All these converge to a point. I don’t have to bluff much on this here.
Here I share the peom, पागल (Paagal) by Laxmi Prasad Devkota, translated ‘The Lunatic’ by the poet himself, is a literary masterpiece.
पागल
जरुर साथी म पागल !
यस्तै छ मेरो हाल !
म शब्दलाई देख्दछु !
दृश्यलाई सुन्दछु !
बास्नालाई स्वाद लिन्छु !
आकाशभन्दा पातला कुरालाई छुन्छु !
ती कुरा,
जसको अस्तित्व लोक मान्दैन
जसको आकार संसार जान्दैन !
म देख्दछु ढुङ्गालाई फूल !
जब, जल–किनारका जल–चिप्ला ती
कोमलाकार पाषाण,
चाँदनीमा,
स्वर्गको जादूगर्नी मतिर हाँस्दा,
पत्रिएर, नर्मिएर, झल्किएर,
बल्किएर उठ्दछन् मूक पागलझैं,
फूल झैं एक किसिमका चकोर–फूल !
म बोल्दछु तिनसँग, जस्तो बोल्दछन् ती मसँग
एक भाषा, साथी !
जो लेखिन्न, छापिन्न, बोलिन्न,
बुझाइन्न, सुनाइन्न !
जुनेली गङ्गा–किनार छाल आउँछ तिनको भाषा
साथी ! छालछाल !
जरुर साथी म पागल !
यस्तै छ मेरो हाल !
तिमी चतुर छा बाचाल
तिम्रो शुद्ध गणित–सूत्र हरहमेशा चलिरहेको छ
मेरो गणितमा एकबाट एक झिके
एकै बाँकी रहन्छ !
तिमी पाँच इन्द्रियले काम गर्छौ
म छैटौँले !
तिम्रो गिदी छ साथी !
मेरो मुटु !
तिमी गुलाफलाई गुलाफ सिवाय देख्न सक्तैनौ,
म उसमा हेलेन र पद्यिनी पाउँछु,
तिमी बलिया गद्य छौ !
म तरल पद्य छु !
तिमी जम्दछौ जब म पग्दन्छु,
तिमी सङ्लन्छौ जब म धमिलो बन्छु,
र ठीक त्यसैको उल्टो !
तिम्रो संसार ठोस छ !
मेरो बाफ !
तिम्रो बाक्लो, मेरो पातलो !
तिमी ढुङ्गालाई वस्तु ठान्दछौ,
ठोस कठोरता तिम्रो यथार्थ छ !
म सपनालाई समात्न खोज्दछु,
जस्तो तिमी, त्यो चिसो, मीठो अक्षर काटेको
पान्ढिकीको बाटुलो सत्यलाई !
मेरो छ बजे काँढाको साथी !तिम्रो सुनको र हीराको !
तिमी पहाडलाई लाटा भन्दछौ,
म भन्छु वाचाल !
जरुर साथी !
मेरो एक नशा ढीलो छ ।
यस्तै छ मेरो हाल !
म माघको ठण्डीमा
ताराको सेतो प्राथमिक राप तापेर
बसिरहेको थिएँ,
दुनियाँले मलाई तरङ्गी भने !
भस्मेश्वरबाट फर्कदा सात दिन
टोह्लाएको देखेर
भूत लागेको भने !
एक सुन्दरीका केशमा
समयका तुषाराको
पहिला छिर्का परेको देखेर
म तीन दिन रुँदा,
मेरो आत्मालाई बुद्धले छुँदा
मलाई छटाएको भने !
मैले वसन्तको पहिलो कोकिल सुनेर
नाचेको देख्दा,
बहुला भने !
एक सूनसान औंसीले मलाई निशास भएर
म प्रलय–वेदनाले उफ्रेँ !
मूर्खहरुले मलाई त्यस बेला ठिङ्गुरा हालेर राखे !
म तूफानसँग एक दिन गीत गाउन थालेको थिएँ,
मलाई बुज्रुगहरुले,
राँची पठाइदिए !
म आफू लाई एक दिन मरेको सम्झेर
लम्पसार थिएँ,
एक साथीले बेसरी चिमटिदिए
र भने, “ए पागल तेरो मासु अझ मरेको छैन !”
यस्ता कुरा भए साल, साल !
पागल छु साथी !
यस्तै छ मेरो हाल !
