ISBN: 9993342025 Book Title: Bankusum (mahakabya) Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2059 [BS/2025 -1st] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: Wild Flower - a long verse Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 1.50 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 9789993327028 Book Title: Dadimko Rukhner (Laxmi Nibandhasangrahako dosro bhag) Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2065 [2039/ BS-1st] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: Near the Pomegranate Tree - a 2nd collection of essays Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 1.95 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 9789993326090 Book Title: Dushayanta Shakuntala Bhet Author: Mahakabi Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2064 [BS/ 2025 - 1st] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: Khanda kabya - Meeting of Dushyanta and Shakuntala Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 0.75 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 9993342149 Book Title: Gaine Git Author: Mahakabi Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2059 [BS/ 1st - 2024] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: Songs of Minstrels Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 0.95 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 9789993329015 Book Title: Laxmi Kabita Sangraha Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2067 [BS/2033 - 1st] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 3.25 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 9789993326588 Book Title: Laxmi KathaSangraha Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2064 [BS/2032 - 1st] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: Laxmi Story Collection Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 1.50 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 9789993328896 Book Title: Laxmi NibandhaSangraha Author: Mahakabi Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2067 [BS/ 8th print] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: Laxmi Essay Collection Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 2.50 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 9993324930 Book Title: Mhendu Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2063 [2015] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: an Epic Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 0.65 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 8182500141 Book Title: Muna Madan (A Play in the Jhyaure Folk Tradition) Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2007 [1987 - 1st] Script/Language: English Translator: Ananda P Shrestha Synopsis: This book holds dear to the heart of every Nepalese. Written in popular Jhyaure folk tradition, the play weaves a moving tale of Madan who goes to Lhasa to earn an honest dream of bedecking his beloved wife, Muna, with ornaments of gold and of fulfilling the final wishes of his ailing mother. But on his way back home, Madan falls sick. Drama then unfolds to depict the agony of a human life caught in the twilight of dreaming and knowing. Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 3.25 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 8003639501 Book Title: MunaMadan Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2067 [1st] Script/Language: English Translator: Jhamak Prasad Sharma Synopsis: Additional Info: This book contains both the Nepali and the English versions. Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 2.50 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 9789993326908 Book Title: MunaMadan Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2065 [BS/1996 BS-1st] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: 'Muna and Madan' - is based on an old Newar folktale & derives much of its considerabel charm from its simple language & musical meter. Devkota broke new ground by becoming the first Nepali poet to employ the jhyaure meter of the folk song. Additional Info: Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 0.75 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 9789993328360 Book Title: Nepali Shakuntal (Mahakabya) Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2067 [BS/1st - 2025 ] Script/Language: Nepali Synopsis: A Long Epic Sales-Price (Excluding Shipping): US$ 5.50 Add to your Shopping Basket
ISBN: 999462993X Book Title: Shakuntala Author: Laxmi Prasad Devkota Paperback Edition: 2007 [1991 - 1st] Script/Language: English
Mahakavi Laxmi Prasad Devkota
Mahakavi Laxmi Prasad Devkota
लक्ष्मी प्रसाद देवकोटा
Laxmi Prasad Devkota is known among us as the Mahakabi or Poet the Great— the title given by the state for his unmatchable contribution to Nepali literature. He deserves that title as he had done so much in this field through his genre of writing that has earned a greatest honour and respect in the heart of Nepali speaking population both at home and 
abroad.
Devkota was born on the night of Laxmi Puja in 1966 BS from the womb of Amar Rajya Laxmi Devi in Dillibazar, Kathmandu. As he was born at a time when the entire Hindus including his family were worshiping Goddess Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth, his parents took his birth as the greatest gift of Goddess Laxmi. Accordingly, his name was given Laxmi Prasad. However, he turned out to be the gift of Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge’.
His father Tilmadhav Devkota was a scholar in Sanskrit language. Laxmi Prasad Devkota attained his basic education at home under the custodianship of his father. His was a middle class family and financial status of the family was not very sound. He completed Bachelor’s Degree in liberal arts and law. But his desire to complete Masters’ Degree could not be accomplished in the absence of sound financial position of the family.
Right after graduating from college, he started working as a personal tutor. It is said that he used to teach more than 13 hours a day. He had to do that to support his family. During Devkota’s time, the country had been under Rana’s dictatorial regime. Young Devkota knew the importance of education and he vowed to do something to help educate the masses—the idea was not well received by the then Rana rulers.
Devkota was a brilliant student and did well in school. He was good in both Nepali and English language and could write in both the languages. Right from the early age, he was keen in Nepali literature. At the early age of ten, he wrote a poem when he was studying in Drubar High School—the school set up for the education of the ruling Rana children. The ordinary people had to seek special permission to study in this school. Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s father also had to run from pillar and post to ensure admission for his son in the Durbar High School.
