''Tar Saptak'' or ''Taar Saptak'' (; ) is an anthology of
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
language poems written by seven poets, published in 1943. Compiled by
Sachchidananda Vatsyayan
Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan (7 March 1911 – 4 April 1987), popularly known by his pen name Agyeya (also transliterated Ajneya, meaning 'the unknowable'), was an Indian writer, poet, novelist, literary critic, journalist, translator a ...
(under his penname 'Agyeya'), it contain poems of
Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh
Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh (गजानन माधव मुक्तिबोध) (13 November 1917 – 11 September 1964) was one of the most prominent Hindi poets, essayists, literary and political critics, and fiction writers of the 20th cen ...
,
Nemi Chandra Jain, Bharat Bhushan Agrawal, Prabhakar Machwe,
Girija Kumar Mathur
Girija Kumar Mathur (Hindi: गिरिजाकुमार माथुर) (22 August 1919 – 10 January 1994) was a notable Indian writer of the Hindi language. He is noted for his translation of the popular English song "We Shall Overcome ...
,
Ram Vilas Sharma
Ram Vilas Sharma (10 October 1912 – 30 May 2000) was a progressive literary critic, linguist, poet and thinker. He was born in Unchgaon Sani, Unnao District, Uttar Pradesh. In a career spanning nearly five decades, Sharma authored over 50 bo ...
, and Agyeya himself. The publication of ''Tar Saptak'' has been seen as 'historically significant' event, as it influenced later development of modern Hindi poetry.
Content
Indian music, both vocal and instrumental normally has three registers (''
saptak
Saptak means "gamut" or "the series of eight notes". It denotes the set of swaras i.e. Ṣaḍja (Sa), Ṛiṣabha (Re), Gāndhāra (Ga), Madhyama (Ma), Panchama (Pa), Dhaivat (Dha), Niṣāda (Ni), Sadja (Sa) which comprise a musical scale in I ...
'').
The term ''Tar Saptak'' refers to the highest range of the three, and specifically means the 'upper or high
octave
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
' or 'high octave'. The volume with this title marked the advent of 'experimentalism' (''prayogvad'') in Hindi poetry.
The poets of ''Tar Saptak'' in many ways were different from each other, yet they shared a common impulse to explore new possibilities in the form and content of poetry. As Agyeya wrote, 'The poet of ''Tar Saptak'' consider poetry a subject of experiment. They do not claim to have explored the truth of poetry or to have reached the ultimate destination - they are only explorers of new ways.
Agyeya was fascinated by the
sub-conscious mind and the way it revealed itself through symbols that often proved to be wholly new. He felt that in order to express the 'emotional experience' one had to be experimental. Girija Kumar Mathur experimented with words and their sounds, particularly vowels. His description of images is reminiscent of
Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...
's
idea of different vowels having different colours. Mathur emphasized language, colour and imagery in the communication of
rasa. Muktibodh sought to delve into the individual mind and creates new patterns of verse in novel rhyme schemes. Bharat Bhushan Agrawal and Ram Vilas Sharma approached their themes under the influence of
Marxist ideology. Prabhakar Machwe and Nemi Chandra Jain were both clearly indented to
Freudian theory
Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) is considered to be the founder of the psychodynamic approach to psychology, which looks to unconscious drives to explain human behavior. Freud believed that the mind is responsible for both cons ...
.
Reception
The publication of ''Tar Saptak'' gave rise to the ''Prayogvad'' (
Experimentalism
Experimentalism is the philosophical belief that the way to truth is through experiments and empiricism. It is also associated with instrumentalism, the belief that truth should be evaluated based upon its demonstrated usefulness. Experimentalism ...
) in Hindi poetry,
[ ] and later grow into another movement known as ''Nayī Kavitā'' (New Poetry).
''Tar Saptak'' was followed up with a sequel of two anthologies: ''Dusara Saptak'' (Second Septet; 1951) and ''Tisara Saptak'' (Third Septet; 1959).
[ ] In 1979, Agyeya published ''Chautha Saptak'' (Fourth Septet), but unlike its predecessors, it left no mark on the development of Hindi poetry, according to Lucy Rosenstein.
References
Source
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Further reading
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External links
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* {{Google Books, id=9eW3KcITo8oC
Works by Agyeya
1943 poetry books
Hindi poetry collections
20th-century Indian books
Indian poetry anthologies