मैले नवाबको मदिरालाई खून भनेको छु,
छिमेकी रण्डीलाई लाश भनेको छु !
राजालाई गरीब,
सिकन्दरलाई मैले गाली दिएको छु !
महात्मा भनाउँदाको निन्दा गरेको छु !
नगण्य व्यक्तिलाई, तर,
सातौं आसमानसम्म,
तारीफको पुलमा चढाएको छु,
तिम्रा महापण्डित, मेरो महामूर्ख !
तिम्रो स्वर्ग, मेरो नरक !
तिम्रो सुन, मेरो फलाम
साथी ! तिम्रो धर्म मेरो पाप !
जहाँ तिमी आपूmलाई चलाक सम्झन्छौ,
उहाँ म देख्छु तिमीलाई बिलकुल लाटा !
तिम्रो उन्नति, मेरो अवनति,यस्तै छ मोलमोलाइको उलट–पलट,
साथी !
तिम्रो विश्व, मेरो बाल !
जरुर साथी ! म बिलकुल चन्द्राहत छु
चन्द्राहत,
यस्तै छ मेरो हाल !
म अन्धालाई दुनियाँको अगुवा देख्दछु,
गुफा–तपस्वीलाई भगुवा देख्दछु,
मिथ्याका मञ्च चढेकालाई
काला नटुवा देख्दछु !
विफललाई सफल देख्दछु !
प्रगतिलाई अगति देख्दछु !
या हुँला मै ऐँचाताना !
या हुँला मै दीवाना !
साथी ! मै दीवाना !
निर्लज्ज नेतृत्वको नीरस रसनाको
रण्डीको नाच हेर !
जन–अधिकारको डँडाल्नोको भाँच हेर !
जब भँगेर–टाउके छापाको कालो मिथ्याले
मेरो विवेक–वीरलाई
जाली झुठले ललकार्छ
तब हुन्छन् मेरा गाला राता साथी !
सल्केको गोलझैं राता !
जब निमुखा दुनियाँ कालो जहर पिउँदछ,
पिउँछ कानले,
र अमृत भनिठानेर,
र मेरा आँखाअगाडि, साथी !
तब हुन्छन् ठाडा मेरा रौं, रौं
गर्गनका सर्पकेश झैं, मेरा जिस्क्याइएका
रौं, रौं !
जब बाघले मृग खान आँटेको देख्छु, साथी !
या ठूलो माछाले सानो,
तब मेरा मर्काएका हड्डीमा पनि दधीचिको आत्माको
भयङ्कर बल पसेर, बोल्न खोज्दछ, साथी !
तब कडकडकउँछन् मेरा बत्तीस दन्ते बङ्गारा,
दुवै !
जस्तो भीमसेनका दाँत !
अनि,
प्रकोपको लाल–लाल आँखाका डल्ला,
फनक्क घुमाएर एक डबलले, म
यो अमानवको मानवजगत्लाई,
एक आगोको लप्काले झैं हेर्दछु, साथी !
अफ्रिन्छन् मेरा कलपुर्जा,
खलत्रल, खलबल !
तूफान हुन्छ मेरो सास !
विकृत हुन्छ मेरो चेहरा !
बन्दछ मेरो दिमाग, साथी !
बडवानलझैं, बडवानलझैं !
म वन खाने आगो झैं बहुला हुन्छु !
बहुला, साथी ! काँचै निलूँ झैं विश्वविशाल !
जरुर साथी !
म सुन्दर–चकोर, असुन्दर–फोर !
कोमल–क्रूर
चिडिया, स्वर्गाग्नि–चोर
तूफान–पुत्र !
पागल ज्वालमुखीको उद्गार
भयङ्कर व्यक्तित्वपाल !
जरुर, साथी !
सन्के मगज छु, सन्के !
यस्तै छ मेरो हाल !
महाकबि लक्ष्मी प्रसाद देवकोटा
The Lunatic
1.
Oh yes, friend! I’m crazy-
that’s just the way I am.
2.
I see sounds,
I hear sights,
I taste smells,
I touch not heaven but things from the underworld,
things people do not believe exist,
whose shapes the world does not suspect.
Stones I see as flowers
lying water-smoothed by the water’s edge,
rocks of tender forms
in the moonlight
when the heavenly sorceress smiles at me,
putting out leaves, softening, glistening,
throbbing, they rise up like mute maniacs,
like flowers, a kind of moon-bird’s flowers.
