5 verses · ~1 min
इस तरह उपेक्षा मेरी, क्यों करते हो मतवाले! आशा के कितने अंकुर, मैंने हैं उर में पाले॥
विश्वास-वारि से उनको, मैंने है सींच बढ़ाए। निर्मल निकुंज में मन के, रहती हूँ सदा छिपाए॥
मेरी साँसों की लू से कुछ आँच न उनमें आए। मेरे अंतर की ज्वाला उनको न कभी झुलसाए॥
कितने प्रयत्न से उनको, मैं हृदय-नीड़ में अपने बढ़ते लख खुश होती थी, देखा करती थी सपने॥
इस भांति उपेक्षा मेरी करके मेरी अवहेला तुमने आशा की कलियाँ मसलीं खिलने की बेला॥
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
Disappointing News
In this poignant masterpiece, Raja Ravi Varma captures a moment of profound vulnerability and silent heartbreak. A woman lies in repose, her gaze drifting toward the heavens as she holds a letter that has clearly shattered her expectations. The composition uses the soft drape of a mosquito net to create a sanctuary of grief, isolating her from the world while inviting the viewer to witness her private lament. It is a work that speaks to the universal experience of longing, the weight of words written on paper, and the quiet dignity of a woman processing her sorrow in the stillness of her chamber.
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