Devkota and his friends were keen on generating awareness among the people and educating them. They decided to establish a library to generate public awareness. They had to seek permission from the government even to establish a library during those days. Devkota and his friends, thus, were put behind bars for trying to establish a library. As a result, poet Devkota had to undergo a great suffering. He was later fined and released. Devkota then went to Benaras, India, where he used to sell his poems for his survival. He also worked as an editor of Yugbani magazine in Benaras and gave continuity to his writing.
After he returned to Kathmandu, he wrote Muna Madan—an epic poem based on folk verses. Although, Devkota has written many books including some of his masterpieces, he loved Muna Madan the best. It is said that Devkota, when he was in death bed, had asked his friends and relatives to preserve Muna Madan even if all other works were to be burnt.
Muna Madan is perhaps the most popular of all works of Devkota. The simplicity of language, folk and lyrical verses and rhythmic expression made this book popular among the all including ordinary folks. Muna Madan’s popularity also made Ranas to appoint Devkota a member of the Nepal Bhasanuwad Parishad. During this period, Devkota wrote the epic, Shakuntala, in three months. It is said that Puskar Shumshere Rana challenged him to write another epic in a period of one month. Accepting the challenge, Devkota wrote another epic Sulochana in ten days. Both Shakuntal and Sulochana are Devkota’s masterpieces. For sometimes, he worked as a lecturer in Trichandra College. He also served as Education Minister for three months.
Although Devkota started writing during the Rana period when the free thinking and creative writing used to be discouraged, he broke the traditional and conventional style and introduced a new genre and approach in writing poems and other forms of literature. Devkota is a versatile writer and has written pomes, epics, prose, essays, plays and fictions. But he is basically a poet. He was influenced by western poets like William Wordsworth, John Keats and PB Shelley. As a lover of nature and romantic poet, we find Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats in Devkota’s poetic works. The way Devkota’s Charu and Wordsworth’s Lucy Gray appear similar in expression and theme, it is said that Devkota wrote Charu as a dedication to Wordsworth.
What spiritualism is to Lekhanath, nature is to Devkota. The theme of much of his works is nature and human sensitivity, feelings and love. In this way, Devkota is a master in romantic poetic work in Nepali literature. Although the romantic era in writing began during the period of Motiram Bhatta, it was still immature and imperfect. Devkota is the one who both professed and practiced and gave a new dimension to romantic poetic works in Nepal. While Motiram fantasised the romantic style with conservative tone, Devkota unified it with sense and reality. Devkota had a deep passion for nature and has perfectly practiced it through his aesthetic use of nature’s image in his poetic works. He tries to instill beauty and fragrance of nature in his poems through his craft of words and sentences and eloquent expression.
As a path breaker in the Nepali literature in general and poetic works in particular, Devkota is an atheist and a radical egalitarian. He challenged the tradition of attributing everything to God’s willingness. If there is, at all, any God, it is within human being and the best way to attain godliness is to serve the less privileged fellow humans. He has, thus, strongly and explicitly expressed this feeling in his much acclaimed poem " Yatri" (Traveler or Pilgrim), he has opined that God dwells within a human and not in any temple and has called upon the pilgrims not to wander about in search of God but to go back home and devote to the service of mankind—the downtrodden ones who have undergone sufferings. However, towards the end of his life, he suddenly turned religious, thus, writing " Akhir Shri Krishna Rahechha Eka (After all there is the God –Lord Krishna)
Straightforwardness, lucidity and honesty are some of the characteristics of Devkota’s poetic works. His feelings, sensibility and expressions have been blended perfectly and brilliantly with words and meanings that have created an explosion of thoughts and ideas in his writings. We find spontaneous expression in Devkota’s poems and there is no artificial sense. He had the habit of not revising his writings. Once written, it was final. He has given less prominence to grammar. His poems are like flowers grown and blossomed in the forests. This is the reason why the language in Devkota’s poems and prose is rough and less polished.
Humanitarian feelings are well entrenched in many of his poems through which the poet has advocated egalitarian society free from poverty, hunger, class and creed. For him, there is no class other than human being and no creed other than serving to human being. In Muna Madan he has, thus, said "Manisa Thulo Dilale Huncha Jatale Hudaina" ( a man attains greatness not by caste but because of his heart or feelings).