I talk to them the way they talk to me,
a language, friend,
that can’t be written or printed or spoken,
can’t be understood, can’t be heard.
Their language comes in ripples to the moonlit Ganges banks,
ripple by ripple-
oh yes, friend! I’m crazy-
that’s just the way I am.
3.
You’re clever, quick with words,
your exact equations are right forever and ever.
But in my arithmetic, take one from one-
and there’s still one left.
You get along with five senses,
I with a sixth.
You have a brain, friend,
I have a heart.
A rose is just a rose to you-
to me it’s Helen and Padmini.
You are forceful prose
I liquid verse.
When you freeze I melt,
When you’re clear I get muddled
and then it works the other way around.
Your world is solid,
mine vapor,
yours coarse, mine subtle.
You think a stone reality;
harsh cruelty is real for you.
I try to catch a dream,
the way you grasp the rounded truth of cold, sweet coin.
I have the sharpness of the thorn,
you of gold and diamonds.
You think the hills are mute-
I call them eloquent.
Oh yes, friend!
I’m free in my inebriation-
that’s just the way I am.
4.
In the cold of the month of Magh
I sat
warming to the first white heat of the star.
the world called me drifty.
When they saw me staring blankly for seven days
after I came back from the burning ghats
they said I was a spook.
When I saw the first marks of the snows of time
in a beautiful woman’s hair
I wept for three days.
When the Buddha touched my soul
they said I was raving.
They called me a lunatic because I danced
when I heard the first spring cuckoo.
One dead-quite moon night
breathless I leapt to my feet,
filled with the pain of destruction.
On that occasion the fools
put me in the stocks,
One day I sang with the storm-
the wise men
sent me off to Ranchi.
Realizing that same day I myself would die
I stretched out on my bed.
A friend came along and pinched me hard
and said, Hey, madman,
your flesh isn’t dead yet!
For years these things went on.
I’m crazy, friend-
that’s just the way I am.
5.
I called the Navab’s wine blood,
the painted whore a corpse,
and the king a pauper.
I attacked Alexander with insults,
and denounced the so-called great souls.
The lowly I have raised on the bridge of praise
to the seventh heaven.
Your learned pandit is my great fool,
your heaven my hell,
your gold my iron,
friend! Your piety my sin.
Where you see yourself as brilliant
I find you a dolt.
Your rise, friend-my decline.
That’s the way our values are mixed up,
friend!
Your whole world is a hair to me.
Oh yes, friend, I’m moonstruck through and through-
moonstruck!
That’s just the way I am.
6.
I see the blind man as the people’s guide,
the ascetic in his cave a deserter;
those who act in the theater of lies
I see as dark buffoons.
Those who fail I find successful,
and progress only backsliding.
am I squint-eyed,
Or just crazy?
Friend, I’m crazy.
Look at the withered tongues of shameless leaders,
The dance of the whores
At breaking the backbone on the people’s rights.
When the sparrow-headed newsprint spreads its black lies
In a web of falsehood
To challenge Reason-the hero in myself-
My cheeks turn red, friend,
red as molten coal.
When simple people drink dark poison with their ears
Thinking it nectar-
and right before my eyes, friend!-
then every hair on my body stands up stiff
as the Gorgon’s serpent hair-
every hair on me maddened!
When I see the tiger daring to eat the deer, friend,
or the big fish the little,
then into my rotten bones there comes
the terrible strength of the soul of Dadhichi
and tries to speak, friend,
like the stormy day crashing down from heaven with the lightning.
When man regards a man
as not a man, friend,
then my teeth grind together, all thirty-two,
top and bottom jaws,
like the teeth if Bhimasena.
And then
red with rage my eyeballs rool
round and round, with one sweep
like a lashing flame
taking in this inhuman human world.
My organs leap out of theirs frames-
uproar! Uproar!
my breathing becomes a storm,
my face distorted, my brain on fire, friend!
with a fire like those that burn beneath the sea,
like the fire that devours the forests,
frenzied, friend!
as one who would swallow the wide world raw.
Oh yes, my friend,
the beautiful chakora am I,
destroyer of the ugly,
both tender and cruel,
the bird that steals the heaven’s fire,
child of the tempest,
spew of the insane volcano,
terror incarnate.
Oh yes, friend,
my brain is whirling, whirling-
that’s just the way I am.
