5 verses · ~2 min
पृथ्वी तो पीडि़त थी कब से आज न जाने नभ क्यों रूठा, पीलेपन में लुटा, पिटा-सा मधु-सपना लगता है झूठा! मारुत में उद्देश्य नहीं है धूल छानता वह आता है, हरियाली के प्यासे जग पर शिथिल पांडु-पट छा जाता है।
पर यह धूली, मन्त्र-स्पर्श से मेरे अंग-अंग को छू कर कौन सँदेसा कह जाती है उर के सोये तार जगा कर! "मधु आता है, तुम को नवजीवन का दाम चुकाना होगा, मँजी देह होगी तब ही उस पर केसरिया बाना होगा!
"परिवर्तन के पथ पर जिन को हँसते चढ़ जाना है सूली, उन्हें पराग न अंगराग, उन वीरों पर सोहेगी धूली! "झंझा आता है झूल-झूल, दोनों हाथों में भरे धूल, अंकुर तब ही फूटेंगे जब पात-पात झर चुकें फूल!"
मत्त वैजयन्ती निज गा ले शुभागते, तू नभ-भर छा ले! मुझ को अवसर दे कि शून्यता मुझ को अपनी सखी बना ले! धूल-धूल जब छा जाएगी विकल विश्व का कोना-कोना, केंचुल-सा तब झर जाएगा अग-जग का यह रोना-धोना।
आज धूल के जग में बन्धन एक-एक करके टूटेंगे, निर्मम मैं, निर्मम वसन्त, बस अविरल भर-भर कर फूटेंगे!
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
Bhima in the Kurukshetra War
This stirring composition captures the overwhelming ferocity of the Mahabharata, specifically focusing on the formidable presence of Bhima, the second Pandava. With his legendary strength, Bhima stands as a force of nature upon the dusty plains of Kurukshetra, wielding his mace with a singular, devastating purpose. The artist masterfully conveys the chaotic rhythm of ancient warfare, where the lines between man and beast blur amidst the swirling sands of battle. It is a moment of profound intensity, reflecting the weight of duty, sacrifice, and the cataclysmic scale of a war that would define the moral landscape of Indian civilization for millennia to come.
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