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.

The power of language...

It often surprises me when I look at the strong bond that most people have with their mother tongue - especially in our southern states. I for one have hardly ever enjoyed Hindi (coz I could never quite get my vowel signs correct) nor I have ever gained any remote command over Punjabi...but maybe thats just me...

Anyways this is not the purpose of the post...right in the heart of the city is a funny sounding institution - Potti University. It happens to be among the few universities in the country that is devoted especially for the cause of languages and its training. Hmm...but why the name?

It turns out that the university is named after one Potti Sriramulu. Its a name that is probably forgotten outside AP but one that should have remain prominent. He is after all the primary reason on why states based on languages were created post independence...the government at the time was not in favour of any further regionalisation - based on any cultural grounds anyways. A large region of what today is AP was once part of the presidency of Madras a truly massive region.
Telugu is spoken by more people than any other Indian language besides Hindi and has a rich literary/cultural history. While India was still under British rule, the Andhra Mahasabha had worked hard to cultivate a sense of identity among the Telugu-speaking people of the Madras Presidency, whom, they claimed, had been discriminated against by the Tamils.
After Independence, demands for a Telugu region started gaining support. But the government was unimpressed. On October 19, 1952, Potti Sriramulu began a fast-unto-death in Madras - a strong follower of Gandhi he was determined that the fast will be carried out till the end, or until the Government of India relented.
Six weeks went by and there was scant recognition of his demand from the centre. As his ordeal went on, support for the cause grew. Strikes and processions were taken out...trains were stopped...On December 12, Jawahar lal Nehru relented - he wrote to C. Rajagopalachari (the CM of Madras), suggesting that the time had come to accept the Andhra demand. But the formal announcement was delayed, and Sriramulu continued his fast. On the 15th Potti Sriramulu passed away - his fast had lasted 58 days. There after the situation went out of hand - mobs came out on the streets and there were clashes with the police; several protesters were killed in police firings.
On the 16th, Nehru made a statement saying a state of Andhra would come into being, but its boundaries would be decided by an independent Commission. In March 1953, the Telugu districts of Madras were identified for separation; later, these were joined by Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad to constitute the present state of Andhra Pradesh.
Soon after the states of Gujrat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and others followed...
And no one seems to know about him...

कोशिश करने वालों की हार नहीं होती

लहरों से डरकर नौका पार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की हार नहीं होती

नन्ही चींटी जब दाना लेकर चलती है,
चढती दीवारों पर, सौ बार फिसलती है
मन का विश्वास रगों में साहस भरता है,
चढ़कर गिरना, गिरकर चढ़ना ना अखरता है
आख़िर उसकी महनत बेकार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की हार नहीं होती

डूबकियां सिंधु में गोताखोर लगाता है,
जा जा कर खाली हाथ लौटकर आता है
मिलते नही सहज ही मोती गहरे पानी में ,
बढ़ता दुगना उत्साह इसी हैरानी में
मुठी उसकी खाली हर बार नहीं होती ,
कोशिश करने वालों की हार नही होती

असफलता एक चुनौती है, इसे स्वीकार करो,
क्या कमी रह गई, देखो और सुधार करो
जब तक न सफल हो, नींद चैन को त्यागो तुम,
संघर्ष का मैदान छोड़कर मत भागो तुम
कुछ किए बिना ही जय जय कार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की हार नहीं होती

I heard this poem in school once and then in a movie...finally found it on the net. It is by Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'. Sad really that I know so little about our own literature - sadder still that I had to use http://www.google.com/transliterate/indicto get the spellings right!!

This will look all messed up in Firefox, you will need to install a plugin to see devanagari script properly in Firefox - one more tick against Firefox.

Going on a different tangent, I would really like to see more content in Indian languages with their English translation on the net.