Book Review -Dhruvswamini

Jaishankar Prasad is one of the most prominent writer in Hindi language. His compositions are mostly inspired by historical era of India. His Play “dhruvswamni” is a short play which revolves around the lead lady character Dhruvswamini, she is the empress of Gupta dynasty but the King, Ramagupt doesn’t pay much attention to her and he remains indulge in other women and had doubt that his younger brother Chandragupt and Dhruvswamni have secret affair between them. The king remains reluctant towards the feelings and wishes of his queen.

                                    When another king Shakaraj attacks his kingdom, Ramagupta finds himself week, Shakaraj offers  a proposal to avoid the war according to which  Dhruvswamini should be sent to Shakaraj. Dhruvswamini pleaded to Ramagupta to not accept the proposal, but coward and timid Ramagupta did not listen to Dhruvswamini and agreed to send his wife to the Shakaraja.

 

Chandragupta, however went aggressive and opposed his king’s decision.

He tried to convince Ramagupta to get ready for the war instead of agreeing to the enemy’s proposal but he was not paid any attention by the king.

In the end, Dhruvswanini and Chandragupt, disguised as a women managed to killed the enemy king Shakaraj . Finally, the counsel of prominent people of the court also ruled against the king Ramagupta because of his cowardly acts. Ramagupta tried to kill Chandragupta cheatingly but got killed instead.

Chandragupta became king and got married to Dhruvswamini .                        

      

Mandakni-hriday me naitik saahash- vastavik prerna aur pourish ki pukar akatra kr ke sochiye to kumar, ki ab aapko kya karma chiye                 

(Mandakni-  With moral courage in your heart- gather true inspiration and audacity and think,  O! prince what should you do.)

Chandragupt-  ki shyahi ek bindu girakar bhagya-lipi par kaalima chada deti hai. Mai aaj swekar karne me bhi sankuchit ho raha hu ki dhruvswamini meri hai…ha, wah meri hai. Use maine aarambha se hi apni sampoorn bhawana se pyar kiya hai. Mere hridaya ke gahan antahsthal se nikali hui wah mook swikriti aaj boal rahi hai. Mai purush hu? Nahi, mai apni ankho se apna vaibhav aur adhikar doosro ki anyaya se chinta dekh raha hu aur meri vagdata patni mere hi anutsah se aaj meri nahi hai…nahi-yaha sheel ka kapat –moah aur pravanchna hai. Mai jo hu, wahi to nahi spas troop se prakat kar saka… yaha kaisi vidambana hai… vinay ke aavaran me meri kayarta apne ko kab tak chipa sakegi?

(Chandragupta-  one drop from the ink of destiny fells on the fate’s script and turns it black. Today, I am hesitating to accept that Dhruvswamini is mine….yes, she is mine. I have loved her with all my emotions since the beginning….this mute acceptance that is coming out from the core of my heart is speaking today….am I a man?..no, I am seeing that my splendor and right is being taken away from me by the injustice of others and my beloved is not with be due to my non-enthusiasm. ….no- this guile of modesty -is just alluring impotence……I am not able to express my true self…..what an irony! For how long, will my cowardice remain hidden under the shield of modesty?)

The dialogues justify each characters state nicely. The conversations are well written and the story never looses grip on the reader for a single moment.

Dhruvswamini is substantially presented by the writer you will love to read this story.

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Madhushala-My thoughts

Mitii ka tan, masti ka mann

chadnbhar jeevan , mera parichaya..

(Perishable body, playful mind

 Few moments of life, that is all my introduction)

Writing a review of Madhushala(wine-house) is beyond my cognitive capacity. All that I am writing here is just my thoughts that go through my mind whenever I read this Classic poetry.

Harivansh Rai Bacchan is among those rare poets who never heisted to explore any prospect of life. Madhushala is one of those daring metaphorical creation by Bacchan and is well accepted and appreciated by many generations of writers, thinkers and readers.

The topic which is not very well consented by society is so intelligently and philosophically presented by the author that it looks like an epic poem and provides great insight about human life : he has questioned the divide in society on the basis of religion, divide on base the of festivals, divide on basis of culture and faith but, how these boundaries dissolve when people go to sit for drink .

Mushalman aur hindu hai do, ek magar unka pyala,

Ek magar unka madiralaya, ek magar unki hala,

Dono rehte ek na jabtak , masjid-mandir me jaate,

Baair badhata masjid-mandir, male karati madhu shala.

(Mushliams and hindus are different, but they share same glass of wine

They go to same wine-house, when they have different faiths

They go to mosques and temples, mosques and temples create divide

While wine –house creates unite between them)

Bacchan has raised questions about many religious dogmas and also has presented much rational and liberal doctrine about life.

The book is very enjoyable even if somebody doesn’t wants to go into its central idea.

The author also has written about himself as

Naam agar puche koi to, kehna bas peenaewala.

Kamm dhalna anur dhalana, sabko madira ka pyala,

Jaati priye puche koi , keh dena deewano ki,

Dharm batana pyale ki le, mala japna Madhushala.