(traslated by Laxmi Prasad Devkota himself)
Translation by Manjushree Thapa
DERANGED
Certainly, friend! I’m deranged!
Such is my state!
I see words, hear images, taste smells,
touch things that are slighter than the sky.
things whose existence no one admits to,
whose shape the world does not know
I see rocks as flowers
when by the river bank those slick, delicate, heavenly trick-
sters laugh
looking at me in the moonlight, unfolding in redolence, and
stand-
awakening, transforming, softening, swelling, shining, they
stand-
a kind of moon-bird’s fruit like a mute mad flower!
I talk to them as they talk to me!
One language, friend! which isn’t written, printed, spoken,
explained, told.
By the moonlit banks of the Ganges their tongues come in
waves,friend,
waves, waves!
Certainly, friend! I’m deranged!
Such is my state!
You are shrewd and loquacious! Your (a+b) class a2 + ab + b2
goes on and on
But in my arithmetic
if one is detracted from one, what remains is one
You work with the five senses, I with the sixth
You have brains, my friend! I have heart!
You can’t see a rose as anything but a rose
I find it to be Padmini and Helen
You are powerful prose, I am fluid verse
You freeze when I melt
You become limpid when I grow turbid-
and also the opposite!
Your world is solid, mine vaporous
Your world is thick, mine thin
You take a rock as an object, solid: hardness is your reality
I try to hold onto dreams just as you hold onto
those cold, luscious coins with engraved letters
I have the ardour of thorns, friend! You of gold and coins
I have the tempo of thorns, friend! You of gold and diamonds
You deem the hills dumb, I deem them loquacious
Certainly, friend! My one inebriation lags behind
Such is my state!
Everyone called me erratic when they saw me warming myself
on the white, primary heat of the stars in the cold winter months
They said a ghost had entered me when I stared blankly for
seven days
after returning from the cremation pyres
They said I’d gone mad when they saw me cry for forty days
seeing a spray of forty-five year-old frost on a strand of your hair
They called me insane when they saw me dance to the first
cuckoo of Spring
When suffocated by a soundless new moon
I leaped at the pain of extinguishing
and the idiots placed me in stocks
I had just started to sing with the typhoons one day
and the learned people delivered me to an asylum
One day I had stretched out flat, thinking I had died
A friend pinched me and said-
‘Oh madman! Your flesh isn’t dead yet’
I have called the Nawab’s alcohol blood, and the whore a
corpse
I have called the king poor, and have scolded Alexander
I have criticised the saints
and placed individuals of no import on the seventh realm of
praise
Your grand pundits are my idiots, your heaven my hell
Your gold is my iron
Friend! Your religious duty is my sin!
When you consider yourself intelligent I see you an imbecile
Your progress is my regression, friend!
Such turmoil in these bargains, friend!
Your cosmos is a child to me
Certainly, friend! I am moonstruck, utterly moonstruck!
This is my state!
I see the blind as the world’s leaders! I see hermits in caves as
evaders!
I see those who stand atop false platforms to be dark dancers
I see the unsuccessful as successful, the ascetic as unsuc-
cessful
I see progress as stagnation,
Will I be pushed around, or will I be a councillor
Friend! I’m a councillor!
See the whorish jig of shameless leadership’s bland tongue!
See the break in the back of people’s rights!
See today’s cracked crystals, selling as diamonds!
When the black lies of sparrow-sized headlines
call my brave reason to battle with deceitful enigmas
then-my cheeks flush hard, my friend!
My cheeks flush as red as glowing coals!
When the meek people imbibe black poison
through both their ears, before my eyes, saying it is nectar-
friend! My every hair stands on end!
My each hair twists, harried like snakes in the sky
when I see a tiger about to eat a deer, friend!
And the terrible power of the sage’s soul
tries to enter my corroded bones and speak
Friend!
the day when a thunderbolt falls from heaven
when people do not consider people to be people
my jaws start to ache like mighty Bhimsen’s jaws
and I turn the red balls of my enraged insane eyes
looking in a double as a bolt of flames upon
this human land of the inhuman-
My machine parts leap about
in uproar and agitation
My breath becomes a typhoon-
My face distorts
My brain lights up afire, friend!
like the fires submerged in the seas-
I become as mad as fires that consume entire forests
Insane, friend!
Like I might swallow the wide world raw!
