8 verses · ~2 min
हरी बिछली घास। दोलती कलगी छरहरे बाजरे की।
अगर मैं तुम को ललाती सांझ के नभ की अकेली तारिका अब नहीं कहता, या शरद के भोर की नीहार – न्हायी कुंई, टटकी कली चम्पे की, वगैरह, तो नहीं कारण कि मेरा हृदय उथला या कि सूना है या कि मेरा प्यार मैला है।
बल्कि केवल यही: ये उपमान मैले हो गये हैं। देवता इन प्रतीकों के कर गये हैं कूच।
कभी बासन अधिक घिसने से मुलम्मा छूट जाता है। मगर क्या तुम नहीं पहचान पाओगी: तुम्हारे रूप के-तुम हो, निकट हो, इसी जादू के- निजी किसी सहज, गहरे बोध से, किस प्यार से मैं कह रहा हूं- अगर मैं यह कहूं-
बिछली घास हो तुम लहलहाती हवा मे कलगी छरहरे बाजरे की?
आज हम शहरातियों को पालतु मालंच पर संवरी जुहि के फ़ूल से सृष्टि के विस्तार का- ऐश्वर्य का- औदार्य का- कहीं सच्चा, कहीं प्यारा एक प्रतीक बिछली घास है, या शरद की सांझ के सूने गगन की पीठिका पर दोलती कलगी अकेली बाजरे की।
और सचमुच, इन्हें जब-जब देखता हूं यह खुला वीरान संसृति का घना हो सिमट आता है- और मैं एकान्त होता हूं समर्पित
शब्द जादू हैं- मगर क्या समर्पण कुछ नहीं 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
Subhadra and Arjuna
This touching scene immortalizes a tender chapter from the Mahabharata, where the valiant hero Arjuna finds solace in the gentle presence of Subhadra. Set against a lush, verdant forest backdrop beside a tranquil riverbank, the master painter captures the quiet intimacy of their blossoming devotion. Arjuna, dressed in ascetic robes, gazes lovingly at Subhadra, who leans toward him with a shy, modest grace, draped in a rich blue saree. Through this masterpiece, Ravi Varma bridged classical epic storytelling with emotional realism, inviting viewers to witness the divine romance not just as celestial mythology, but as a deeply human experience of love and surrender.
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