5 verses · ~1 min
जब अंतस्तल रोता है, कैसे कुछ तुम्हें सुनाऊँ? इन टूटे से तारों पर, मैं कौन तराना गाऊँ??
सुन लो संगीत सलोने, मेरे हिय की धड़कन में। कितना मधु-मिश्रित रस है, देखो मेरी तड़पन में॥
यदि एक बार सुन लोगे, तुम मेरा करुण तराना। हे रसिक! सुनोगे कैसे? फिर और किसी का गाना॥
कितना उन्माद भरा है, कितना सुख इस रोने में? उनकी तस्वीर छिपी है, अंतस्तल के कोने में॥
मैं आँसू की जयमाला, प्रतिपल उनको पहनाती। जपती हूँ नाम निरंतर, रोती हूँ अथवा गाती॥
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
An Indian Lady
Created during the Victorian era, this painting by Herbert Schmalz captures a deeply introspective moment within the private quarters of an Indian palace. The artist, known for his romantic depictions of Eastern subjects, portrays a young woman lost in quiet contemplation. Surrounded by delicate gold jewelry, a discarded rose, and ornate vessels on the floor, she embodies a poignant sense of longing and solitude. Schmalz uses lush fabrics and dramatic lighting to invite the viewer into an intimate world of grace, beauty, and emotional depth.
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