№ MMXXVI

RACHNA · A LIVING ARCHIVE

Rachna by M.

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MM · XXVI

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Vyasa Dictating the Mahabharata to Ganesha

Shanta

बातें

Baatein

Nagarjun
1 min read 1 versesबातेंwordsव्यंग्य

1 verses · ~1 min

बातें– हँसी में धुली हुईं सौजन्य चंदन में बसी हुई बातें– चितवन में घुली हुईं व्यंग्य-बंधन में कसी हुईं बातें– उसाँस में झुलसीं रोष की आँच में तली हुईं बातें– चुहल में हुलसीं नेह–साँचे में ढली हुईं बातें– विष की फुहार–सी बातें– अमृत की धार–सी बातें– मौत की काली डोर–सी बातें– जीवन की दूधिया हिलोर–सी बातें– अचूक वरदान–सी बातें– घृणित नाबदान–सी बातें– फलप्रसू, सुशोभन, फल–सी बातें– अमंगल विष–गर्भ शूल–सी बातें– क्य करूँ मैं इनका? मान लूँ कैसे इन्हें तिनका? बातें– यही अपनी पूंजी¸ यही अपने औज़ार यही अपने साधन¸ यही अपने हथियार बातें– साथ नहीं छोड़ेंगी मेरा बना लूँ वाहन इन्हें घुटन का, घिन का? क्या करूँ मैं इनका? बातें– साथ नहीं छोड़ेंगी मेरा स्तुति करूँ रात की, जिक्र न करूँ दिन का? क्या करूँ मैं इनका?

इति

Nagarjun

The Poet

नागार्जुन

Nagarjun

1911 · 1998

Vaidyanath Mishra, universally known as Nagarjun, was a literary force of nature who absolutely refused to bow before power. Born in 1911 in the Darbhanga district of Bihar, he earned the title of Janakavi or the poet of the people through decades of unyielding progressive writing. He wrote in both Hindi and Maithili, winning the Sahitya Akademi Award for his Maithili collection Patrahin Nagna Gachh. Nagarjun was a restless traveler and a committed activist who actively participated in peasant movements and went to prison several times. His poetry is stripped of all artificial elegance. It speaks directly with the raw, biting anger of the hungry, the marginalized, and the exploited. Whether he was exposing political corruption or writing tenderly about the first rains on parched village earth, his words carried the undeniable scent of the soil. He died in 1998, but he remains the ultimate benchmark for resistance poetry in India. He proved that true poetry does not reside in the palaces of kings, but in the sweat and struggle of the common folk.

Vyasa Dictating the Mahabharata to Ganesha

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Vyasa Dictating the Mahabharata to Ganesha

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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 Baatein carries.