Gathering Shadows, Shamsher Bahadur Singh
Lakshmidhar Malviya (Gathering Shadows, Shamsher Bahadur Singh. Years covered: 1961-1975) __________________________________________________ ईमान गड़बड़ी में है दिल के हिसाब में लिक्खा हुआ कुछ और मिला है किताब में (Top Floor, Just Fit, 1961) *** कठिन प्रस्तर में अगिन सूराख। मौन पर्तों में हिला मैं कीट। (Shamsher, the tenant, peeping: barsati above Just Fit Tailors, Allahabad, 1961] *** आज फिर काम से लौटा हूँ बड़ी रात गए ताक़ पर ही मेरे हिस्से की धरी है शायद (Just Fit Tailors, Bahadurganj, Allahabad, 1961 ) *** उसे बदलियों में भी पहचान लोगे कि उस चांद-से मुँह पे’ हाला पड़ा पड़ा है वो जुल्फ़ों में सब कुछ छुपाए हुए हैं अंधेरा लपेटे उजाला पड़ा है (Premlata Verma and Shamsher, 1961) *** मेरी बाँसुरी है एक नाव की पतवार – जिसके स्वर गीले हो गये हैं, छप्-छप्-छप् मेरा हृदय कर रहा है… छप् छप् छप्व (Neighbourhood, Just Fit, 1961) *** तू मेरे एकान्त का एकान्त है मैं समझता था कि मेरा तू नहीं । (Shamsher, Sketch : Malayaj, 1961) *** जी को लगती है तेरी बात खरी है शायद वही शमशेर मुज़फ़्फ़रनगरी है शायद (Allahabad, 1962) *** सूरज उगाया जाता फूलों में: यदि हम एक साथ हँस पड़ते। (With Shrimati and Shri Naresh Mehta, their year old son Babul, an unnamed person and Shamsher, 1961) *** वरूणा के किनारे एक चक्रस्तूप है शायद वहीं विश्व का केंद्र है वहीं कहीं ऐसा सुनते हैं। (Sarnath: the dharmshala where Shamsher often lived during the first half of the 1960s) *** मैं समाज तो नहीं; न मैं कुल जीवन; कण-समूह में हूँ मैं केवल एक कण । (Delhi, 1971) *** दिल्ली बस-स्टैंड से ही कार्ड मिला था मुझको। काश फिर लिखते – ‘वही है जो गिला था मुझको1।’ ताकि हम कहते कि ‘है जुल्म सरासर अब तो!’ (Delhi, 1971) *** काल, तुझसे होड़ है मेरी: अपराजित तू- तुझमें अपराजित मैं वास करूं । (Delhi, 1961) *** कहाँ है वो किताबें, दीवारें, चेहरे, वो बादलों की इन्द्रधनुषाकार लहरीली लाल हँसियाँ कहाँ है ? (Delhi 1971) *** हम अपने खयाल को सनम समझे थे, अपने को खयाल से भी कम समझे थे! होना था- समझना न था कुछ भी, शमशेर, होना भी कहाँ था वह जो हम समझे थे! (Delhi, 1971) *** वाम वाम वाम दिशा, समय साम्यवादी। (With dear friend Mugisuddin Faridi and Shobha Singh, Delhi 1971) *** एक नीला आईना बेठोस-सी यह चाँदनी और अंदर चल रहा हूँ मैं उसी के महातल के मौन में । (Delhi, 1975) *** [This set of photographs were first published in Jalsa, 2011. HUG is grateful to Asad Zaidi for making the volume available.] adminhumanitiesunderground.org
The New Between Past and Future: The Question of Method in the Humanities II (Video Clips)
Dear HUG Readers: Here are the youtube links to the video clips of the forum (second & final in the series) on ‘The New Between Past and Future: The Question of Method in the Humanities II’ —a collaboration between MargHumanities and the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Study, JNU, (April 13, 2015). —————————- Speakers: Milind Wakankar (IIT, Delhi) , Rakesh Pandey (CSDS, New Delhi), Achia Anzi (Artist and SL, JNU) , Asad Zaidi (Poet and Three Essays Collective) Moderator: Prasanta Chakravarty (Delhi University) The proceedings of the forum have been broken into 11 clips. All the clips are live on this page. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVhlmKwZZoA 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvElJydYZsc 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqIdV9bPKJw 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgkCbmIi82M 5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acjidg14J-A 6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY-H0mkGrzk 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loSWs2VOizg 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-YB1887qn4 9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAQykO_1P_o 10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B9EBhvUTHU 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVxy1eVqgu0 ——————————————- adminhumanitiesunderground.org
Boundaries and Porosities: The Question of Method in the Humanities (Video Links)
Dear HUG Readers: Here are the freshly uploaded youtube links to the video clips of the first forum on ‘Boundaries and Porosities: The Question of Method in the Humanities’ —a collaboration between MargHumanities and the Department of History, Delhi University (April 6, 2015). —————————- Speakers: Satish Deshpande, Tista Bagchi and Soumyabrata Chowdhury Moderator: Prasanta Chakravarty The proceedings of the forum have been broken into 12 clips. The clips are not live on this page. So, you have to copy paste individual links to another window in order to view the proceedings. ——————————————- 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVQqs4DQmJ8 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gGgxeElWzM 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVyY3ngKzt8 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrxOZRkngrU 5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wkq3w5btCI 6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjKvefa6SkU 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9yW0cwD_tM 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqzhAVBXNYE 9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7s9RpxCgjE 10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kke76UiMu20 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p2BZXxEioA 12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVMeObKDA5s _____________ adminhumanitiesunderground.org
On Misunderstanding the Will of God
