[The honorary title 'Mahākavi' here for Devakotā is not the government official entitlement or office. As of today, Nepal Government has not officially announced or honoured him as any Mahākavi - the great poet of the country. Rather, it was Ishwor Baral, one of the best-known literary critics of Nepal, that honoured the poet with this title in 1947 and thereafter Nepalese people also began honouring Devakotā as ‘Mahākavi’ of the country. (Regmi: 2014).]
By B. K. Rana
This year today, October 23, 2014, is
Nepal’s Mahākavi Laxmi Prasād Devakotā’s
106th birth anniversary and Nepali communities around
the world are celebrating his anniversary organizing some elaborate literary
programs in the public. While in college, we would also celebrate this great
poet’s birth anniversaries. It is with great pleasure, I am here today,
writing few words in honour of a literary genius of Nepal – that is to say – of
South Asia as well - Mahākavi Laxmi Prasād Devakotā.
The word Mahākavi literally means : ‘the great poet’ which would therefore imply, a poet of great genius
and creative excellence or the most
celebrated poet of a country ! Truly so, Devakotā is the most celebrated poet of Nepal. His Munāmadan
– a lyrical ballad, which he himself told ‘to save from rest others’ is the best among his creations. It is a
great literary work against the backdrop of Tibeto-Nepal socio-economic ties
and cultural life also some 200 years
ago, when the country had no outer world contacts at all.
The honorary title 'Mahākavi' here for Devakotā is not the government official entitlement or office. As of today, Nepal Government has not officially announced or honoured him as any Mahākavi - the great poet of the country. Rather, it was Ishwor Baral, one of the best-known literary critics of Nepal, that honoured the poet with this title in 1947 and thereafter Nepalese people also began honouring Devakoṭā as ‘Maḥākavi’ of the country. (Regmi: 2014).
The honorary title 'Mahākavi' here for Devakotā is not the government official entitlement or office. As of today, Nepal Government has not officially announced or honoured him as any Mahākavi - the great poet of the country. Rather, it was Ishwor Baral, one of the best-known literary critics of Nepal, that honoured the poet with this title in 1947 and thereafter Nepalese people also began honouring Devakoṭā as ‘Maḥākavi’ of the country. (Regmi: 2014).
The ancient Greeks crowned the most
celebrated poets of the country with laurels. England followed the Greek tradition and began appointing Poets Laureate since 1790 - to write odes to mark national occasions such as:
birthdays, weddings and funerals etc. of the country’s monarchs. The United States also has a tradition of appointing Poets Laureate and the Library of Congress
annually appoints such poets laureate.
The poet laureate here serves as the
nation’s official poet. On June 12, 2014, Poet Charles Wright, 79 was appointed as the United States’ poet laureate .
The Himalayan country,
Nepal has no tradition, as of today, of
appointing a poet laureate as far as I know.
It wouldn’t be appropriate therefore, to
address here Mahākavi Laxmi Prasād Devakotā, as one of the Poets Laureate of Nepal either, nevertheless, he is the most
celebrated poet of the country. Nepal does not appoint any poets laureate but there is certainly a tradition of honouring poets
with titles such as: Ādikavi , Āśukavi, Janakavi, Yugkavi, Yuvākavi etc. Whether
these are any official titles offered, I am unable to write anything here for sure. There is,
in Kathmandu, a Nepal Academy that
should better tell it to the general people.
Critiquing on Mahākavi Devakotā’s
works is absolutely a difficult job, if not impossible frankly. Below I would briefly discuss Wordworth’s The Solitary Reaper and Devakotā’s
Tinko Ghasiyā Gīt on whether
there are any commonalities in between them.
The British Poet Laureate and father
of English Romanticism, William Wordsworth's (1770 - 1850) The Solitary Reaper and Mahākavi
Laxmi Prasād Devakotā’s Ek Akelī Ghasiyā
or a solitary reaper both individuals are
young women and sing beautiful songs. Wordsworth’s solitary reaper probably seems to have sung in Gallic
because the poet could not understand the language she was singing in. Also according
to Dorothy, the poet’s sister, who has also
written in her Recollections of a tour in Scotland that the idea for the
poem was suggested with an excerpt from Thomas Wilkin’s Tour in Scotland. The
melody of the song was so powerful, he could bear it in his heart for a longtime. The poet has a series of five Lucy poems and Lucy Gray is one of them about actual human beings and their sufferings. Whereas, Devakotā’s
Ek Akelī Ghasiyā or a solitary reaper, from Sundarijal at the north east
corner of Kathmandu Valley, also appears, actually cutting grass or fodder for her cattle. Nepal is a agricultural country and 'grass cutting' or collecting fodder in the jungle is a day to day routine job.
