Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya by Akshaya Mukul

Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya by Akshaya Mukul
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Despite wading through more than 500 pages, ‘Agyeya’ remains just that – an enigmatic figure. Of all his avataars he comes across most as a serial philanderer and a controversial poet, an author and an editor of various literary journals – most of which succumbed to the vagaries of time. His most famous book Shekhar Ek Jivani, Part-1 is a reflection of his own life

“It seems that if a low caste man looks at your food it is defiled, almost as if a dog had come and eaten part of it,” Sachchidanand noted. “Though dogs sometimes do come into the hall and are shooed out without making any difference.”
उनका भोजनागार सब ओर से घिरा हुआ था, ताकि किसी आते जाते व्यक्ति के कारण उनके भोजन में 'दृष्टिदोष' न हो जाए, वह छोटी जाति देखा जाकर भ्रष्ट न हो जाए। कभी ऐसा हो जाता, तो वह भोजन उतना ही अखाद्य हो जाता जैसे किसी कुत्ते ने उसे झूठा कर दिया। यद्यपि कुत्ते कई बार भोजनाघर में घुस आते थे और उन्हें 'हिश' करके भगा देना पर्याप्त होता था.
…how certain roads were not open to low-caste travellers, how a low-caste man had to cross a river by ferry as bridges were mostly reserved for high castes, how an untouchable could not buy land in a Brahmin neighbourhood. He noted that an untouchable had to raise his hand and shout ‘unclean’ like a “leper when he came in sight of any Brahmin so that the latter might not be defiled by coming too near.”
ब्राह्मणों के लिए अलग सड़कें हैं जिन पर अछूत 'पंचम' नहीं चल सकते, पंचमों को नदियाँ नांव में बैठकर या किसी प्रकार पार करनी होती हैं क्योंकि पुल ऊँची जातियों के लिए सुरक्षित होते हैं …

With 200 pages of bibliography and notes, this book is meant more for a research scholar.

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