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5 verses · ~1 min
तनिक ठहरूँ। चाँद उग आए, तभी जाऊँगा वहाँ नीचे कसमसाते रुद्ध सागर के किनारे। चाँद उग आए।
न उस की बुझी फीकी चाँदनी में दिखें शायद वे दहकते लाल गुच्छ बुरूँस के जो तुम हो।
न शायद चेत हो, मैं नहीं हूँ वह डगर गीली दूब से मेदुर, मोड़ पर जिस के नदी का कूल है, जल है, मोड़ के भीतर-घिरे हों बाँह में ज्यों-गुच्छ लाल बुरूँस के उत्फुल्ल।
न आए याद, मैं हूँ किसी बीते साल के सीले कलेंडर की एक बस तारीख, जो हर साल आती है। एक बस तारीख-अंकों में लिखी ही जो न जावे जिसे केवल चंद्रमा का चिह्न ही बस करे सूचित- बंक-आधा-शून्य; उलटा बंक-काला वृत्त, यथा पूनो-तीज-तेरस-सप्तमी, निर्जला एकादशी-या अमावस्या।
अँधेरे में ज्वार ललकेगा- व्यथा जागेगी। न जाने दीख क्या जाए जिसे आलोक फीका सोख लेता है। तनिक ठहरूँ। कसमसाते रुद्ध सागर के किनारे तभी जाऊँ वहाँ नीचे-चाँद उग आए।
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
Lady in the Moonlight
In this serene composition, Raja Ravi Varma captures a moment of quiet introspection that transcends time. The subject, often associated with the renowned singer Anjanibai Malpekar, sits gracefully by the water under the ethereal glow of the moon. Her presence exudes a deep, melancholic elegance, typical of the romanticized realism found in Varma's work. The interplay between the cool moonlight reflecting off the ripples of the water and the warm, earthy tones of her attire creates a masterful balance of light and shadow. It is an invitation to witness a soul lost in contemplation, reflecting the artist's profound ability to merge European academic technique with the delicate sensibilities of Indian portraiture.
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