Certainly, friend! I, stunning mythical moon-bird
hideous-soiled-soft-unkind bird
stealer of heaven’s fire-
son of typhoons, an expression of mad volcanoes
a maniac of tremendous personality!
Certainly, friend! I am a deranged mind! Deranged!
This is my state!
==========
The Lunatic
Surely, my friend, insane am I
Such is my plight.
I visualize sound.
I hear the visible.
And fragrance I taste.
And the ethereal is palpable to me.
Those things I touch–
Whose existence the world denies,
Of whose shape the world is unaware.
I see a flower in the stone–
when wavelet-softened pebbles on the water’s edge,
In the moonlight,
While the enchantress of heaven is smiling unto me.
They exfoliating, mollifying,
Glistening and palpitating,
Rise before my eyes like tongueless things insane,
Like flowers,
A variety of moonbirds,
I commune with them as they do with me,
In such a language, friend,
As is never written, nor ever printed, nor ever spoken,
Unintelligible, ineffable all.
Their language laps the moonlit Ganges shore,
Ripple by ripple,
Surely, my friend, am I insane,
Such is my plight.
Clever and eloquent you are!
Your formulas are ever running correct.
But in my calculations one minus one is always one.
You work with your senses five,
With the sixth I operate.
Brains you have, my friend,
But the heart is mine.
To you a rose is but a rose,
It embodies Helen and Padmini for me.
You are strong prose,
But I am liquid poetry.
You freeze, I melt,
You decant when I go muddy.
When I am muddled, you are clear.
And just the other way about.
You have a world of solids,
Mine is one of vapour
Yours is thick and mine is thin.
You take a stone for hard reality,
I seek to catch a dream,
Just as you try to grab that cold sweet, minted coin’s round reality.
Mine is a badge of thorns,
But yours is one of gold and adamant.
You call the mountains mute,
But orators do I call them.
Surely, my friend, a vein is loose in my brain.
I am insane,
Such is my plight.
In the frigid winter month,
I basked in the first white heat of the astral light.
They called me crazy.
Back from the burning-ghat,
Blank-eyed I sat for seven days,
They cast their eyes on me and called me one possessed.
Shocked by the first streak of frost on a fair lady’s tresses,
For a length of three days my sockets filled and rolled.
For the Buddha, the enlightened one, touched me in the depths,
And they called me one distraught.
When I danced to the bursting notes of the harbinger of the spring,
They called me one gone crazy.
One moonless night, all dead and still,
Annihilation choked my soul,
And up I jumped upon my feet.
And the fools of the world put me in the stocks.
I sang with the tempest one day,
And the wise-acres of the world dispatched me down to Ranchi.
And once when at full stretch I lay upon my bed,
As one but dead,
A friend of mine pinched me so sharp.
And said, “Oh mad man,
Is thy flesh now dead?”
Year by year such things did occur,
And still, my friend, I am insane,
Such is my plight.
I have called the Nawab’s wine all blood.
And the courtesans all corpses.
And the king a pauper.
I have denounced Alexander the Great.
And I have deprecated the so-called high-souled ones.
And the insignificant individual I have raised,
Up an ascending arch of praises,
Into the seventh heaven.
Your highly learned men are my big fools.
Your heaven is my hell.
Your gold, my iron.
Friend, your piety, my sin.
Where you feel yourself clever,
There, there,
I find you a stupid innocent.
Your progression is regression to me.
Such is the upsetting of values, friend,
Your universe to me is but a hair.
Surely, my friend,
I am absolutely moon-struck,
Moon-struck indeed,
Such is my plight.
I find the blind the people’s pioneers.
The cave-penancer do I find a runaway, the deserter of humanity.
And those who climb the platform of lies do I declare to be but dancers dark.
And I declare the defeated ones the splendid laurelled victors.
Advancement is retreat.
May be I am a squint
Or that I am a crack, friend,
Just but a crack.
Look at the strumpet-tongues adancing of shameless leadership!
At the breaking of the backbones of the people’s rights!
When the sparrow-headed bold prints of black lies on the papers,
Challenge the hero in me called Reason,
With conspiracy false,
Then redden hot my cheeks, my friend,
And their colour is up.
when the unsophisticated folk quaff off black poison with their ears
Taking it for ambrosia,
And that before my eyes, my friend,
Then every hair rises on end,
Like the serpent-tresses of the Gorgons,
Every one so irritated!
