Nepali Person of the Day for October 8,2007
(b. 1909 in Kathmandu, d. 1959), was a Nepali poet. He is best known for the poem "Muna Madan."
Early life
Devkota was the third son of Pandit Tila Madhav and Amar Rajya Laxmi Devi. He was born in Thatunati (now Dhobidhara), Kathmandu on the day of the Festival of Lights, which is a celebration of the Goddess of Wisdom and Learning.
He showed poetic genius from a very tender age. When he was ten years old, he wrote the following couplet:
? Brother, this world's a great sea of tribulations.
We all have to die. Be not arrogant.
?
Although this was in keeping with the Hindu way of thinking, the young poet surprised his family and relatives with this outburst. Later, he was to introduce Romanticism into Nepali literature and influence a whole generation of Nepali writers. He would continue developing as a modern poet with a powerful voice of his own and claim a literary stature in Nepal that many seek to emulate.
He preached charity and forgiveness, succor and compassion. One day, as he was walking back home from work, a beggar approached him for some money. Seeing him shiver in the cold, Devkota took off the coat he was wearing and gave it to the beggar.
When Devkota was born in 1909, the country was ruled by the Rana oligarchy. The Rana administration was against mass education, but after many trials, his family enrolled him at Durbar School, the only school in the Kathmandu Valley. Devkota wrote his first poem at this school, and it is said that he used to recite his poems before his friends and teachers. Many times his friends did not believe he had written such excellent poems, but all his teachers were greatly impressed with the young prodigy.
In 1925, Devkota enrolled in the science program at Tri-Chandra College. After completing his Intermediate of Science degree, he switched to arts. He received his bachelor's degree in arts in 1929 and went to Patna, India, in 1931 on a scholarship hoping to study English for his Master's degree. Since there were no seats available in the English program, he studied law. he is known as MAHAKAVI in neplese literature.
Family life
After he received his bachelor's of law, he returned home and endured a series of personal crises. His mother, father, and two-month old daughter died within two years. Those tragic events shattered him and, probably, led him to become a chain smoker. In later years, the premature death of two of his young sons, Prakash and Krishna, caused him more misery. A series of such tragedies seriously ruffled his mind. Although he was in full control of himself, his poetic sensibility was misunderstood by the less sensitive people around him who dispatched him to a mental institutionfor treatment. The psychiatrist at Ranchi labeled him a "geographical mistake."
To add further misery, by 1958, Devkota was diagnosed with cancer and three inches of cancerous duodenum was removed in Calcutta,India, but he knew death was approaching him, so he stayed up late into the night to continue his writing. One year later, he died.
He wrote to a friend while he was in Santa Bhawan Hospital, "Death stands before me. I search for constellations in the sky but can find none. I cannot give peace to myself. If I could rise, I would kill myself and my children."
Laxmi Prasad Devkota was primarily a humanist who occasionally wrote from an atheistist point of view too. Some critics have mistaken his intellectual querries for atheism and have tried to line him up with Marxism or other similar politically leftist ideologies. This is why such critics were shocked when he dictated one of his last poems to a friend, "Aakhir Shree Krishna rahecha eka" (" in the end, Lord Krishna happens to be the only truth").
Career
Devkota has contributed to Nepali literature by bringing the Sanskrit tradition to its apex and by starting modern romantic movement in the country. He was a versatile and prolific writer, who left no branch of literature untouched in the course of his brief career. He has written numerous epics, long narrative poems, essays, stories, plays, novels, songs, and criticisms. His essays read like poetry and are much admired for both content and style. Devkota was the first to begin writing epics in Nepali literature and his magnum opus "Muna-Madan" remains a best seller even fifty years after his death. He also served as Nepal's Education Minister, and was a professor at Tri-Chandra College.
Devkota had the ability to write poems very quickly -- he wrote the Shakuntal in three months, the Sulochana epic in 10 days and Kunjini in a single day. Nepali poetry soared to new heights with Devkota's groundbreaking poetry. "Muna-Madan," a long narrative poem in popular folk metre, begins the end of the Sanskrit tradition in Nepali literature. "Pagal" ["Mad"] is another of his ground-breaking works.
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Devkota was born on the night of Gai Puja, when Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, is honored. Seeing this as an omen, Devkota?s parents named him after the goddess. It was an omen indeed, but of a different kind. In Nepal, Laxmi is seen as a bitter rival of Saraswati, the goddess of education and learning. Saraswati is displeased if a person is wealthy. On the other hand, Laxmi is not inclined to grant favors to those whose main pursuit is learning. As it turned out, the rivalry between the two goddesses was played out in Devkota?s life. He was known as Mahakabi, the great poet, and lived and died a poor man.
