8 verses · ~1 min
रीती होती जाती थी जीवन की मधुमय प्याली। फीकी पड़ती जाती थी मेरे यौवन की लाली।।
हँस-हँस कर यहाँ निराशा थी अपने खेल दिखाती। धुंधली रेखा आशा की पैरों से मसल मिटाती।।
युग-युग-सी बीत रही थीं मेरे जीवन की घड़ियाँ। सुलझाये नहीं सुलझती उलझे भावों की लड़ियाँ।
जाने इस समय कहाँ से ये चुपके-चुपके आए। सब रोम-रोम में मेरे ये बन कर प्राण समाए।
मैं उन्हें भूलने जाती ये पलकों में छिपे रहते। मैं दूर भागती उनसे ये छाया बन कर रहते।
विधु के प्रकाश में जैसे तारावलियाँ घुल जातीं। वालारुण की आभा से अगणित कलियाँ खुल जातीं।।
आओ हम उसी तरह से सब भेद भूल कर अपना। मिल जाएँ मधु बरसायें जीवन दो दिन का सपना।।
फिर छलक उठी है मेरे जीवन की मधुमय प्याली। आलोक प्राप्त कर उनका चमकी यौवन की लाली।।
इति
The Poet
सुभद्राकुमारी चौहान
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan
1904 · 1948
There is a moment in every liberation movement when the struggle finds the poem that becomes its most essential utterance, not because the poem is merely rhetorical, but because it crystallizes an emotion so precisely that an entire people recognize themselves inside it. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan provided such a moment with Jhansi Ki Rani, her electric account of the warrior queen of Jhansi. This poem was so concentrated in its energy and so clear in its moral architecture that generations of Indian schoolchildren have carried it inside them as something closer to memory than memorization. But to reduce Chauhan to a single poem would be a severe literary injustice. She was an active participant in the independence movement who walked the path of satyagraha herself, becoming one of the first women to be imprisoned for civil disobedience. She was a poet of domestic tenderness, exploring childhood and the complex inner life of Indian women that formal literature had largely chosen to ignore. Born in 1904, she died in a road accident in 1948 too soon and too abruptly. Her voice remained fully alive and deeply necessary. She gave the warrior women of Indian mythology a voice, and in doing so, she became one herself.
Paired Painting
Arjuna Abducts Subhadra
In the grand tapestry of the Mahabharata, the union of Arjuna and Subhadra serves as a pivotal moment of devotion and fateful destiny. This scene captures the dramatic urgency of their departure: Arjuna, the skilled archer, takes the reins of a chariot drawn by four majestic white horses to whisk away Subhadra from the city of Dwaraka. Their faces reflect a mix of determination and divine purpose. The background reveals a resplendent cityscape of ancient India, echoing the architectural splendor described in the Vedic texts. Giampaolo Tomassetti renders this mythological event with a meticulous attention to detail, breathing life into the golden chariots and the serene beauty of the characters, inviting the viewer to stand witness to a love story etched into the very foundations of Indian epic tradition.
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