Devkota has also written essays, one act plays and plays and novel. Devkota is the first modern essayist in Nepal. Laxmi Nibanda Sangraha (Collection of Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s essays) is the example of the modern essays in Nepali language, which have clarity in meaning, expressive in feelings and eloquent in terms of language. In this, Devkota broke the traditional style of essay writing and popularized the personal and expressive style of essays writing instead of descriptive and narrative approach. The Laxmi Nibanda Sangraha is perhaps the most brilliant book of essays ever produced in Nepali literature.
As a versatile and multi-dimensional writer, Devkota has made contribution in the field of plays, fiction and short stories. Sabitri Satyaban is Devkota’s acclaimed play, which has earned equally high fame for Devkota. Champa is the only fiction Devkota has ever written.
Despite holding some important and high-ranking positions, his financial status was always precarious and he had to struggle a lot for survival. But the difficulties he suffered never deterred him from writing and making contribution to Nepali literature. The contribution Devkota made to enrich the Nepali literature would always be written down with golden letter. We cannot imagine the state of Nepali literature without Laxmi Prasad Devkota. Thus, Laxmi Prasad Devkota has earned a greatest respect in the heart of Nepalese people both in Nepal and abroad.
Recognizing his unprecedented contribution in the field of literature, he was honoured as a life member of the Nepal Academy. Devkota was also conferred with the title of Mahakabi (Poet the Great). He died at the age of 50 due to cancer in 2016 BS. With his demise Nepal lost a brilliant icon of Nepali literature.
Devkota’s contribution to Nepali literature is as follows-
Poetic works: Muna Madan, Raj Kumar Prabhakar, Kunjini, Shakuntal, Sulochana, Basanti, Putali, Bhikhari, Mhendu, Ravana-Jatayu Yuddha, Chhahara, Chilla Patharu, Luni, Mayabini Sashi, Maharana Pratap, Manoranjan, Nabras, Sitaharan, Dushyanta Shakuntala Bhet, Aakash Blochha, Balkusum, Chhayasanga Kura, Katak, Gaine Geet, Sunko Bihan, Bhavana Gangeya, Sundari Jarpini, Aashu, Prathimas, Prithiviraj Chauhan, Maina, Pahadi Pukar, Muthuka Thopa, Laxmi Kabita Sangraha and Laxmi Giti Sangraha.
Essay: Laxmi Nibandha Sangraha
Plays: Sabitri Satyaban, Rajpur Ramani, Basanti, Maina and Krishibala and Bharatmilap.
Laxmi Katha Sangraha (anthology of Devkota’s short stories)
Fiction: Champa
Devkota translated William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth into Nepali
Laxmi Prasad Devkota is known among us as the Mahakabi or Poet the Great— the title given by the state for his unmatchable contribution to Nepali literature. He deserves that title as he had done so much in this field through his genre of writing that has earned a greatest honour and respect in the heart of Nepali speaking population both at home and abroad.
abroad.
Devkota was born on the night of Laxmi Puja in 1966 BS from the womb of Amar Rajya Laxmi Devi in Dillibazar, Kathmandu. As he was born at a time when the entire Hindus including his family were worshiping Goddess Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth, his parents took his birth as the greatest gift of Goddess Laxmi. Accordingly, his name was given Laxmi Prasad. However, he turned out to be the gift of Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge’.
His father Tilmadhav Devkota was a scholar in Sanskrit language. Laxmi Prasad Devkota attained his basic education at home under the custodianship of his father. His was a middle class family and financial status of the family was not very sound. He completed Bachelor’s Degree in liberal arts and law. But his desire to complete Masters’ Degree could not be accomplished in the absence of sound financial position of the family.
Right after graduating from college, he started working as a personal tutor. It is said that he used to teach more than 13 hours a day. He had to do that to support his family. During Devkota’s time, the country had been under Rana’s dictatorial regime. Young Devkota knew the importance of education and he vowed to do something to help educate the masses—the idea was not well received by the then Rana rulers.
Devkota was a brilliant student and did well in school. He was good in both Nepali and English language and could write in both the languages. Right from the early age, he was keen in Nepali literature. At the early age of ten, he wrote a poem when he was studying in Drubar High School—the school set up for the education of the ruling Rana children. The ordinary people had to seek special permission to study in this school. Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s father also had to run from pillar and post to ensure admission for his son in the Durbar High School.
Devkota and his friends were keen on generating awareness among the people and educating them. They decided to establish a library to generate public awareness. They had to seek permission from the government even to establish a library during those days. Devkota and his friends, thus, were put behind bars for trying to establish a library. As a result, poet Devkota had to undergo a great suffering. He was later fined and released. Devkota then went to Benaras, India, where he used to sell his poems for his survival. He also worked as an editor of Yugbani magazine in Benaras and gave continuity to his writing.