When I see the tiger pouncing upon the innocent deer,
Or the big fish after the smaller ones,
Then even into my corroded bones, my friend,
The terrible strength of the soul of Dadhichi–the sage,
Enters and seeks utterance.
Like a clouded day crashing down to earth in the thunderbolt,
When man regards a man as no man,
Then gnash my teeth and grind my jaws, set with the two and thirty teeth,
Like Bhimsen’s teeth, the terror-striking hero’s,
And then,
Rolling round my fury-reddened eyeballs,
With an inscrutable sweep,
I look at this inhuman human world
Like a tongue of fire.
The machine parts of my frame jump out of their places,
Disordered and disturbed!
My breath swells into a storm,
Distorted is my face,
My brain is in a blaze,
Like a wild conflagration.
I am infuriated like a forest fire,
Frenzied, my friend,
As one who would devour the world immense,
Surely, my friend,
I am the moonbird of the beautiful,
The iconoclast of ugliness!
The tenderly cruel!
The bird that steals the celestial fire!
The child of the tempest!
I am the wild eruption of a volcano insane!
Terror personified!
Surely, my friend,
I am a whirl-brain, whirl-brain,
And such is my plight!
(translation source unknown to me)
Gorkhapatra article by Laxmidhar Guragain with reference to how this poem is written and it’s meaning (in Nepali).
यसरी लेखियो ‘पागल’ कविता
लक्ष्मीधर गुरागाईं
लक्ष्मीप्रसाद देवकोटा -१९६६-२०१६) का फुटकर कवितामध्ये सर्वाधिक चर्चित र उत्कृष्ट कविता पागल -२०१०) मानिन्छ। पागल देवकोटाको गद्यकविता हो। देवकोटाका व्यक्तिगत जीवनमा आएको सङ्कट, पितामाताको निधन, हुर्किसकेका छोराको मृत्यु, एमए पढ्ने अपूर्ण धोको आदि उतारचढावले महाकवि देवकोटाका मानसिक स्थितिमा केही परिवर्तन आएको थियो। त्यसैले उहाँलाई १९९५ को पुसमा मानसिक रोग उपचारका लागि राँची लगियो। राँचीका मानसिक उपचार गर्ने डाक्टरले देवकोटामा मानसिक समस्या नभएको निक्र्योल गरेर फर्काइदिए। राँचीबाट फर्किएपछि देवकोटालाई उहाँका छरछिमेककी, इष्टमित्र र साथीभाइले पागल भनेर विभिन्न अवसरबाट विमुख गराउन थाले। काम पर्दा उहाँलाई प्रयोग गरेर फाइदा लिने फाइदा लिइसकेपछि देवकोटाका स्वार्थी साथीहरू उहाँलाई पागल भनेर हल्ला मच्चाउँथे। देवकोटाका साथीहरू कठिन काम गर्न उहाँलाई अघि सार्थे तर कुनै पद र प्रतिष्ठा प्राप्त हुने अवस्था आउँदा पागल भनेर उहाँलाई पन्छाउँथे। २००८ सालमा सल्लाहकारसभा चुनावमा देवकोटा पनि उम्मेदवार हुनुहुन्थ्यो तर तिनै क्षुद्र साथीहरूले देवकोटा पागल भइसकेका छन् भन्ने प्रचार गरेर चुनावमा हराउने काम गरे। भारतीय विद्वान् महापण्डित राहुल सांकृत्यानले समेत देवकोटालाई भेटेर केही संवादका आधारमा देवकोटा पागल भइसकेको स्वीकार गरी भारतीय पत्रिकामा लेख छपाए। महापण्डित सांकृत्यानको लेखले देवकोटाको छाती चिरियो। यस्तै साहित्यिक, राजनीतिक र सामाजिक क्षेत्रमा अनुभूत गर्नुपरेका पीडाजन्य व्यवहार, व्यक्तिगत जीवनमा भोग्न परेका आरोहअवरोह, शोक, आर्थिक सङ्कट, अपमान तथा आफन्तबाट गरिएको तिरस्कारजन्य कुराको प्रतिक्रियास्वरूप पागल कविता पैदा भएको किटान गर्न सकिन्छ।
