Saturday Poem: तोड़ती पत्‍थर by Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’

Back to blogging after a prolonged hiatus. A combination of summer break, travels, conferences and the ensuing “catching-up” kept me away.

Today a well-known poem by a well-known poet. I grew up listening to anecdotes about Nirala and his antics in Allahabad from my father who studied there. A recurrent aspect was his excessive random altruism, especially remarkable given that he himself was supposedly penniless and bore a famously mercurial temperament. How many of these fables are true, I don’t know. But the dearth of serious biographical research and writing in India is a grouse for another time.

“तोड़ती पत्‍थर” and Nirala were almost always mentioned in the same breath. Its not hard to see why. Its perhaps his most well known poem in the popular imagination – accessible compared to his other work, deals with a scene that is familiar to most Indians, and evokes tremendous empathy while avoiding pity – not an easy thing to do. For me personally, the lines, “देखा मुझे उस दृष्टि से/जो मार खा रोई नहीं,” are among the best poetic lines ever penned. These lines sting in the deepest wells of our empathy, and the sting lingers just long enough till the wells overflow.

तोड़ती पत्‍थर

वह तोड़ती पत्‍थर;
देखा उसे मैंने इलाहाबाद के पथ पर-
वह तोड़ती पत्‍थर।

कोई न छायादार
पेड़ वह जिसके तले बैठी हुई स्‍वीकार;
श्‍याम तन, भर बँधा यौवन,
नत नयन प्रिय,कर्म-रत मन,
गुरू हथौड़ा हाथ,
करती बार-बार प्रहार:
सामने तरू-मालिका अट्टालिका, प्राकार।

चढ़ रही थी धूप;
गर्मियों के दिन
दिवा का तमतमाता रुप;
उठी झुलसाती हुई लू,
रूई ज्‍यों जलती हुई भू,
गर्द चिनगी छा गई,
प्राय: हुई दुपहर:
वह तोड़ती पत्‍थर।

देखते देखा मुझे तो एक बार
उस भवन की ओर देखा, छिन्‍नतार;
देखकर कोई नहीं,
देखा मुझे उस दृष्टि से<
जो मार खा रोई नहीं,
सजा सहज सितार,
सुनी मैंने वह नहीं जो थी सुनी झंकार
एक क्षण के बाद वह कॉंपी सुघर,
ढुलक माथे से गिरे सीकर,
लीन होते कर्म में फिर ज्‍यों कहा-
‘मैं तोड़ती पत्‍थर।’