VeeraIntermediate

रात यों कहने लगा मुझ से गगन का चाँद

Raat Yon Kahne Laga Mujh Se Gagana Ka Chaand

1 verses · ~2 min

रात यों कहने लगा मुझसे गगन का चाँद, आदमी भी क्या अनोखा जीव होता है! उलझनें अपनी बनाकर आप ही फँसता, और फिर बेचैन हो जगता, न सोता है । जानता है तू कि मैं कितना पुराना हूँ? मैं चुका हूँ देख मनु को जनमते-मरते; और लाखों बार तुझ-से पागलों को भी चाँदनी में बैठ स्वप्नों पर सही करते । आदमी का स्वप्न? है वह बुलबुला जल का; आज उठता और कल फिर फूट जाता है; किन्तु, फिर भी धन्य; ठहरा आदमी ही तो? बुलबुलों से खेलता, कविता बनाता है । मैं न बोला, किन्तु, मेरी रागिनी बोली, देख फिर से, चाँद! मुझको जानता है तू? स्वप्न मेरे बुलबुले हैं? है यही पानी? आग को भी क्या नहीं पहचानता है तू? मैं न वह जो स्वप्न पर केवल सही करते, आग में उसको गला लोहा बनाती हूँ, और उस पर नींव रखती हूँ नए घर की, इस तरह दीवार फौलादी उठाती हूँ । मनु नहीं, मनु-पुत्र है यह सामने, जिसकी कल्पना की जीभ में भी धार होती है, बाण ही होते विचारों के नहीं केवल, स्वप्न के भी हाथ में तलवार होती है । स्वर्ग के सम्राट को जाकर ख़बर कर दे, “रोज़ ही आकाश चढ़ते जा रहे हैं वे, रोकिए, जैसे बने इन स्वप्नवालों को, स्वर्ग की ही ओर बढ़ते आ रहे हैं वे ।”

इति

Rasa: Veera
Stanzas: 1
Lines: 28
Reading time: ~2 min
Form: Geet (lyric song)
Metre: geet
Rhyme: ABCB

The poem exudes a bold, martial, and triumphant veera rasa, blending awe with a resolute, rebellious spirit of human progress. Visually, a painting of this scene would capture the ancient, silver-glowing moon looking down from a vast, dark cosmos upon a determined human figure standing on the earth, who holds not just fragile bubbles of dreams, but molten iron, fire, and a gleaming sword. Symbolically, the dialogue between the condescending celestial moon and the defiant modern human represents the clash between static cosmic eternity and relentless human ambition, where ephemeral dreams are forged into steel foundations, skyscrapers, and rockets reaching for the heavens. The artistic tone is fiercely heroic and visionary, celebrating the human spirit as a potent force capable of conquering the skies and challenging the gods themselves.

रात यों कहने लगा मुझ से गगन का चाँद (Raat Yon Kahne Laga Mujh Se Gagana Ka Chaand), by Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' runs to 28 lines, set as Seven four-line stanzas (quatrains). Its governing rasa is Veera, shaded by Shanta. The metre is geet. Rhyme falls as ABCB.

A modern humanist poem celebrating human ambition, scientific progress, and the power of imagination to conquer new frontiers.

Read it for मनुष्य की अदम्य इच्छाशक्ति और प्रगति and स्वप्नों को हकीकत में बदलने का साहस. 2 words in it carry older or regional senses, so the poem rewards a second pass.

The verse is hung beside Indrajit Conquering Indra: The painting emanates a tense, triumphant atmosphere where divine pride collides with mortal valor, charging the space with the heavy, electric energy of an epic conquest. Set against a backdrop of architectural…

Words worth pausing on

मनु: मानव जाति के आदि पुरुष
फौलादी: लोहे जैसी मजबूत

Threads

Moon Humanity Dreams Imagination

The Poet

रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर'

Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'

1908 · 1974

There are poets who write of an age, and there are poets who become the age itself. Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' belongs entirely to the latter, a man in whom the entire volcanic conscience of a colonized and awakening civilization found its most thunderous utterance. He did not arrive at poetry. He erupted into it, carrying the red earth of Bihar's Simariya, the grief of a humiliated nation, and the primordial fire of Kshatriya rage that runs like lava beneath the crust of centuries. His verse was never merely literature, it was the psychological armature of a people learning to stand upright after centuries of bowed submission. When Dinkar wrote of Veer Rasa, it was not an aesthetic exercise. It was a consecration. His words did not describe courage, they manufactured it, pressing it into the chests of readers who had forgotten what courage smelled like. Works like Kurukshetra, Urvashi, and Rashmirathi are not books, they are monuments hewn from the granite of collective destiny. Rashmirathi alone resurrected Karna from the footnotes of mythology and placed him at the very center of moral tragedy, making the question of righteousness ache with a freshness that still draws blood. He carried the dust of ancient battlefields on his tongue and the roar of the Ganga in his lungs. Nehru wept at his verses. Parliament fell silent when he read. India named him Rashtrakavi, the poet of the nation, and it was the single most honest title the republic ever conferred. In the grand cathedral of Hindi literature, Dinkar is not a pillar. He is the foundation stone.