Amlan Das Gupta The critique of violence is the philosophy of its history Walter Benjamin I wish in this essay to consider a question which presents itself with some force in Samson Agonistes . As a consequence it has received considerable critical attention, but there may be, even after that, some point in re-examining it. Does Samson in his final act carry out the will of God, or does he significantly fail to realize it? The answer that we give to the question undoubtedly shapes our response to the play as a whole. Since I intend this paper to be as short as possible, let me set aside the considerable (and deeply interesting) body of criticism that has in the last ten or fifteen years concentrated on the problematic nature of Samson’s last action, and briefly summarize the information which needs to be taken into account as given in the play itself. Samson, till more than two-thirds of the play is over has little idea how his story will end, though he is fairly clear that it will end badly. At 1381 he makes his famous comment about experiencing “rousing motions” and reiterates his vows generally as an Isarelite and more specifically as a nazirite, one separate to God, and forbidden to eat certain kinds of food, cut his hair and visit graveyards. He also hints that he intends to perform some great deed or perish: exactly how is unclear at this point. I would draw attention to the fact that Milton is unusually cagey about letting Samson refer to divine will at this point: the “rousing motions” may be from God, but there is no clear indication. The Argument that prefaces the play is equally unclear. Having refused absolutely to go with the Philistine officer, Samson “at length” is “persuaded inwardly that this was from God”. The scene of the play’s catastrophe distances us from the loquacious and argumentative hero. The messenger does not hear him speak, apart from the loud cry that he gives addressing the Philistine nobility (1640). Otherwise Samson’s own words are heard through intermediaries (as in his desire to rest on the pillars, 1629), but his thoughts are the subject of speculation. He stands with bent head, in the posture of either one who prays, or one who meditates some great action. Milton would have known the difficulty in the Biblical text in this regard. The Biblical Samson speaks relatively little (unlike Milton’s character) but his last words are reported in the Bible. Versions differ: KJV has “Let me die with the Philistines”, Samson expressing his desire for suicide. The Geneva has “Let me lose my life with the Philistines. The Vulgate is even more uncompromising: Let my soul die with the Philistines, “Moriatur anima mea cum Philisthim”. Manoa is the first to recover from the shock of this news: after the tragic ode of the chorus, he seeks to put the best possible interpretation on the event. The first few lines seek to reestablish Samson’s heroic identity: “ Samson hath quit himself/Like Samson, and heroically hath finished/ A life heroic”: but he is quick to add that the best part of the whole business is that it proves that God has not abandoned Samson “as was fear’d”. The Chorus picks up this idea in a more assertive manner, concluding: All is best, though we oft doubt, What th’ unsearchable dispose Of highest wisdom brings about, And ever best found in the close. Oft he seems to hide his face, But unexpectedly returns And to his faithful Champion hath in place Bore witness gloriously; [ 1745-52] This then, baldly, is the substance of what the play offers. If we return to the question posed at the beginning, we find that there is any clear textual evidence as to whether Samson acts according to divine prompting in the twinned acts of slaying himself and destroying the Philistine nobility. I would make what I hope is an unexceptional point: there is nothing in the play itself that can help us resolve the question, and we need to fall back on either radical interpretation or scholarly supplement to resolve the question to our satisfaction. But one question may have received less attention that it deserves. It might be interesting to consider briefly how the notion of divine will is present in the play in a general way, and how it may be understood or misunderstood. The problem here arises out of the fact that the notion of the divine in Samson is itself difficult to understand: the play’s presentation of Samson, judge of Israel, has to accommodate both the neoclassical formalism of the play and its invocation of Greek models on the one hand, and the ethics of the Christian poet on the other . How divine will is known (or can be known) is clearly different in the three cultural models that the play seamlessly integrates: consequently. Samson’s opportunities for responding to divine dictate must be thought to be itself a problematic issue. Leaving aside the fact that within the three systems, the Greek, the Hebraic and the Christian, there are profound debates and differences in the articulation of the relationship of the human and the divine, we could try to examine the broad outlines of three paradigms which seem to be relevant to what the play offers. If each of these systems is seen to be offering a range of options, the ones that we will be choosing are probably on the extreme side: this, I should explain is not in order to present them in parodic form, but because it is here that we may more clearly understand the problems that present themselves to us. One point of convergence might be that in all these systems whatever happens is broadly in conformity with divine will; that is to say, irrespective of human agents, God’s will is manifested in events. It may be true that this is a relatively long term view: