करुणा· Karuna
01किया है हवन तो हथेली जली है
Kiya Hai Havan To Hatheli Jali Hai
5 verses · ~8 lines · 1 min
जिंदगी · Plate: Sita's Agni Pariksha
For you
Lines that may find you, this night.
Nine lines, gathered for this night.
Doha· 16
Two lines, the whole world.
A rhymed couplet, twenty-four beats, no room for a wasted syllable.
Ghazal· 136
Couplets, uncoupled.
Each sher stands alone; the refrain is the only thread holding them.
Navarasa
The Nine Rasas.
Nine flavours of feeling: the classical taxonomy of rasa.
01
शृंगार
Shringara(Love)
937 compositions
02
हास्य
Hasya(Laughter)
235 compositions
03
करुणा
Karuna(Sorrow)
615 compositions
04
रौद्र
Raudra(Anger)
95 compositions
05
वीर
Veera(Heroism)
296 compositions
06
भयानक
Bhayanaka(Fear)
19 compositions
07
बीभत्स
Bibhatsa(Disgust)
11 compositions
08
अद्भुत
Adbhuta(Wonder)
55 compositions
09
शान्त
Shanta(Peace)
1188 compositions
Paintings· 534
Worth a longer look.
Pigment, patience and a slow eye: plates from the archive, chosen to be stood in front of rather than scrolled past.
Poets
Voices to sit with.
A handful of the most-anthologised, plus a door to the rest.
01
सूरदास
Surdas
216 compositions
02
मीराबाई
Mirabai
197 compositions
03
अज्ञेय
Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya'
191 compositions
04
प्रतिभा सक्सेना
Pratibha Saxena
149 compositions
05
साहिर लुधियानवी
Sahir Ludhianvi
109 compositions
All poets
Every voice in the archive
Open the index
Hidden gems
Poems you haven't met yet.
Full-length compositions from less-frequent voices.
From the margins
Short verses, easily missed.
Two lines or fewer: the couplets that slip past between the long compositions. Read one; it takes a breath.