Nepal Bhasa literature
Encyclopedia
History
Nepal Bhasa has a long history as regards literature. It has the fourth-oldest literature of the Sino-Tibetan languages (the first, second and third being Chinese, Tibetan and Burmese respectively).Here is a list of literary figures of the language.
Nepal Bhasa literature can be divided into the following phases
- Ancient Era (N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
625-N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
967)- Early Ancient Era (N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
625-N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
888) - Late Ancient Era(N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
888-N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
967)
- Early Ancient Era (N.S.
- Medieval Era (N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
967-N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
1029) - Renaissance Era (N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
1029-N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
1061) - Modern Era (N.S.Nepal SambatNepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
1061-onwards)
Some literary events
- First Story Book - Tantrakhyan (1518)
- First Song - Walangata Simule Swambaraya (In reign of Pranmol malla, 1523–1550)
- First One-act Play - Ekadashi Brata (1633) by Sidhhinarasingha Malla
- First Drama - Mooldev Shashidev by Jagat Prakash Malla (1645–1673)
Dharmaditya Dharmacharya, Chittadhar Hridaya, Naya Raj Pant, Dhana Vajra Vajrachary, Shankar Man Rajvanshi, Thakur Lal Manandhar, Prem Bahadur Kasa, Hem Raj Shakya, Janak Lal Vaidya, Kamal Prakash Malla, Mahesh Raj Pant, Chhatra Bahadur Kayastha, Dinesh Raj Pant have great contribution in exploring the history of classical Nepal Bhasa literature.
Drama
DramaDrama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
s are traditionally performed in open Dabu (stage). Most of the traditional dramas are related to deities and demons. Masked characters are central to such dramas. Music forms an important part of drama. Most of them are narrated with the help of songs sang at intervals. The drama as such resembles dance in many cases. The theme of most of the drama is to create a social wellbeing with morals illustrating the rise, turbulence and fall of evil. There are fixed dates in the Nepal Sambat
Nepal Sambat
Nepal Sambat is the national lunar calendar of Nepal. It was used throughout Medieval Nepal, and into early modern Nepal, until Chandra Sumsher decided to remove it in BS 1960. It was started in 880 AD during the reign of King Raghav Dev to commemorate the payment of all the debts of Nepalese...
(Nepal Era) calendar for performance of specific drama. Most of the dramas are carried out by specific Guthi
Guthi
Guthi is a social organization that used to maintain the social order of Newar society. Presently, most of the guthis are defunct and are vestigeal representation of what once was the most powerful social organization of the Newars....
s.
Poetry
PoetryPoetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
writing constituted a pompous part of medieval Malla aristrocracy. Many of the kings were well renowned poets. Siddhidas Mahaju
Siddhidas Mahaju
Siddhidas Mahaju is one of the greatest writers in Nepal Bhasa literature. He is considered as the greatest poet in the language. He translated Ramayana to Nepal Bhasa. He is one of the four main people involved in Nepal Bhasa renaissance.-Influences:He influenced every single poet and writer...
and Chittadhar Hridaya
Chittadhar Hridaya
Chittadhar Hridaya was a Nepalese poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest literary figures from Nepal in the 20th century. The title of Kavi Keshari was conferred on him by King Mahendra of Nepal in 1956...
are two great poets in the language.
Story
The art of verbal storyFolklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
telling is very old in Nepal Bhasa. There are a variety of mythical and social stories that have aided in establishing the norm of Kathmandu valley. Stories ranging from the origin of Kathmandu valley to the temples of the valley and the important monuments have been passed down verbally in Nepal Bhasa. Very few of them were in written form initially. Howvever, with an increase in literacy rate and an awareness amongst the people, those stories have been penned down. Stories on other topics have also taken root.
Novel
Restriction of the knowledge of alphabets to a certain caste of society during medieval era reduced the viability of leisure reading amongst masses. However, with the progressive increase in literacy after the modernization of Nepal, novel writing has increased.History
History literature in Nepal Bhasa dates back from Malla era. During that era, stone inscriptions were placed in important places to commemorate important events. Mention of family lines of the person instilling the inscription is also found in many cases.Philosophy
Siddhidas Mahaju had written several philosophies related to the norms of society.Law
Legal literature formulated during the reign of Jayastithi Malla formulated a major part of the norm of NewarNewar
The Newa , Newār or Newāl) are the indigenous people and the creators of the historical civilization of Nepal's Kathmandu Valley. The valley and surrounding territory have been known from ancient times as Nepal Mandala, its limits ever changing through history.Newas have lived in the Kathmandu...
society.
Journalism
Buddha Dharma wa Nepal BhasaBuddha Dharma wa Nepal Bhasa
Buddha Dharma wa Nepal Bhasa was the first ever magazine in Nepal Bhasa. It was published in 1925 from Kolkata, India by Dharmaditya Dharmacharya...
was the first ever magazine in Nepal Bhasa. It was published from Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, India in 1925 by Dharmaditya Dharmacharya.
Thaunkanhe
Thaunkanhe
Thaunkanhe is the first magazine in Nepal Bhasa to be published from Nepal. The monthly magazine began publication on 21 May 1951 , coinciding with the festival of Swanya Punhi, the "full moon day of flowers" marking the anniversary of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and nirvana...
is the first Nepal Bhasa magazine to be published from Nepal. The monthly began publication on 21 May 1951 in Kathmandu and is still in print. The first editor was Purna Kaji.
The first daily newspaper in Nepal Bhasa was Nepal Bhasa Patrika which was published from Kathmandu on 28 September 1955. The first editor was Fatte Bahadur Singh.
Today, a number of daily, weekly and biweekly newspapers are printed in Nepal Bhasa. Some of them are Sandhya Times, Jheegu Swanigah, Desay Madu Jhyaa, Newa Post, Page 3 and Layaku. According to the records of the Government of Nepal, 20 newspapers are published in Nepal Bhasa in Nepal.