After he returned to Kathmandu, he wrote Muna Madan—an epic poem based on folk verses. Although, Devkota has written many books including some of his masterpieces, he loved Muna Madan the best. It is said that Devkota, when he was in death bed, had asked his friends and relatives to preserve Muna Madan even if all other works were to be burnt.
Muna Madan is perhaps the most popular of all works of Devkota. The simplicity of language, folk and lyrical verses and rhythmic expression made this book popular among the all including ordinary folks. Muna Madan’s popularity also made Ranas to appoint Devkota a member of the Nepal Bhasanuwad Parishad. During this period, Devkota wrote the epic, Shakuntala, in three months. It is said that Puskar Shumshere Rana challenged him to write another epic in a period of one month. Accepting the challenge, Devkota wrote another epic Sulochana in ten days. Both Shakuntal and Sulochana are Devkota’s masterpieces. For sometimes, he worked as a lecturer in Trichandra College. He also served as Education Minister for three months.
Although Devkota started writing during the Rana period when the free thinking and creative writing used to be discouraged, he broke the traditional and conventional style and introduced a new genre and approach in writing poems and other forms of literature. Devkota is a versatile writer and has written pomes, epics, prose, essays, plays and fictions. But he is basically a poet. He was influenced by western poets like William Wordsworth, John Keats and PB Shelley. As a lover of nature and romantic poet, we find Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats in Devkota’s poetic works. The way Devkota’s Charu and Wordsworth’s Lucy Gray appear similar in expression and theme, it is said that Devkota wrote Charu as a dedication to Wordsworth.
What spiritualism is to Lekhanath, nature is to Devkota. The theme of much of his works is nature and human sensitivity, feelings and love. In this way, Devkota is a master in romantic poetic work in Nepali literature. Although the romantic era in writing began during the period of Motiram Bhatta, it was still immature and imperfect. Devkota is the one who both professed and practiced and gave a new dimension to romantic poetic works in Nepal. While Motiram fantasised the romantic style with conservative tone, Devkota unified it with sense and reality. Devkota had a deep passion for nature and has perfectly practiced it through his aesthetic use of nature’s image in his poetic works. He tries to instill beauty and fragrance of nature in his poems through his craft of words and sentences and eloquent expression.
As a path breaker in the Nepali literature in general and poetic works in particular, Devkota is an atheist and a radical egalitarian. He challenged the tradition of attributing everything to God’s willingness. If there is, at all, any God, it is within human being and the best way to attain godliness is to serve the less privileged fellow humans. He has, thus, strongly and explicitly expressed this feeling in his much acclaimed poem " Yatri" (Traveler or Pilgrim), he has opined that God dwells within a human and not in any temple and has called upon the pilgrims not to wander about in search of God but to go back home and devote to the service of mankind—the downtrodden ones who have undergone sufferings. However, towards the end of his life, he suddenly turned religious, thus, writing " Akhir Shri Krishna Rahechha Eka (After all there is the God –Lord Krishna)
Straightforwardness, lucidity and honesty are some of the characteristics of Devkota’s poetic works. His feelings, sensibility and expressions have been blended perfectly and brilliantly with words and meanings that have created an explosion of thoughts and ideas in his writings. We find spontaneous expression in Devkota’s poems and there is no artificial sense. He had the habit of not revising his writings. Once written, it was final. He has given less prominence to grammar. His poems are like flowers grown and blossomed in the forests. This is the reason why the language in Devkota’s poems and prose is rough and less polished.
Humanitarian feelings are well entrenched in many of his poems through which the poet has advocated egalitarian society free from poverty, hunger, class and creed. For him, there is no class other than human being and no creed other than serving to human being. In Muna Madan he has, thus, said "Manisa Thulo Dilale Huncha Jatale Hudaina" ( a man attains greatness not by caste but because of his heart or feelings).
Devkota has also written essays, one act plays and plays and novel. Devkota is the first modern essayist in Nepal. Laxmi Nibanda Sangraha (Collection of Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s essays) is the example of the modern essays in Nepali language, which have clarity in meaning, expressive in feelings and eloquent in terms of language. In this, Devkota broke the traditional style of essay writing and popularized the personal and expressive style of essays writing instead of descriptive and narrative approach. The Laxmi Nibanda Sangraha is perhaps the most brilliant book of essays ever produced in Nepali literature.
As a versatile and multi-dimensional writer, Devkota has made contribution in the field of plays, fiction and short stories. Sabitri Satyaban is Devkota’s acclaimed play, which has earned equally high fame for Devkota. Champa is the only fiction Devkota has ever written.
