№ MMXXVI

RACHNA · A LIVING ARCHIVE

Rachna by M.

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MM · XXVI

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Lady Playing Sitara

Shanta

एक नीम-मंजरी

Ek Neem-Manjari

Ramdarash Mishra
1 min read 3 versesनीम-मंजरीआँगनसन्नाटा

3 verses · ~1 min

एक नीम-मंजरी मेरे आँगन झरी काँप रहे लोहे के द्वार।

आज गगन मेरे घर झुक गया भटका-सा मेघ यहाँ रुक गया रग-रग में थरथरी सन्नाटा आज री रहा मुझे नाम ले पुकार।

एक बूँद में समुद्र अँट गया एक निमिष में समय सिमट गया वायु-वायु बावरी किसकी है भाँवरी साँस-साँस बन रही फुहार।

इति

Ramdarash Mishra

The Poet

रामदरश मिश्र

Ramdarash Mishra

1924 · 2021

Born in 1924 in the village of Dumari in Gorakhpur, Ramdarash Mishra represents a profound synthesis of rural consciousness and high academic rigor. He did not let his extensive education at Banaras Hindu University or his tenure as a professor at the University of Delhi detach him from the village roots that first shaped his worldview. Over a career spanning more than eighty books, Mishra wrote poetry, novels, memoirs, and critical essays that explored the shifting realities of Indian society. His poetry collections, such as Pak Gai Hai Dhoop, speak with the quiet authority of a man who has observed the changing seasons of human relationships. He was honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2015 and the Saraswati Samman in 2021. Mishra possesses a rare literary longevity, consistently producing work that avoids artificial complexity in favor of unpretentious, deeply felt truth. He gave the Hindi literary world a voice that is both intellectually expansive and beautifully rooted in the earth.

Lady Playing Sitara

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Lady Playing Sitara

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If this held you

Four more, in the same key.

Chosen for their rasa and their register, not their popularity. Each one carries some part of what Ek Neem-Manjari carries.