When Devkota was born in Dillibazaar, Kathmandu, in 1909, the country was ruled by the Rana oligarchy. The Rana administration was not enthusiastic about educating the masses, so the permit to study was a privilege. Devkota?s family went through a lot of trouble to enroll him at Durbar School, the only school in the Kathmandu Valley. Devkota wrote his first poems at school. He is said to be a quiet student who preferred reading and writing. He proved to be an excellent pupil and was married at the age of fifteen while at school.
After graduating from school with high marks, Devkota enrolled in the science program at Tri Chandra College in 1925 and began to read English poetry. Writers of the romantic era were a particularly strong influence on Devkota and he incorporated some of their themes in his work. Devkota completed his Intermediate of Science degree and switched to arts. He received his bachelor?s degree in arts in 1929 and went to Patna, India, and was impressed by the libraries he saw there. He and his friends then wrote a letter to the Rana prime minister requesting permission to open a library in Kathmandu. Since the administration took a dim view of providing uncensored information, Devkota and his friends were put in prison. They were released after paying heavy fines.
In 1931, Devkota went back to Patna on scholarship hoping to study English for his Master?s degree. But seats were not available so he studied for the Bachelor of Law degree instead. After he received the degree, he returned home and felt the first shocks of poverty that would trouble him for the rest of his life. Despite tutoring to supplement his earning, sometimes for fourteen hours a day, financial problems never left him. Muna Madan was among the creations of this time. The book challenged Sanskrit scholars who dominated the Nepalese literary scene. While these scholars determined good poetry as those following the Sanskrit form, Muna Madan was based on the jhaurey folk tune. The book received recognition from the Ranas and a significant purse of Rs. 100.
The mid-thirties were a terrible time for Devkota: his mother, father, and a two-month old daughter died within two years. Devkota was never a smoker at school or college, but when he learned to smoke, he became a chain smoker. He was exceedingly nervous and began to complain that everything hurt him. His brothers were worried enough to put him in a mental hospital in Ranchi, India, for five months in 1939.
In 1943 Devkota was selected to represent writers in the Nepal Bhasanuwad Parishad, a state organization that acted as a censorship board. He wrote a lot during this time and tutored for long hours. He complained that people asked him for a thirty-two hour day. He wrote his first epic, Shakuntala, in three months. It is said that Puskar Shumshere Rana challenged him to write another epic in thirty days and Devkota responded by handing him the manuscript of his second epic, Sulochana, in ten days. Both epics are considered among the best works of Nepalese literature. Most of his work was unconventional. He had a habit of inventing new words to suit his poetic requirements. At times his more conservative colleagues resented his taking so many liberties with the language. Devkota became a professor at Tri-Chandra College in 1946. He left Nepal without any obvious reason and worked in exile in Benaras, India. He was editor of Yugbani, an opposition paper. He also wrote Pahadi Pukar, a book that addressed people?s poverty in Nepal. The book was banned in Nepal.
The Ranas invited him back to the country. After the democratic movement was successful, he helped publish Indreni, a bilingual journal, and was a part of the influential Royal Nepal Academy. Financial troubles followed him throughout these years. Part of the problem was his generous nature. He gave money to people who came to him with hard luck stories. One cold winter day he gave the coat he was wearing to a beggar shivering at the roadside.
Even as he was having financial worries, he was getting high appreciation and by 1957, he had become minister of education though he was an active politician. At this time he suffered from what doctors at first thought was gastric ulcer. By 1958, cancer was diagnosed and since Devkota did not have enough money (his salary was held back by the Royal Nepal Academy for visiting the former USSR as a representative of writers without informing the king), King Mahendra gave him Rs. 5,000 after complaints in the local papers and the Indian Embassy provided air transportation for him to go to India for treatment. Three inches of cancerous color was removed.
Devkota knew before his death that the end was approaching and stayed up late into the night to continue his writing. He wrote to a friend while he was in Santa Bhawan Hospital, ?Death stands before me. I search for constellations in the sky but can find none. I cannot give peace to myself. If I could rise, I would kill myself and my children.?
There was much pain towards the end of his life and perhaps this explains his bitterness. So that was how, even though everyone appreciated him, Devkota died in 1959 in sorrow, thinking that he achieved nothing. He asked that Muna Madan be preserved even if all his other works faded away. Muna Madan is the most popular of Nepalese works today and though Devkota felt himself a beggar towards the end of his life, he is revered by his country people as a god of Nepalese literature.