Despite holding some important and high-ranking positions, his financial status was always precarious and he had to struggle a lot for survival. But the difficulties he suffered never deterred him from writing and making contribution to Nepali literature. The contribution Devkota made to enrich the Nepali literature would always be written down with golden letter. We cannot imagine the state of Nepali literature without Laxmi Prasad Devkota. Thus, Laxmi Prasad Devkota has earned a greatest respect in the heart of Nepalese people both in Nepal and abroad.
Recognizing his unprecedented contribution in the field of literature, he was honoured as a life member of the Nepal Academy. Devkota was also conferred with the title of Mahakabi (Poet the Great). He died at the age of 50 due to cancer in 2016 BS. With his demise Nepal lost a brilliant icon of Nepali literature.
Devkota’s contribution to Nepali literature is as follows-
Poetic works: Muna Madan, Raj Kumar Prabhakar, Kunjini, Shakuntal, Sulochana, Basanti, Putali, Bhikhari, Mhendu, Ravana-Jatayu Yuddha, Chhahara, Chilla Patharu, Luni, Mayabini Sashi, Maharana Pratap, Manoranjan, Nabras, Sitaharan, Dushyanta Shakuntala Bhet, Aakash Blochha, Balkusum, Chhayasanga Kura, Katak, Gaine Geet, Sunko Bihan, Bhavana Gangeya, Sundari Jarpini, Aashu, Prathimas, Prithiviraj Chauhan, Maina, Pahadi Pukar, Muthuka Thopa, Laxmi Kabita Sangraha and Laxmi Giti Sangraha.
Essay: Laxmi Nibandha Sangraha
Plays: Sabitri Satyaban, Rajpur Ramani, Basanti, Maina and Krishibala and Bharatmilap.
Laxmi Katha Sangraha (anthology of Devkota’s short stories)
Fiction: Champa
Devkota translated William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth into Nepali
nIdL k|;fb b]jsf]6f
lj= ;+= !(^^ nIdL k"hfsf lbg l8NnL ahf/ wf]aLwf/fdf g]kfnL ;flxTosf dxfg\ jflUf|e"lt >L nIdLk|;fbn] hGd lnPsf lyP . ;+:s[ltsf ljåjfg slj lktf ltndfwj b]asf]6fsf ;flx+nf ;'k'q nIdLk|;fbsf] ;fwf/0f ;+:s[tsf] 1fg 3/dfg} lktfhLaf6 k|fKt u/]sf lyP . aL=P=aL=Pn= ;Ddsf] k/LIff pQL0f{ u/L Pd=P= ;Ddsf] cWog u/]sf b]jsf]6fsf] c+u|hL efiffdf / ;flxTodf c;fwf/0f ult lyof] . wf/f k|jfx c+u|]hL af]Ng ;Sg] b]asf]6fsf] gf} efiff dflysf] 1fgn] ax' efifflbåsf ?kdf klg pgsf] Voflt a9\g uPsf] lyof] . b]jsf]6fsf :km"lt{ k|ltefsf HjnGt Pj+ cd/ :jKgfx? g]kfnL efiff ;flxTodf g} n]lvPsf kfOG5g .
