Old Classic Poems

Story of Laxmi Bai, (born Nov.19, 1835) the Queen of Jhansi is unparalleled in the history of India. She was only 18 years old when her husband Gangadhar Rao, the king of Jhansi died. As the first born child of Rani had died, the couple was childless. They adopted a …

I recently saw the movie “Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara” directed by Jahnu Barua, with lead characters played superbly by Anupam Kher and Urmila Matondkar. It is a gripping tale of a family’s struggle to treat the delusional dementia of their old father. A poem that runs through the movie …

This famous poem by Narottam Das (AD 1550-1605) describes the story of Sudama who was a close friend of Lord Krishna. Sudama lived in poverty and his wife always prodded Sudama to visit Lord Krishna in Dwarka for some financial help. Sudama felt reluctant to ask money from a friend …

In mid 1500s Akbar the Mughal emperor of India, in his bid to consolidate his empire, had entered into agreements with Rajput kingdoms except that of Mewar. Maharana Pratap of Mewar was defiant and did not want to lose his independence. Frustrated Akbar sent his massive army led by Mansingh …

A very powerful poem indeed. When we are young, we have dreams and aspirations. Most of these are never realized. Life passes on and suddenly one day we find ourselves exhausted, past our primes even as our dreams lay shattered. This sentiment is so beautifully captured by Gopal Das Neeraj …

Some times a person commits such a blunder that he / she is forced to repent for the rest of the life. Kaikayi, the darling youngest wife of Dashratha did one such blunder when she forced the king to give the kingdom to her son Bharat and banish the elder …

Here is an old classic, the desire of a flower by Makhanlal Chaturvedi Ji – Rajiv Krishna Saxena पुष्प की अभिलाषा चाह नहीं मैं सुरबाला के गहनों में गूँथा जाऊँ चाह नहीं, प्रेमी-माला में बिंध प्यारी को ललचाऊँ चाह नहीं, सम्राटों के शव पर हे हरि, डाला जाऊँ चाह नहीं, …

Most of us have heard this story of Siddharta and the swan wounded by a hunter. The story has a moral that the savior is far bigger a person than the killer. Here when Siddhartas son Rahul insists on hearing a bedtime story from his mother, she tells him his …

In this portion from the classic book “Bharat-Bharati”, Maithili Sharan Gupt Ji has described the sad plight of a farmer in Indian villages. While the poem was written a long time ago, in many ways the condition of farmers have not changed much even today. Rajiv Krishna Saxena किसान (भारत–भारती …

The relationship between a husband and wife is based on total faith. A girl leaves her family and adopts the family of her husband. Her expectation is that her husband will take her in full confidence and share all feelings and thoughts with her. Prince Siddharta (who later became Gautam …