Laxmi Prasad Devkota
Laxmi Prasad Devkota was a Nepali poet, playwright, and novelist. Honored with the title of Mahakavi in Nepali literature, and known as the poet with the golden heart. Devkota is by and large regarded as the great poet of Nepali language. He is considered as the greatest and the most famous versatile literary figure of Nepal. Some of his popular works include the best selling Muna Madan, along with Sulochana, Kunjini, "Bhikhari", and Shakuntal.
Life
Early life
Devkota was born on the night of Lakshmi Pooja on 12 November 1909 to father Teel Madhav Devkota and mother Amar Rajyalakshmi Devi in Thatunati, Kathmandu. His father, Teel Madhav was a Sanskrit scholar. So, He attained his basic education under the custodianship of his father. He started his education at Durbar High School in Kathmandu, where he studied both Sanskrit grammar and English. After finishing his Matriculation exams from Patna at the age of 17, He pursued the Bachelor of Arts along with the Bachelor of Laws at Tri Chandra College and graduated from Patna University as a private examinee. But his desire of completing his master's degree was left uncompleted due to his family's financial conditions. Only after a decade from his graduation as a lawyer, he started working in Nepal Bhasaanuwad Parishad, where he met famous Playwright of Nepal Balkrishna Sama. At the same time, he also worked as a lecturer at Tri-Chandra College and Padma Kanya College.Health
In the late 1930s, Devkota suffered from nervous breakdowns, probably due to the death of his mother, father, and his two-month old daughter. Eventually, in 1939, he was admitted to the Mental Asylum of Rachi, India, for five months. Going into debt later in life to finance his daughters' dowries and weddings, he is reported to have said to his wife, "Tonight let's abandon the children to the care of society and youth and I renounce this world at bedtime and take potassium cyanide or morphine or something like that."Later years and death
Laxmi Prasad Devkota was a chain smoker throughout his life. After a long battle with cancer, Devkota died on September 14, 1959, at the ghat of Bagmati River in Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu.Family
Laxmi Prasad's son, Padma Devkota, is also a poet and writer and served for many years as a professor at the English Department, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.Learning and style
Devkota contributed to Nepali literature by starting a modern Nepali language romantic movement in the country. Born in Nepal, he was the first to begin writing epic poems in Nepali literature. Nepali poetry soared to new heights with Devkota's innovative use of language.Departing from the Sanskrit tradition that dominated the Nepali literary scene at the time, being inspired from the Newar language ballad song Ji Waya La Lachhi Maduni, he wrote Muna Madan, a long narrative poem in popular jhyaure bhaka folk tune. Muna Madan is undoubtedly the most sold book in the history of Nepalese literature. Being pictured as a movie, Muna Madan was able to get selected for the Oscar Award, which also signifies the level of the creation. The work received immediate recognition from the Ranas – the country's rulers at the time. Muna Madan tells the story of Madan—a travelling merchant—who departs from his wife Muna to Tibet in a bid to earn some money. The poem describes the thematic hardships of the journey: the grief of separation, the itching longing, and the torment of death.
The ballad Ji Waya La Lachhi Maduni is a tragic song based on a newa merchant. There are three persons in the song, the merchant, his mother, and his wife. The merchant is about to leave Kathmandu for Tibet on work. The song starts with the wife pleading with her mother-in-law to stop him, saying that it's not even been a month since she came to their home and he wants to go away. Being raised in Kathmandu, Devkota heard this song from the locals singing it at the local pati. He was highly fascinated by the song and decided to re-write it in Nepali language. Since the Rana rulers had put a ban on the newa trade, language and literature, he changed the newa merchant character from the original song to a Kshatriya character. Although Kshatriya people do not practice trade those days for their living, he had to write in a way that lured the Rana rulers.
The following couplet, which is among the most famous and frequently quoted lines from the epic, celebrates the triumph of humanity and compassion over the hierarchies created by caste in Nepalese culture.
"क्षेत्रीको छोरो यो पाउ छुन्छ, घिनले छुँदैन
मानिस ठूलो दिलले हुन्छ जातले हुँदैन ।"
A Kshatriya touches your feet not with hatred but with love.
Great is a man with a great heart; not with great caste, creed.
Considered his magnum opus, Muna Madan has remained widely popular among the lay readers of Nepali literature.
Laxmi Prasad, inspired by his five-month stay in a mental asylum in 1939, wrote free-verse poem Pagal .The poem deals with his usual mental ability and is considered one of the best Nepali language poems.
"जरुर साथी म पागल !
यस्तै छ मेरो हाल ।
म शब्दलाई देख्दछु !
दृश्यलाई सुन्दछु !
बासनालाई संबाद लिन्छु ।
आकाशभन्दा पातालका कुरालाई छुन्छु ।
ती कुरा,
जसको अस्तित्व लोक मान्दैंन
जसको आकार संसार जान्दैन !"
Sure, my friend, insane I am
Such is my plight.
I visualize words
but hear the visible.
fragrance I taste
and the ethereal is palpable to me.
The things I touch--
the world denies their existence
nor knows their shape
Devkota had the ability to compose long epics and poems with literary complexity and philosophical density in very short periods of time. He wrote Shakuntala, his first epic poem and also the first "Mahakavya" written in the Nepali language, in a 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. According to the late scholar and translator of Devkota, David Rubin, Shakuntala is among his greatest accomplishments. "It is, without doubt, a remarkable work, a masterpiece of a particular kind, harmonizing various elements of a classical tradition with a modern point of view, a pastoral with a cosmic allegory, Kalidasa's romantic comedy of earthly love with a symbolic structure that points to redemption through the coinciding of sensual and sacred love."
Devkota also published several collections of short lyric poems set in various traditional and non-traditional forms and meters. Most of his poetry shows the influence of English Romantic Poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge. The title poem in the collection "Bhikhari" is 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:
"कालो बादलबाट खसेको
अन्धकारमा भित्र बसेको,
ईश्वर हो कि भिखरी?
घर, घर, आँगन चारी
बोल्दछ, आर्तध्वनिमा बोल्दछ
करुणामृत दिल भारी ।"
Fallen from the black clouds
Living in the darkness
Is he the god or a beggar?
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 वन", "Kisaan किसान", "Baadal बादल" shows 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 comfort 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 the speaker's humanistic inclinations:
"दोस्त कहाँ छन्? साथ छ को को? घर हो तिम्रो कुन देश?
जान्छौ कुन पुर भवन मुसाफिर, ल्यायौ कुन सन्देश?
दोस्त मेरो शुभ उद्योगी, साथ छ साहस बेश ।
विश्व सबै घर, हृदय-पुरीतिर ल्याउछु सेवा सन्देश ।।"
Where are your friends? Who goes 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.
whole world's my home. To heart-land I roam with hues of Humanity"
Besides poetry, Devkota also made significant contributions to the essay genre. He is considered the father of the modern Nepali essay. He defied the conventional form of essays and broke the traditional rules of essay writing and embraced a more fluid and colloquial style which had more clarity in meaning, expressive in feelings and eloquent in terms of language. His essays are generally satirical in tone and are characterized by their trenchant humour and ruthless criticism of the modernizing influences from the West on Nepali society. An essay titled भलाद्मी 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?' "Is Nepal insignificant ?", 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 an essays book entitled Laxmi Nibhandha Sanghraha.
He was a really god gifted person. He wrote khanda kabya Sakuntala in only three months, in the time he could spare from full-time clerical work. His friends challenged him to do so If he could and he did it in about a week.
Laxmi Prasad Devkota translated William Shakespeare's play Hamlet into Nepali.