slj lgjGwsf/, pkGof;sf/ / dxfslj h;nfO{ ljw'tLo sljsf ?kdf klg lrGg ;lsG5 . c8\tL; jif{sf pd]/df ' g]kfnL efiffg'jfb kl/ifbsf hflu/] n]vs' pgGrfnL; jif{sf] 5bfF lqrGb| sn]hsf] g]kfnLsf k|fWofks / @))$ ;fndf b]z 5f]8L agf/; a:bf 'o'ujf0fL' >L nIdLk|;fb b]jsf]6f To;tfsf k|sf;g cfˆgf] sljtf a]rL-a]rL k]6kfNg] ub{y] . @)!$ ;fndf 'g]kfn Ps]8]dL' sf k|f/de b]lv g} ;b:o ePsf b]jsf]6fnfO{ Ps]8]dLn] -xfn, g]= /f= k|= k|lti7fg_ n] ePsf] k'/fgf @)@# ;fndf 'lqe'jg k'/:sf/' k|bfg u/]sf] 5 . @)!$ ;fndf tLg dlxgf hlt 8f= s]= cfO{= l;x+sf] dGqL d08ndf b]jsf]6f g]kfnsf] lzIff dGqL ;d]t ePsf lyP . lbNnLdf cfof]lht PlzofnL n]vs ;Dd]ngdf g]kfnL n]vs k|ltlglw d08nsf] g]t[Tj ug]{ b]jsf]6f ?; / rLg cflb lab]zsf] e|d0f / cfˆgf] :jb]z g]kfnsf] s]xL efusf] e|d0f u/]sf lyP . laxfg b]lv a]n'sL;Dd t]x|306f 6\o";g ug]{ b]jsf]6fnfO{ bfn eft 6's'sf] ;d:ofdf hLjge/g} lk/f]ng' k/]sf] lyof] . cfly{s c;+DkGgtf / ;/ntfaf6 lynlynf] ePsf ;x|boL b]jsf]6f hLjgsf] cGt/cfwf{lt/ b'=vLt tyf zf]lift x'g k'u] bz jif{sf] pd]/df klxnf] kN6 '3g3f]/ b'=v ;fu/' eGg] sljtf /rgf ug]{ b]jsf]6fsf] k'/f hLjg b'=vsf] ;fu/dfg} r'n{'Dd 8'Aof] . cGTodf c;fWo/f]u SofG;/sf] c;xo kLIfl;t h'4} pgsf] @)!^ ;fn efb| @( ut] cfo{3f6df b]xfj;fg uof] . xfd|f cd/ tyf >4]o lje"ltsf] gZj/ z/L/sf] gzf uPtf klg pgsf cd/ tyf cf>oo nfUb} dtn] xfd|f] g]kfnL ;flxTosf] 9's'6L e/Lk"0f{ 5 . pgL ch/ cd/ ePsf 5g . xfdL pgsf C0fL ePsf 5f}+ .
cfz'slj b]jsf]6f sljtfdf c;Ld ultn] p8\y] . efjgf / sNkgfsf] cgGt /fzL kf]v]/ slxNo} gyfSg] b]jsf]6f sfJo hutsf ljlzi6td pknlAw / cgGotd k|ltef x'g .
slj lgjGwsf/, pkGof;sf/ / dxfslj h;nfO{ ljw'tLo sljsf ?kdf klg lrGg ;lsG5 . c8\tL; jif{sf pd]/df ' g]kfnL efiffg'jfb kl/ifbsf hflu/] n]vs' pgGrfnL; jif{sf] 5bfF lqrGb| sn]hsf] g]kfnLsf k|fWofks / @))$ ;fndf b]z 5f]8L agf/; a:bf 'o'ujf0fL' >L nIdLk|;fb b]jsf]6f To;tfsf k|sf;g cfˆgf] sljtf a]rL-a]rL k]6kfNg] ub{y] . @)!$ ;fndf 'g]kfn Ps]8]dL' sf k|f/de b]lv g} ;b:o ePsf b]jsf]6fnfO{ Ps]8]dLn] -xfn, g]= /f= k|= k|lti7fg_ n] ePsf] k'/fgf @)@# ;fndf 'lqe'jg k'/:sf/' k|bfg u/]sf] 5 . @)!$ ;fndf tLg dlxgf hlt 8f= s]= cfO{= l;x+sf] dGqL d08ndf b]jsf]6f g]kfnsf] lzIff dGqL ;d]t ePsf lyP . lbNnLdf cfof]lht PlzofnL n]vs ;Dd]ngdf g]kfnL n]vs k|ltlglw d08nsf] g]t[Tj ug]{ b]jsf]6f ?; / rLg cflb lab]zsf] e|d0f / cfˆgf] :jb]z g]kfnsf] s]xL efusf] e|d0f u/]sf lyP . laxfg b]lv a]n'sL;Dd t]x|306f 6\o";g ug]{ b]jsf]6fnfO{ bfn eft 6's'sf] ;d:ofdf hLjge/g} lk/f]ng' k/]sf] lyof] . cfly{s c;+DkGgtf / ;/ntfaf6 lynlynf] ePsf ;x|boL b]jsf]6f hLjgsf] cGt/cfwf{lt/ b'=vLt tyf zf]lift x'g k'u] bz jif{sf] pd]/df klxnf] kN6 '3g3f]/ b'=v ;fu/' eGg] sljtf /rgf ug]{ b]jsf]6fsf] k'/f hLjg b'=vsf] ;fu/dfg} r'n{'Dd 8'Aof] . cGTodf c;fWo/f]u SofG;/sf] c;xo kLIfl;t h'4} pgsf] @)!^ ;fn efb| @( ut] cfo{3f6df b]xfj;fg uof] . xfd|f cd/ tyf >4]o lje"ltsf] gZj/ z/L/sf] gzf uPtf klg pgsf cd/ tyf cf>oo nfUb} dtn] xfd|f] g]kfnL ;flxTosf] 9's'6L e/Lk"0f{ 5 . pgL ch/ cd/ ePsf 5g . xfdL pgsf C0fL ePsf 5f}+ .
cfz'slj b]jsf]6f sljtfdf c;Ld ultn] p8\y] . efjgf / sNkgfsf] cgGt /fzL kf]v]/ slxNo} gyfSg] b]jsf]6f sfJo hutsf ljlzi6td pknlAw / cgGotd k|ltef x'g .