(if somebody asks my name ,introduce me as drunker

Work is of consuming and serving the wine,

If somebody asks my Cast, Tell him that I belong to crazies

Tell my religion as wine-peg, and keep chanting wine…)

To summarize about the book, I would say it’s a very delightful read and a complete book about philosophy of life in its own & unique way

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Book Review –MEGHADUTAM

                                                           writer- Kalidasa

Meghadutam is one of the most famous lyrical Poetic work of  Kalidasa having 111 stanzas  in Sanskrit language. The book is a brilliant conceit of the Poet who is considered as one of the greatest Sanskrit poet and Dramatist.

His works have been translated in many languages, I got to read a Hindi translation of The book.

Meghaduta is divided into two parts – Purvamegha (Previous cloud) and Uttaramegha (concomitant cloud). The story is of a Yaksha in the kingdom of Kuber, the treasurer of Gods. The Yaksha disregarded his duties and as a consequence, he was shunned out of the kingdom for one year.

Depressed and discouraged Yaksha was feeling the absence of his wife abysmally. He kept remembering the old days he spent with his wife and  his worries about his better half induced terrible pain. His wife also kept thinking about him all the time.

When the Yaksha saw the First clouds of the season on a hill top he asked the friendly cloud to convey his message to his wife at his home in Alkapuri, the kingdom of Kuber in Himalayas.

He described the path to reach to Alkapuri giving details about the empires, rivers, jungles, lakes , gardens etc that will fall on the way.

He further described about Alkapuri; splendor of its houses, its luxuries, its beautiful basking ladies, its brave men and about his own house.

“yaha rehne wale Yaksho ke ankho me jab kabhi anshu aate hai to vo kewal anand ke hi anshu hote hai…waha ke niwasiyo me agar koi jalan hoti hai to vo kewal priya se bichudne ki jalan hoti hai..waha prem me ruthne ke atirikt kisi ka kisi se vichoha bhi nahi hota…aur jawani ki awastha ko chod kar anya koi awastha ko prapt nahi karta..”

(the tears that come into  eyes of Yakshas of Alkapuri are only due to pleasure….if there is any anguish, its  due to staying away from their lover…and ire in love is only ruefulness there…and youth is only stage in the life of people there..)

He described about his grieving wife as..

“mere bichoh me nirantar rote rehne se  meri priya ki ankhe to sooj gai hongi…garam sanso se uske hotho ka rang fikha pad gaya hoga,..chinta ke karan gaalo par haath rakhe rehne ke karan se aur baalo ko much par aa jane se uska adhura dikhai dene wala mukh ,megha se dhake hue chandrma ke saman dhundhla aur udaash sa dikhai de raha hoga..”

(due to continuous crying in sorrow of my absence her eyes would have been bulged…colour of her lips would have been faded due to the warmth of her breathing…by putting hand on her cheeks due to worry  and due to stray hairs on her face, her partial exposed face would have been looking faded and sad as if the moon has been  covered partially by clouds.)

 

The writer has comprehensively described every aspect of the journey that the cloud was supposed to take. The cloud finally reaches to the wife of the yaksha and conveys the message…

The book is a nice read and is meridian of titillating story

 

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BOOK REVIEW- ASHADH KA EK DIN

Kalidas- nayi bhoomi sukhi bhi to ho sakti hai

             (new land could be arid )

Mallika- koi bhumi aisi nahi jiske antar me komalta na ho, tumhari pratibha us komalta            

              Ka  sparsh awashya pa legi..

            (There is no land without softness at its core, your talent will definitely touch that 

             core)

‘Ashadh ka ek din’ is a play wondrously written by Mohan rakesh depicting the story of erstwhile famous writer Kalidas and his love Mallika. The story is presented beautifully with its limited characters and the conversations between characters are exhibited perfectly.

The female lead Mallika is madly in love with kalidas who lived in the same village and they both used to enjoy the beauty of the mountains , clouds, rains and of course the poetry of kalidas.

But after writing a master piece Ritu-sanghar kalidas fame took him to the capital of the kingdom and he became the national poet in the court of the king.

He wrote many epics like meghdootam, kumarsambhawa and raghuwans in Ujjani, the capital city. While kalidas enjoyed his fame and position , Mallika kept waiting for him living a life miserable and wretched .

As the story progresses , kalidas realizes that his life lacks everything without mallika’s presence. But then, these lines touchingly describe the rest… 

Kalidas- yeh shambhawatah iksha ka samay ke saaath dwand tha, par yeh dekh raha hu                        

              ki samay aadhik shaktishali hai  kuki..

             (It is probably a conflict between wishes and time, but I can feel that time is

              Mightier because….)

                                                         

Mallika- kuki....

               (because..)

Kalidas – kuki wah pratiksha nahi karta

               (Because it doesn’t wait)

The title of the book looks wispy being a love story, but the story begins with one day of the month of ashadh when the first rain of the season occurs.

The last scene of the story is also belongs to the month of ashadh.

Kalidas’s other creation Meghdootam is also its beginning in the month of ashadh when the lead character sees the first cloud of the season on a mountain top.

While reading this book I was highly impress by the flow of the story ,and the language used by Mohan Rakesh is marvelous.

Despite it’s first edition published in the year 1958 and the background which looks old. ‘Ashadh ka ek din’ touches the readers heart to the core. If any one in interested in emotional love story with beautiful dialogues. This is a must read....

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