7 verses · ~2 min
ढूह की ओट बैठे बूढ़े से मैं ने कहा: मुझे मोती चाहिए। उस ने इशारा किया: पानी में कूदो।
मैं ने कहा: मोती मिलेगा ही, इस का भरोसा क्या? उस ने एक मूठ बालू उठा मेरी ओर कर दी। मैं ने कहा: इस में से मिलेगा मुझे मोती?
उस ने एक कंकड़ उठाया और अनमने भाव से मुझे दे मारा। मैं ने बड़ा जतन दिखाते हुए उसे बीन लिया और कहा: यही क्या मोती है- आप का? धीरे-धीरे झुका माथा ऊँचा हुआ, मुड़ा वह मेरी ओर। सागर-सी उस की आँखें थीं
सदियों की रेती पर इतिहास की हवाओं की लिखतों-सी नैन-कोरों की झुर्रियाँ। बोला वह: (कैसी एक खोयी हुई हवा उन बालुओं के ढूहों में से, घासों में से सर्पिल-सी फिसली चली गयी)
‘हाँ: या कि नहीं, क्यों? मिट्टी के भीतर पत्थर था पत्थर के भीतर पानी था
पानी के भीतर मेंढक था मेंढक के भीतर अस्थियाँ थीं यानी मिट्टी-पत्थर था, लहू की धार थी यानी पानी था, श्वास था यानी हवा थी, जीव था यानी मेंढक था।
मोती जो चाहते हो उस की पहचान अगर यह नहीं तो और क्या है?’
इति
The Poet
अज्ञेय
Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya'
1911 · 1987
Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan, universally known by his pen name Agyeya, completely rewired the circuitry of modern Hindi literature. Born in 1911 in a British archaeological camp in Uttar Pradesh, his life was as fiercely untraditional as his prose. Before he became the architect of the Prayogavaad (Experimentalism) movement, he was an active revolutionary who spent four years in British colonial prisons for attempting to help Bhagat Singh escape. In those prison cells, he began drafting Shekhar: Ek Jivani, a psychological novel that shocked the literary establishment with its unapologetic exploration of the individual ego. He rejected the prevailing romanticism of the era and instead assembled the Tar Saptak series, bringing together a new generation of poets who wrote in free verse about alienation, intellect, and the fractured modern psyche. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1964 and the Jnanpith Award in 1978. Agyeya was a novelist, a combatant officer in World War II, a journalist, and a profound existential thinker. He gave Hindi literature the vocabulary to interrogate the inner self without the comfort of traditional morality.
Paired Painting
Parwati and the Priest
This delicate watercolor captures a profound moment of intersection between the royal and the divine. The artist portrays the humility of a prince seeking counsel from a forest sage, a recurring motif in Indian folklore that emphasizes the necessity of spiritual wisdom in governance. The composition draws the viewer into a quiet glade, where the aged ascetic sits with an air of timeless stillness, while the royal visitor stands with hands folded in reverence. Parwati, standing with a graceful yet contemplative posture, serves as the bridge between the worldly domain and the sanctity of the hermitage. It is a work that breathes with the gentle atmosphere of South Indian storytelling, inviting us to contemplate the sacred silence of the forest and the enduring power of devotion.
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