Life[edit]
Devkota was born into a Brahmin family as the third son of Pandit Til Madhav and Amar Rajya Laxmi Devi. He was born in Dilli Bazar, Kathmandu on the day of Dipawali, theFestival of Lights, which is a celebration of Laxmi, the Goddess of Wealth. His name literally means a gift "Prasad" from the goddess of wealth "Laxmi". His family was never financially well-off.
Devkota studied science at Tri Chandra College in Kathmandu. After completing theintermediate level studies at Tri Chandra College, he enrolled in Humanities and that was when he began to read English poetry. In 1931, Devkota went to Patna on scholarship hoping to study English for his Master’s degree. But because seats were not available as expected, he enrolled for the Bachelor of Law degree instead. After he received the degree, he returned home and started to live the family life. Despite taking tuition classes to supplement his earning, sometimes for fourteen hours a day, financial problems never left him.[3]
Devkota lost both of his parents and his very young daughter within a span of two years during mid 1930's. He fell into a depression and became a chain smoker. In 1939, his brothers put him into a mental hospital in Ranchi, India for five months. He makes references to his experience in the lunatic asylum in his famous free-verse poem पागल ("The Lunatic"). After he returned to Nepal, he worked as a part of Nepal Bhasanuwad Parishad, a state organization that acted as a censorship board, and also taught at Tribhuwan University. He wrote several of his epic poetry during this time. In late 40's, dissatisfied with the Rana regime, he went into a self-imposed exile in Benaras, India, where he edited Yugbani, an opposition journal.[3]
After the autocratic Rana regime was overthrown in 1950, he returned to Nepal and helped publish Indreni, a bilingual literary journal. Although he was constantly in severe financial hardships, he was getting wide recognition as an important figure in Nepali literature. He was appointed the Minister of Education by the first democratically elected government of Nepal in 1957. However, in 1958, he was diagnosed with cancer, and a year later, he passed away.
Laxmi Prasad Devkota was primarily a humanist who occasionally wrote from an atheistic point of view too. Given this reality, some critics have tried to line him up with Marxism or other similar politically leftist ideologies. Apparently in one of his last poems to a friend, he said "Aakhir Shree Krishna rahecha eka" (" in the end, Lord Krishna happens to be the only truth"). However, there has been much intellectual skepticism about this last statement.
Works[edit]
Devkota contributed to Nepali literature by bringing the Sanskrit tradition to its end and by starting modern romantic movement in the country. Devkota was the first to begin writing epics in Nepali literature. Nepali poetry soared to new heights with Devkota's groundbreaking and innovative use of language. Departing from the Sanskrit tradition that dominated Nepali literary scene, he wroteMuna Madan (1930), a long narrative poem in popular "jyaure" folk meter. The book received immediate recognition from the Ranas who ruled Nepal at that time. It tells the story of Madan who departs from his wife Muna to Tibet to make money. The poem deals with the themes of the hardships of journey away from home, grief of separation, longing and death. The following couplet which are among the most famous and most frequently quoted lines from the poem celebrates the triumph of humanity and compassion over any artificial hierarchies created by culture:
मानिस ठूलो दिलले हुन्छ जातले हुँदैन ।’A Kshatriya touches your feet that hatred cannot touch. Great is the man with a heart; neither caste, creed nor birth.
Considered his magnum opus "Muna-Madan" has remained widely popular among the lay readers of Nepali literature.
Devkota had the ability to compose long epic poems with literary complexity and philosophical density in very short period of time. He wrote Shakuntala, his first epic poem and also the first "Mahakavya" (epic poem) written in Nepali language, in mere three months. Published in 1945, Shakuntala is a voluminous work in 24 cantos based on Kālidāsa's famous Sanskrit play Abhijñānaśākuntalam. Shakuntala demonstrates Devkota's mastery of Sanskrit meter and diction which he incorporated heavily while working primarily in Nepali.
