ShantaIntermediate

मैंने पूछा क्या कर रही हो

Maine Puchha Kya Kar Rahi Ho

Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya'

2 min read 4 versesWomen Creation

4 verses · ~2 min

मैंने पूछा यह क्या बना रही हो? उसने आँखों से कहा धुआँ पोछते हुए कहा: मुझे क्या बनाना है! सब-कुछ अपने आप बनता है मैंने तो यही जाना है । कह लो भगवान ने मुझे यही दिया है ।

मेरी सहानुभूति में हठ था: मैंने कहा: कुछ तो बना रही हो या जाने दो, न सही – बना नहीं रही – क्या कर रही हो? वह बोली: देख तो रहे हो छीलती हूँ नमक छिड़कती हूँ मसलती हूँ निचोड़ती हूँ कोड़ती हूँ कसती हूँ फोड़ती हूँ फेंटती हूँ महीन बिनारती हूँ मसालों से सँवारती हूँ देगची में पलटती हूँ बना कुछ नहीं रही बनाता जो है – यह सही है- अपने–आप बनाता है पर जो कर रही हूँ– एक भारी पेंदे मगर छोटे मुँह की देगची में सब कुछ झोंक रही हूँ दबा कर अँटा रही हूँ सीझने दे रही हूँ । मैं कुछ करती भी नहीं– मैं काम सलटती हूँ ।

मैं जो परोसूँगी जिन के आगे परोसूँगी उन्हें क्या पता है कि मैंने अपने साथ क्या किया है?

(मार्च 1980)

इति

Rasa: Shanta
Stanzas: 4
Lines: 41
Reading time: ~2 min
Form: Free verse
Metre: free verse
Rhyme: irregular

The poem evokes a subdued, deeply empathetic mood of quiet endurance, casting a serene yet heavy emotional atmosphere over an ordinary domestic interior. A painting of this scene would center on a woman in a dimly lit kitchen, her eyes watering from smoke as her hands are caught mid-motion—peeling, bruising, wringing, and pressing ingredients into a heavy-bottomed, narrow-necked bronze pot. This physical labor is rendered with stark, visceral realism, symbolizing the unacknowledged burdens of creation and the silent sacrifice of a life poured entirely into tending a slow-burning fire. The artistic tone is one of solemn introspection and profound reverence, capturing the tragic weight of a woman who merely "finishes tasks" while channeling a universal, cosmic force of creation that she herself does not claim to author.

मैंने पूछा क्या कर रही हो (Maine Puchha Kya Kar Rahi Ho), by Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya' runs to 41 lines across 4 stanzas, set as Conversational free verse divided into the poet's query and the woman's detailed, rhythmic response.. Its governing rasa is Shanta, shaded by Karuna. The metre is free verse. Rhyme falls as irregular.

Written in March 1980, reflecting Ajneya's keen observation of domestic life and the silent sacrifices of women.

Read it for घरेलू श्रम और स्त्री की मूक साधना and सृजन की स्वतःस्फूर्त प्रक्रिया. 3 words in it carry older or regional senses, so the poem rewards a second pass.

The verse is hung beside Girl with a Vase: The painting evokes a mood of profound stillness, capturing a moment of quiet introspection and domestic devotion. A young Indian woman is depicted in a sensitive three-quarter portrait, tenderly cradling a simple…

Words worth pausing on

देगची: धातु का गहरा बर्तन, पतीली
सीझने: धीमी आँच पर पकने
सलटती: निपटाती, पूरा करती

Threads

Women Creation

Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya'

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

Girl with a Vase

Antonio Xavier Trindade, often revered as the Rembrandt of the East, possessed an extraordinary ability to capture the quiet, introspective soul of his subjects. In this delicate portrait, he invites us into a moment of profound stillness. The young woman, rendered with soft brushstrokes and a mastery of chiaroscuro, cradles the vessel with a gentleness that speaks of daily devotion and grace. Her gaze is pensive, perhaps lost in a memory or a silent prayer, reflecting the timeless elegance of Indian domestic life. Trindade bridges the gap between Western academic technique and the delicate, evocative essence of the Indian spirit, leaving us with a work that breathes with humanity and humble beauty.

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