Mahesh Paudyal
This paper will not evaluate Devkota’s individual writing. It will make a cursory assessment of his international outreach, and shall map how he has been received by reviewers abroad, especially in societies other than those of migrant or Diaspora Nepali.
It’s generally said, artists are transnational. This means, the poets and writers tend to dismantle national boundaries and attain a global character. Alvaro Lima writes, “Transnationalism challenges traditional theories of assimilation, which assume that immigrants who are more fully integrated into their host societies are less likely to continue to involve themselves in the economic, social, and political spheres of their countries of origin” (2).
What defines the transnational character of artists is the fact that they are rooted in one nation—and in one culture or civilization for that matter—and yet, the resonance of their writing strikes the cliffs far beyond the boundary of the nation they are domicile to.
The world literature abounds in artists—writers included—who travel in works and creations, and settle in the hearts of their patrons abroad as though they were their own family. That way, the artists acquire a global character, and they become assets of the world. Else, why would a writer in Nepal shed tears, when Jacques Derrida dies in France? Why would anyone grieve, when Chinua Achebe passes away in Boston? This is a strange relation, confirmed by the transnational character of the authors.
This global outreach defines one type of transnationality, guaranteed by the acceptance of a writer in a foreign society, or by his or her popularity outside the home country. Another thing—this I consider the key—is the content of an artist’s creation that negotiates between two or more national boundaries and cultures, accommodates elements from multiple cultural spaces, compromises with one’s personal, or someone’s chauvinistic or ultra-nationalistic stance, and opts for a salad bowl, where elements mingle from various culture spaces.
Why and how does a writer become transnational? The whyness of a writer acquiring a global stature and becoming a global property doesn’t need much discussion as compared to the howness of the same issue. How does a writer born at a location become transnational or global? What are the bridges and vehicles that contribute to the globalization of a creative talent is the issue that concerns us more here.
As far as Laxmi Prasad Devkota is concerned, the transnational character in him should be sought at two levels. First, one should look into the very content of his writing and second, his global outreach should be gauged through an analysis of Devkota studies and recognition abroad. This paper seeks to do a mapping of both, limiting the analysis of some of his poems, and then making a survey of how Devkota has been received and estimated outside Nepal.
The transnational character in Devkota found more voice, after he was himself exposed to the world outside. Padma Devkota writes: “After 1951, Devkota went abroad, and realized that while the nation is important, the outside world could not be ignored. He began moving towards an international nationalism, writing about international issues” (1).
A consideration of a few poems Devkota wrote about countries outside Nepal can embolden our grounds to see the transnational outlook in him. He wrote a whole book Babu and Other Sonnets to commemorate Gandhi and his non-violence, though Gandhi belongs to India. Similarly, his ties with Russian are quite well-known. Asia-Africa Today, a Russian periodical estimated: ““A talented Nepali poet, a freedom-lover, a patriot, an architect of words, an anticolonialist and a man of positive action, Devkota was a cordial friend of Soviet Union” (53).
Similarly, Devkota wrote a couple of poems on China, one of which I quote here partly, to suggest a glimpse of his considerate mindfulness about developments in the countries in his neighborhood. In a work paper on “Memorable Aspects of Devkota,” Ninu Chapagain writes:
His vision about a universal language, global humanism, and high estimation of the people of Russia and China, too are examples of internationalism inside him. Seizing the vein of the real problem of his days, he appealed all the writers of the world to stand united against imperialism and colonization. He took parts in some international seminars and delivered highly influential speeches. In those speeches, he not only criticised the imperialism, colonization and wars among the imperialist nations; he also stressed on the need for unity among the oppressed countries. He is a poet of Asian Universalism. (5)
Devkota probably is the first Nepali writer to connect Nepal and China culturally through his Muna-Madan. He has been followed by other writers like Dor Bahadur Bista, whose Sotala has a northward extension, connecting people of Nepal and China. One of Devkota’s poems expresses his honour for the people of China:
O great progenies of China!
You have spilled blood; so the roses have blossomed
See, the east is red! The dark night has waned
The awakened hearts are twinkling with light
You have now reached the pinnacle of success
Erasing from earth the night—a blot on the earth’s face!
(My Translations)
There are several instances that can vindicate Devkota’s mindfulness of other cultural spaces including India, vindicated by the fact that he borrows contexts and allusions prodigally from histories and cultures of these regions.