Devkota also published several collections of short lyric poems set in various traditional and non-traditional forms and meters. Most of his poetry shows influence of English Romantic Poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge. The title poem in the collection "Bhikhari" ("Beggar") is a reminiscent of Wordsworth's "The Old Cumberland Beggar". In this poem, Devkota describes the beggar going about his ways in dire poverty and desolation deprived of human love and material comforts. On the other hand, the beggar is also seen as the source of compassion placed in the core of suffering and destitution. Devkota connects the beggar with the divine as the ultimate fount of kindness and empathy:
अन्धकारमा भित्र बसेको,
ईश्वर हो कि भिखरी?
घर, घर, अागन चारी
बोल्दछ, अार्तध्वनिमा बोल्दछ
करुणामृत दिल भारी ।Fallen from the black clouds Living in the darkness
Is he a god or a beggar?
As he wanders from house to house
He speaks in tunes suffused with pain
A heart weighed with compassion.
Many of his poems focus on mundane elements of the human and the natural world. The titles of his poems like "Ban" ("Woods"), "Kisaan" ("The Peasant"), "Baadal" ("Clouds") show that he sought his poetic inspiration in the commonplace and proximal aspects of the world. What resonates throughout most of his poetry is his profound faith in humanity. For instance in the poem "Woods," the speaker goes through a series of interrogations rejecting all forms of comforts and solace that could be offered solely to him as an individual. Instead he embraces his responsibility and concern for his fellow beings. The poem ends with the following quatrain that highlights his humanistic inclinations:
जान्छौ कुन पुर भवन मुसाफिर, ल्यायौ कुन सन्देश?
दोस्त मेरो शुभ उद्योगी, साथ छ साहस बेश ।
विश्व सबै घर, हृदय-पुरीतिर ल्याउछु सेवा सन्देश ।।Who are your friends? Who go with you? Which land is your home? What place do you seek, Traveler? With what news do you roam?"
"My friend is decent diligence. Courage comes with me.
All world's my home. To heart-land I roam with hues of Humanity"
Besides poetry, Devkota also made significant contributions to the essayistic genre. He is considered to be the father of modern Nepali essay. He defied the conventional form of essays by blatantly breaking the rules of grammar and syntax, and embracing a more fluid and colloquial style. His essays are generally satirical in tone and are characterized by their trenchant humor and ruthless criticism of the modernizing influences from the West in the Nepali society. An essay titled भलादमी (Bhaladmi) or "Dignitary" criticizes a decadent trend in Nepali society to respect people based on their outward appearances and outfit rather than their actual inner worth and personality. In another essay titled के नेपाल सानो छ? (Ke Nepal Sano Cha?) "Is Nepal insignificant (small)?", he expresses deeply nationalistic sentiments inveighing against the colonial forces from British India which, he felt, were encroaching all aspects of Nepali culture. His essays are published in the collection Laxmi Nibhandha Sanghraha (लक्ष्मी निबन्धसङ्ग्रह).
Gallery[edit]
Publications[edit]
Mahākāvya[edit]
- Shakuntal (शाकुन्तल)
- Sulochana (सुलोचना)
- Bana Kusum (बनकुसुम)
- Maharana Pratap (महाराणा प्रताप)
- Prithvi Raj Chauhan (पृथ्वीराज चौहान)
- Prometheus (प्रमीथस)
Poetry / Short Novels / Essays[edit]
- bal jasto (बल जस्तो )
- Kunjini (कुञ्जिनि - खण्डकाव्य)
- Gaine Geet (गाइने गीत)
- Putali (पुतली)
- Krishibala (कृषिवाला - गीतिनाटक)
- Dushyant-Shakantula Bhet (दुष्यन्त-शकुन्तला भेट खण्डकाव्य)
- Munamadan (मुनामदन - ख-Jatayu Youdha (रावण-जटायु युद्ध)
- Luni (लुनि)
- Sun Ko Bihan (सुनको बिहान- बालकविता)
- Raj Kumar Prabhakar (राजकुमार प्रभाकर)
- Sita Haran (सीता हरण)
- Mahendu (म्हेन्दु)
- Dhumraketu
- Laxmi Nibandaha Sangraha (लक्ष्मी निबन्धसङ्ग्रह)
Novels[edit]
References[edit]
- Poems Of Laxmi Prasad Devkota In Nepali (From Laxmi Kavita Sangraha) Compiled By Sanjaal Corps
- Biography of Devkota at SpinyBabbler.org
- Laxmi Prasad Devkota: Nepal's Greatest Poet
- Maha Kabi: Laxmi Prasad Devkota
External links[edit]
- Important Works of Devkota at Online Sahitya
- "Muna Mandan"
- Nepalicollections.com - Voice of Mahakabi
- http://www.dsrc.org.np
- "Beggar"
See also[edit]
|
Post a Comment