplet depicts the acceptance of fate and the discovery of peace in a simple, unadulterated pleasure, far removed from the complexities and usual abstinences of life.

Key takeaways

• Freedom from conventional restrictions in the face of absolute hopelessness.
• The semantic shift of tamāshā from Arabic 'to walk with' to Persian 'to observe.'
• Acceptance of fate and turning towards simple, immediate pleasures.
• The physician's paradoxical prescription of indulgence for a terminally ill patient.