Sundarijal is a small but beautiful place with some springs, inhabited by mostly ethnic Tāmāṅg peoples and it is not that difficult to reach there either. The Tāmāṅgs of Nepal have their own distinct language and culture which Maḥākavi Devakotā understood very well. His Mheṅdu and Lhunī are other two lyrical ballads, also seem to be written in series against these backdrops : Mheṅdu was composed after the poet’s Gosāikuṇḍ visit and Lhunī on the other hand, was composed describing some festivals, it seems so, in Helambu. These areas are the homelands of Tāmāṅg people whose songs are quite popular in Nepal.
Sundarijal is a small but beautiful place with some springs, inhabited by mostly ethnic Tāmāṅg peoples and it is not that difficult to reach there either. The Tāmāṅgs of Nepal have their own distinct language and culture which Maḥākavi Devakotā understood very well. His Mheṅdu and Lhunī are other two lyrical ballads, also seem to be written in series against these backdrops : Mheṅdu was composed after the poet’s Gosāikuṇḍ visit and Lhunī on the other hand, was composed describing some festivals, it seems so, in Helambu. These areas are the homelands of Tāmāṅg people whose songs are quite popular in Nepal.
So, Wordsworth’s reaper is all alone,
single and solitary and sings melancholy song which, the poet fails to understand totally.
He does not know for what was she singing about, after all ?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And
battles long ago:
Or is
it some more humble lay,
Familiar
matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again? (The Solitary Reaper)
Whereas Devakotā’s Ghasiyā or the
reaper, sings in a valley of Sundarijal.
But seemingly, the poet understood what she was singing about in Tāmāṅg language. That was probably
not a melancholy song about anything
of the past or sorrow, loss or pain.
Ek akelī, nayan-ujyaḷī,
Badan hasilī, gālā lāl,
Halukā ghuṅgur ghanā manmohan
Cumbit, saras, subhāl (Tinko Ghaṣiyā Gīt)
The reaper here also is young and all
alone, has bright eyes, charming reddish-cheeked smiling face, beautifully black little
curly hair that the wind seemed caressing. The poet does not have any
melancholic and distressful experience for the readers here. It appears, she
sang a beautiful song:
Sundarijalmā, śītal thalmā
Gāin tinle ghasiyā gīt (Tinko Ghasiyā Gīṭ)
In a shady Sundarijal valley, the reaper sang a ghasiyā gīt, that is
a local song, which probably was beautiful, profound and perhaps of some young hearts' love song.
Both Wordsworth and Devakoṭā have natural settings within which is a place for an individual always. What Wordsworth believes in is that a poetry is the "spontaneous overflow of emotions" and which Devakotā also seems to have agreed completely.
The Longfellow House and Devakotā Kavikūj
Both Wordsworth and Devakoṭā have natural settings within which is a place for an individual always. What Wordsworth believes in is that a poetry is the "spontaneous overflow of emotions" and which Devakotā also seems to have agreed completely.
The Longfellow House and Devakotā Kavikūj
 |
| The Longfellow House in Cambridge, Massachusetts. |
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait. (A Psalm of Life)
The house has now been recognized as a historic site and protected accordingly by
The Longfellow Trust which was created in 1913. This house was owned previously
by General George Washington, the first President of the United States of America.
So it is a historic monument now. On Sundays, I can see many people lining up
here in front of this house.
But, I have not been able to hear anything about preserving Devakotā’s Kavikuṅj in Kathmandu’s Dillibazar which I think, I have also visited or seen many times from a distance. Should concerned people wait Nepal Government for doing any preservation works of the Kavikuṅj - that is to say the great poet’s house ? Can’t we do anything about preserving Kavikuṅj? If we so did, that would also be a solemn tribute to the poet while we celebrate his birth anniversaries annually all over the world .
Related link: WAS NEPAL'S GREAT POET LAXMI PRASAD DEVAKOTA A REAL LUNATIC ?
But, I have not been able to hear anything about preserving Devakotā’s Kavikuṅj in Kathmandu’s Dillibazar which I think, I have also visited or seen many times from a distance. Should concerned people wait Nepal Government for doing any preservation works of the Kavikuṅj - that is to say the great poet’s house ? Can’t we do anything about preserving Kavikuṅj? If we so did, that would also be a solemn tribute to the poet while we celebrate his birth anniversaries annually all over the world .
Related link: WAS NEPAL'S GREAT POET LAXMI PRASAD DEVAKOTA A REAL LUNATIC ?
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