महाकवि देवकोटाले पागल कवितामा आफूमाथि लाग्ने गरेको पागलपनको आरोपलाई व्यङ्ग्यात्मक रूपमा स्वीकार गर्दै आफ्ना आत्मवेदना र विद्रोहका भाव पोखिएका छन्। सात अनुच्छेदमा लेखिएको यस कवितामा कम्तीमा दुईदेखि ४७ पङ्क्तिसम्मका अनुच्छेद रहेका छन्। कवितामा कवि म पात्रका -पहिलो पुरुष) रूपमा आएका छन् भने उहाँलाई पागल भन्ने समाज -साथी) लाई तिमी -दोस्रो पुरुष) भनेर सम्बोधन गरिएको छ। देवकोटालाई पागल ठान्ने तत्कालीन समयका सामाजिक र राजनीतिक क्षेत्रका स्वार्थी व्यक्तिप्रति तिखो व्यङ्ग्य प्रहार गदर्ैै सामाजिक असमानता, राजनीतिक अव्यवस्था, समाजमा विद्यमान शोषण, दमन, अन्याय, अत्याचारप्रति तीव्र असन्तोष व्यक्त गरिएको पागल कविता व्यङ्ग्य विद्रोही कविता हो।
पागल कविताको मूल आशय
कविताको पहिलो अनुच्छेदमा ‘जरुर साथी म पागल, यस्तै छ मेरो हाल’ भनेर आफू पागल भएको कुरा कवि स्वयम्ले स्वीकार गरेको देखिए पनि यसको अर्थ ठीक उल्टो भएको अनुमान लगाउन सकिन्छ। कविले म पागल होइन, मलाई पागल ठान्ने समाज नै पागल हो भन्ने कुरा व्यङ्ग्यात्मक रूपमा पोखिएको छ। कविले शब्दलाई देख्ने, दृश्यलाई सुन्ने, बास्नाको स्वाद लिने, आकाशभन्दा पातला कुरा स्पर्श गर्ने, जुन कुराको संसारले भेउ पाउँदैन ती कुरा अपनाउने गरेको स्वीकार गरेका छन्। अरूले देख्ने निर्जीव ढुङ्गालाई फूल देख्ने, प्रकृति जगत्का वस्तुहरूसित तिनकै भाषामा कुरा गर्ने, कविको दृष्टि सूक्ष्म, गम्भीर र संवेदनशील छ भने उहाँलाई पागल ठान्ने साथीको दृष्टि स्थूल र सतही मात्र भएको हुँदा आफूसित भएको कल्पनाशीलता साथीसित नभएको ठोकुवा गर्छन्।
कविलाई समाजले पागल ठान्छ भने कवि समाजलाई लाटो, बहिरो र पागल ठहर्याउँछन्। कवि र उनलाई पागल ठान्ने समाजका ज्ञान, सीप र धारणामा आकाश-जमिनको अन्तर छ। कविलाई पागल ठानेर उपचारार्थ राँची पुर्याउने, पागल भनी सम्बोधन गर्ने साथीहरू तथा समाजलाई गणितका सूत्रमा चल्ने जडसूत्रवादी नेत्रहीन ठहर्याउँछन्। आफूलाई सर्वज्ञान सम्पन्न ठान्ने समाज पाँच इन्दि्रयद्वारा काम गर्छ तर कवि छैटौँ इन्दि्रय अर्थात् विवेकका नजरले संसारलाई नियालेको कुरा यहाँ उल्लेख छ। समाजले गुलाफमा गुलाफबाहेक केही देख्दैन तर कवि त्यसमा हेलेन र पद्मिनीको झल्का पाउँछन्। कवि समाज तथा उनलाई पागलको आरोप गर्ने साथीलाई बलियो गद्य र आफूलाई तरल पद्यका रूपमा परिचय दिँदै समाज जम्दा आफू पग्लने र समाज सङ्लिँदा आफू धमिलिने स्वभावको भएका हुनाले आफू सदैव कल्पनाका तानाबाना बुनेर रमाउने भावना व्यक्त गर्छन्। सद्दे मानिसलाई पागलको उपनाम दिन किञ्चित पछि नपर्ने समाजको दृष्टि बहिर्मुखी र वस्तुवादी छ भने कविको दृष्टि अन्तर्मुखी, गम्भीर र भावनात्मक रहेको कविले स्वीकार गरेका छन्।
