Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh was a prominent poet for both modernism and left-oriented progressive Hindi literature. His development of the imaginary, his generic innovation of the ‘lambi kavita’ (long poem), and his engagement with the confluence of aesthetics, politics, and ethics formed a new model for modernist Hindi poetry. He became a leading figure in Nai Kavita (new poetry) after his inclusion in the seminal 1943 poetry anthology Tar Saptak (The Higher Octave), and published individual poems, fiction, and criticism throughout his life, but it was his first volume of poems, Chand ka Munh Teḍha Hai (The Moon Wears a Crooked Smile), published at his death, which had the greatest impact on his posthumous reputation.