Since Devkota was a genius the impact of his creation would not remain confined to his county alone. Playwright Bal Krishna Sama probably had this comprehensiveness of Devkota in mind, when he said, “Devkota was greater than all his works; it will be unjust to bind his unparalleled personality within the limits of his works.”
Devkota’s conviction about art makes his stand on humanism clearer. He believes that art has its connectivity with life. In his famous speech delivered at Tashkent during the Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference, he had said:
From the people awakened by the great struggles for life and against destruction, for equality of status and against military invasion, for national freedom and against colonialism and imperialism, literature has started receiving strong support. In this condition, literature can no longer remain a means of pleasure for a particular class. It has now become a powerful social and national weapon.
We can also consider the opinion of Russian writer Ludmila Aganina, who for the first time wrote Devkota’s biography in a foreign language, that a talent like Devkota is not limited to the boundaries of a nation, but is immortal and lives in people’s heart till eternity. All these remarks foreground Devkota’s magical talent and great contributions.
Shiva Mangal Singh Suman, an expert of Hindi literature, has remarked that Devkota is in par with world’s best poets, and his absence cannot be easily compensated. For a nation to get a talent like him, it should be ready for a sacrificial penance. With this single talent in its hand, Nepali literature has become glorious on the stage of the global literature forever.
University of Columbia in the United States of American has published a collection of Devkota’s poems, translated by David Rubin.
D. J. Matthews, a critic writes commenting on the book, that Devkota is one of the real artisans affecting the positive development of Nepali literature. He writes “Laxmi Prasad Devkota is regarded as one of the greatest modern poets of Nepal. His work spanned the three most important decades of the country’s recent history, from the early 1930s, through the revolution which brought about the fall of the Ranas” (226).
Limiting Devkota within the territory of Nepal would mean, delimiting the sovereign nature of his writing. Allen Tresher estimates that besides writing many long epical stories about myths from both Indian subcontinent and Greece, he wrote about social revolt, children’s poetry, a series of English sonnets on the death of Gandhi, natural beauty, works imitating the traditional minstrel singers, poverty and death etc.
Devkota has been read in connection with various epochs in Nepali literature. G.N.Y Free Documentation Permission Paper, in an online article about Nepali literature writes that together with Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala and Guru Prasad Mainali, Devkota is an extremely important signature of pre-revolutionary era of Nepali literature.
Devkota is both easy and difficult. At the linguistic level, he might be easy, but then, his feelings are seldom shallow. Many writers have pointed out this fact at many places. Tara Nath Sharma N. Jay R. Weil write: “One of the greatest of Nepal’s poets was Laxmi Prasad Devkota (1909-1959). The status of a poet of Devkota’s eminence in Nepal can perhaps only be compared to the position of a great poet in the Soviet Union” (193).
Since Devkota wrote in both Nepali and English, he was comparatively at a better position to get international access. Naturally therefore, the stuffs he directly wrote in English found international readership more easily than his works written in Nepali, or rendered into English. On October 5, 2000 BBC aired a report on Asian Nepali literature and this has been said about Devkota and other South Asian poets: “Haribamsha Rai, Mukla Raj Anand, Michael Ondaatje and Laxmi Prasad Devkota have created exemplary literature in English, which was quite distinguished in themselves. Yet, he is the only first poet to write an entire epic in English, and series of short poems.”
These few evidences confirm, Devkota is a writer of international fame, and he has been read by critical audience abroad with high estimation. His tendency to weave his content by developing a transnational aura in his works is perhaps a reason for the same.
References
Devkota, Laxmi Prasad. BapuandOther Sonnets. Kathmandu: DSRC, 2003.
Devkota, Padma. “Devkota: The Child of Fortune”. Interview by Sewa Bhattarai. October 31, 2013.
Devkota, Laxmi Prasad. “Nepali Literature: Materials on Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference.” Tashkent, 1960.
Lima, Alvaro. “Transnationalism: A New Mode of Immigrant Integration.” <http://www.digaai.org/wp/relatorios/Transnationalism.pdf> 20 Aug 2016.
Matthews, D.J. Rev. of “Nepali Vision, Nepali Dreams: The Poetry of Laxmi Prasad Dekovta.” Ed. David Rubin. The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2 (1981): 225-226.
Sharma, Taranath and N. Jay R. Weil. “The Nepali Muse.” Rev. of Nepali Visions, Nepali Dream: The Poetry of Laxmi Prasad Devkota. Journal of South Asian Literature 19.1 MISCELLANY (Winter, Spring1984): 193-200.
[Poet and critic Mahesh Paudyal teaches at the Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University.]