कविले आफ्ना जीवनका सन्दर्भहरू उल्लेख गर्दै आफ्नो खिल्ली उडाउने समाजप्रति व्यङ्ग्य प्रहार गरेका छन्। कवि प्राकृतिक सौन्दर्यको मादकतामा भुल्न चाहन्छन्। माघको चिसोमा ताराहरूको राप ताप्ने, गम्भीर चिन्तनमा मग्न हुने, सुन्दरीको केशमा समय तुसाराको छिर्का देख्दा तीन दिन रुने, वसन्तमा कोइलीको मीठो गीत सुनेर नाच्ने, औँशीको रातमा प्रलयवेदनाले उप|mँदा मूर्खहरूले पाता कसेर राखेको, तुफानसित गीत गाउन थाल्दा आफूलाई मरेको सम्झेर लम्पसार पर्दा एक साथीले चिमोटेर ए पागल तेरो मासु अझै मरेको छैन भनेको, यस्तै क्रियाकलाप देखाउँदा बुज्रुक भनाउँदाले कविलाई नचिनेर राँची पठाइदिएको कुरामा कविको तीव्र गुनासो छ।
पागल कविताको पाँचाँै दफामा कविको संसारलाई नियाल्ने दृष्टि नितान्त फरक भएको कुरा व्यक्त गरिएको छ। कवि नबाबको मदिरालाई खुन, छिमेककी नगरबधूलाई लास, राजालाई गरिब भन्दै सिकन्दरलाई गाली गर्छन्। महात्मा भनाउँदाहरूको निन्दा गर्छन् तर समाजले उपेक्षा गरेका नगन्य व्यक्तिलाई सम्मानको फूल अर्पण गर्छन्, समाजका महापण्डित कविका महामूर्ख, अरूको स्वर्ग कविको नर्क, अरूको सुन कविको फलाम, आफूलाई चलाख सम्झने कथित समाजलाई लाटो देख्ने, समाजको सोचाइमा जुन कुरा उन्नति हो कविका लागि त्यही अवन्नति भन्दै समाज र आफूमा ठूलो उलटपुलट भएको कुरा स्वीकार गर्दै समाजले जुन कुरालाई संसारै ठान्छ त्यसलाई कवि रौँबराबर ठान्दै आफू चन्द्राहत अर्थात् जूनको शीतल प्रकाशले पनि आहत भएको स्वीकार गर्छन्। कविको युग चेतनाले यहाँ शिखर चुमेको देखिन्छ। नेत्रहीन व्यक्तिलाई संसारका अगुवा, गुफामा बसेर तपस्या गर्नेलाई भगुवा, मिथ्याका मञ्च चढेका कथित राजनीतिज्ञलाई काला नटुवा भन्दै समाजका असफललाई कवि सफल, प्रगतिलाई अगति भन्दै साथी र समाजलाई छेडछाड गर्दै आफू पागलपनको अभिनय गर्दै हिन्दी गीत गुनगुनाउनसमेत पुग्छन्।
कविताको सातौँ अनुच्छेमा समाजमा विद्यमान अन्याय, अत्याचार, शोषण, उत्पीडन एवम् विकृतिप्रति व्यङ्ग्य प्रहार गर्दै आफ्ना मानवतावादी तथा प्रगतिवादी विचार पस्कनुभएको छ। मानवतामाथि प्रहार भएको देख्दा ग्रीक पुराणमा वणिर्त गर्गनका सर्पकेस बनेर उहाँका रौँ ठाडा हुने गरेको, इन्दि्रयहरू वनको आगोझैँ तातेको, झुटको खेती गर्ने, मानवतामाथिको आक्रमणले उनी समाजप्रति नै भीमसेन हिन्दु पुराणका पात्रले झैँ दारा किट्दै उहाँ मानवता उद्धारका लागि स्वर्गबाट आगो चोरेर पृथ्वीमा ल्याई सबैको उद्धार गर्ने ग्रीक पुराणमा वणिर्त सहिद प्रमिथस बन्न तयार भएको उल्लेख गर्नुहुन्छ।
कविले आफू पागल भएको कुरा बाहिरी रूपमा दर्साउन खोजे पनि भित्री रूपमा कविलाई पागल भन्ने उहाँका साथी र समाजलाई नै पागल भएको प्रमाणित गरी समाजमा जरो गाडेर रहेको अन्धविश्वास, रुढीग्रस्त सोच र चिन्तनप्रति व्यङ्ग्य र विद्रोह यस कविताको केन्द्रीय भाव हो।