4 verses · ~2 min
सूरज जब किरणों के बीज-रत्न धरती के प्रांगण में बोकर हारा-थका स्वेद-युक्त रक्त-वदन सिन्धु के किनारे निज थकन मिटाने को नए गीत पाने को आया, तब निर्मम उस सिन्धु ने डुबो दिया, ऊपर से लहरों की अँधियाली चादर ली ढाँप और शान्त हो रहा।
लज्जा से अरुण हुई तरुण दिशाओं ने आवरण हटाकर निहारा दृश्य निर्मम यह! क्रोध से हिमालय के वंश-वर्त्तियों ने मुख-लाल कुछ उठाया फिर मौन सिर झुकाया ज्यों – 'क्या मतलब?' एक बार सहमी ले कम्पन, रोमांच वायु फिर गति से बही जैसे कुछ नहीं हुआ!
मैं तटस्थ था, लेकिन ईश्वर की शपथ! सूरज के साथ हृदय डूब गया मेरा। अनगिन क्षणों तक स्तब्ध खड़ा रहा वहीं क्षुब्ध हृदय लिए। औ' मैं स्वयं डूबने को था स्वयं डूब जाता मैं यदि मुझको विश्वास यह न होता –- 'मैं कल फिर देखूँगा यही सूर्य ज्योति-किरणों से भरा-पूरा धरती के उर्वर-अनुर्वर प्रांगण को जोतता-बोता हुआ, हँसता, ख़ुश होता हुआ।'
ईश्वर की शपथ! इस अँधेरे में उसी सूरज के दर्शन के लिए जी रहा हूँ मैं कल से अब तक!
इति
The Poet
दुष्यंत कुमार
Dushyant Kumar
1933 · 1975
Dushyant Kumar did something that required a radical courage most artists never summon. He took a form synonymous with moonlit nights and the ache of unfulfilled romance and dragged it into the burning lanes where injustice stank and the ordinary man had no language for his helplessness. Born in 1931 in Uttar Pradesh, he dismantled the ornamental tradition of the Urdu ghazal and rebuilt it in Hindi as a weapon of the dispossessed. His singular collection Saaye Mein Dhoop became one of the most quietly devastating documents in the entire tradition of modern Hindi literature. The Emergency of 1975 gave his verses a context that proved them prophetic. Unlike mere political poetry, his words outlasted their moment to become permanent fixtures in the vocabulary of Indian dissent. He wrote not with a scholar's distance but with the shaking hands of someone who had looked injustice in the face and refused to flinch. He died at forty four, leaving behind a body of work so concentrated and incandescent that its light has not dimmed in half a century. To read Dushyant Kumar is to understand that poetry's highest function is not consolation but confrontation.
Paired Painting
Surya
Surya, the radiant soul of the universe, is depicted traversing the heavens in his golden chariot. He is the eternal witness of time, the golden eye that oversees the cycle of existence. Raja Ravi Varma brings a profound sense of devotion to this canvas, capturing the deity as he emerges from the ethereal clouds. The seven magnificent horses, pulling the chariot through the cosmic void, represent the seven rays of light that illuminate our world. This painting serves as a bridge between the ancient Vedic hymns and the modern eye, inviting us to contemplate the divine brilliance that sustains all life. It is a moment of eternal morning, where the darkness of the night yields to the inevitable grace of the Sun.
Open the viewer →