Mahadevi

I realized that I haven't posted anything about Mahadevi Varma on this blog so far. This seems like a good time to rectify this. Mahadevi was a great poetess...one of the four so-called pillars of chhayavaad. She is also often referred to as the modern Meerabai since much of her poetry addresses the soul's search for communion with the almighty. Apart from poetry she also wrote prose. I really enjoyed reading the various anthologies of vignettes regarding people she had encountered at various stages of life (Ateet ke Chalchitra, Smriti ki Rekhaen) as well as those describing her various pets (Mera Parivaar). Amongst those that stand out in my mind are the touching story of the little girl Binda, and the tale of Gillu the squirrel.

Mahadevi's use of language has a great lyrical quality, and is also able to convey great depth of emotion. Here I quote a few lines from one of her poems which illustrates why she was the आधुनिक मीराबाई:

तुम दुःख बन इस पथ से आना
शूलों में नित् मृदु पाटल सा
खिलने देना मेरा जीवन
वह हार बनेगा क्या जिसने सीखा न हृदय को बिधवाना
नित् जलता रहने दो तिल-तिल
अपनी ज्वाला में उर मेरा
उसकी विभूति में फिर आकर
अपने पद-चिह्न बना जाना।

वर देते हो तो कर दो ना
चिर आँख-मिचौनी यह अपनी
जीवन में खोज तुम्हारी है
मिटना ही तुम को छू पाना।

I am back to quoting Agyeya. Here is an excerpt from his novella "Apne-Apne Ajnabi" ("अपने-अपने अजनबी"):

समय मात्र अनुभव है, इतिहास है। इस सन्दर्भ में 'क्षण' वही है जिसमें अनुभव तो है लेकिन जिसका इतिहास नहीं है, जिसका भूत-भविष्य कुछ नहीं है; जो शुद्ध वर्तमान है, इतिहास से परे, स्मृति के संसर्ग से अढूषित, संसार से मुक्त। अगर ऐसा नहीं है, तो वह क्षण नहीं है, क्योंकि वह काल का कितना ही छोटा खंड क्यों न हो, उसमें मेरा जीना काल-सापेक्ष जीना है, ऐतिहासिक जीना है. वह बिन्दु नहीं है, रेखा है; रेखा परम्परा है और क्षण परम्परा-मुक्त होना चाहिए।

My attempt at a translation of the above:

Time is but experience, and history. In this context, a moment is that which has experience but no history, which has no past or future, which is purely the present, transcending history, not tainted by memory, free of the rest of the world. If it is not so, then it is not a moment, because however small an interval of time it may be, my living through it is a passage through time, with a historical context attached to it. It is not a point, but a line; a line embodies tradition and a moment must be free of tradition.

After a long hiatus, I am back to posting on this blog again. Instead of giving in to the temptation of quoting another poem by Agyeya, I will instead quote from another great poet who contributed immensely to Hindi poetry: Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'. Nirala's poetry stands out amongst his contemporaries both thematically and stylistically. I think he may have been one of the first few Hindi poets to use blank verse extensively. His poems also often highlighted social issues.

I quote here a passage from a poem by him that I read as part of school curriculum. Simple, yet eloquent, and very moving, it describes the plight of a poor beggar:

वह आता,
दो टूक कलेजे के करता
पछताता पथ पर आता।

पेट पीठ दोनों मिल कर हैं एक
चल रहा लकुटिया टेक
मुट्ठी भर दाने को
भूख मिटाने को
मुह फटी-पुरानी झोली का फैलाता।

वह आता,
दो टूक कलेजे के करता
पछताता पथ पर आता।