Saturday, January 09, 2010

Rashmirathi

Was watching Gulaal (once more) last weekend and there was this section where Piyush Mishra starts reciting what seems like a scene from Mahabharat. Krishna is in the court of the Kauravas in a last ditch effort to avoid war, but Duryodhana attacks him.....it seemed familiar.

...anyways those lines were taken from Rashmirathi - a superlative work from the Hindi poet, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'. And the section that seemed familiar was part of our curriculum - Krishna ki Chaitavini.

The poem journeys the life of Karna - the greatest warrior of the times, his dharma, his friendship, his generosity and the tragedies.

Why didn't we have a teacher who could help us appreciate the quality of our own literature?

Sample this - this is when Krishna asks Karna to change sides as defeat of Kauravas is certain...below are excerpts from Karna's reply who explains why he can never betray Duryodhana:

अपना विकास अवरुद्ध देख,

सारे समाज को क्रुद्ध देख
भीतर जब टूट चुका था मन,

आ गया अचानक दुर्योधन
निश्छल पवित्र अनुराग लिए,

मेरा समस्त सौभाग्य लिए
...
...
...
सिर लिए स्कंध पर चलता हूँ,

उस दिन के लिए मचलता हूँ,
यदि चले वज्र दुर्योधन पर,

ले लूँ बढ़कर अपने ऊपर.
कटवा दूँ उसके लिए गला,

चाहिए मुझे क्या और भला?
...
...
...
अच्छा अब चला प्रमाण आर्य,

हो सिद्ध समर के शीघ्र कार्य.
रण मे ही अब दर्शन होंगे,

शार से चरण:स्पर्शन होंगे.
जय हो दिनेश नभ में विहरें,

भूतल मे दिव्य प्रकाश भरें.


रथ से रधेय उतार आया,

And Krishna at the end responds...

हरि के मन मे विस्मय छाया,
बोले कि "वीर शत बार धन्य,

तुझसा न मित्र कोई अनन्य,
तू कुरूपति का ही नही प्राण,

नरता का है भूषण महान.

3 comments:

Vini said...

Kochchar ma'am - Yay! ;)

- kuru

Vini said...

But on a serious note - I completely agree - if only we had been taught to appreciate literature more.
And after all these years, I agree with you - the postman should have delivered the letter.

Canary said...

I am still mid-way reading the post but the look has changed out here?