Satya Mohan Joshi
[Satya Mohan Joshi, veteran culturist and creative writer, is celebrating his 98th birthday this year. He is a legendary man of letters, richly laden with empirical knowledge on culture, history, language and literature not only of Nepal, but of many parts of the world. His contributions to the development of Nepalese cultural study, linguistics, literature, art, architecture, sculpture and numismatics have remained incredible. Several museums in Nepal, that archive ancient artefacts, are outcomes of his relentless efforts in cultural conservation. A three-time winner of Madan Puraskar, Joshi is still writing and publishing. His latest book Nepali Kalako Rooprekha, a history of ancient and medieval Nepali art is soon coming into the market from BookArt publication. Presented herewith is the edited excerpt of an interview taken with Mr. Joshi by Mahesh Paudyal and Deewash Thapa for Rupantaran. The Gorkha Times publishes this interview here again, duly acknowledging Rupantaran, the original source. ]
Namaskar! You must be pretty busy. You devoted all your life to the research and promotion of Nepali culture, besides literature. Of late, however, the number of people involved in serious study and research of culture seems dwindling. Departments of Culture at our universities are not optimally attracting students and researchers. What is your impression on the present status of cultural studies and research in Nepal?
There is no point in talking of the era before 1950. It was dominated by Rana autocracy. After 1950, a new vigour was spotted in this discipline, which for certain reasons, refused to take off, sadly. An organisation called Nepali Sanskritik Parishad was established with the active initiative taken by Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, Bal Chandra Sharma, Kedarman Byathit and others. Keshar Samsher offered a home—with a resourceful library in Thamel—to the Parishad to make its office. He also gave a vehicle, and a cash of one lakh rupees for the organisation to operate. Imagine the value of one lakh rupees in that age! On procuring so much of resource, the writers were so excited that they immediately set into working. Dr.Ishwar Baral was studying at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute in Delhi, India. They decided to call him back and made him the General Secretary of the organization. By then, Dr. Baral had published his Aakhijyal and other works. He came to Kathmandu and started living in the same house. Now, the organisation was resourceful with an office, cash, vehicle, and academically trained people. However, after a year or two, the organization collapsed.
That is really disturbing. They had knowledge, resources, cash and other facilities. Why then didn’t the organisation take off in your opinion?
It’s not just resource that works. You need commitment and in-depth knowledge of the discipline. Nepali cultural study lacks such committed people, and the discipline is therefore not progressing. In this anecdote, they could not manage the resources well. Keshar Samsher had, upon giving the cash first time, had said, that was just the first instalment of help; he would be giving more cash and the entire library. However, the initiative failed due to the lack of commitment and organisational know-how.
After the failure of the Parishad, Royal Nepal Academy was founded. Did that make much difference in the study and research of culture?
It did to some extent but not to my satisfaction. The Academy was founded in 1957. Initially, the King was its Chancellor. The Academy, however, did not have any cultural or literary policy. It did not initially encourage research. They often went to Darjeeling or Kalimpong to print books, and attended events and seminars, if invited. They lacked the fundamental things: encyclopaedia, dictionary and other resources. All they did was picking manuscripts—usually from their near ones—and publishing. There was no focus on research, and it continued in a hotchpotch manner. In 1969, when the King handed over chancellorship to Kedarnath Byathit, a committee of Assistant Academicians was formed consisting of eight members including me. Other members were Krishna Chandra Singh Pradhan, Shyamdas Vaishnav, Poshan Pandey, Dharmaraj Thapa, Chudanath Bhattarai, Ratnadhwaj Joshi and Bijay Bahadur Malla. Such a committee had been made for the first time. The Chancellor was more powerful now with total leadership in his hand, and so he asked us to prepare a five-year plan. I submitted an elaborate plan, which has not been executed till date.
Could you please tell us what the focus of your plan was?
It was about preparing the fundamentals. Fundamentals of everything: language, literature, folk music, culture and all the fields. Fundamental is the key to any discipline, you know.
You talked of a thing you took up in 1969. It has not been executed yet. Don’t you think your yet-to-be-executed plan can be revised and executed even today?
I do. I will come to that later. The Chancellor then invited four of us—Surya Bikram Gyawali, Chudanath Bhattarai, me and DharmarajThapa—and asked what new work we wanted to do in culture. Gyawali offered to re-write a complete history of Nepal, and he did a right thing, for we still do not have a comprehensive history of Nepal. Chudanath argued, we needed a strong archive of philosophy and offered to prepare the same. He did it, and published four volumes, combining philosophies from Sanskrit and other sources. Dharmaraj Thapa chose to write a history of Nepali folk songs. In fact, he had prepared a whole group of singers from Batulaichaur, from Gorkha and from elsewhere, whom he gave the name ‘Gandarva’ replacing the erstwhile name ‘Gaine’, which was rather derogatory. He offered them that he would also write Panchayat songs, and get them composed. When my turn came, I proposed to go to Sinja Valley in Jumla and study the origin of modern Nepali language. On hearing my proposal everyone laughed out and said, Sinja was such a remote place and I won’t be able to visit. They further told, people there would not be able to help me out. Yet, I persisted. Even on second hearing, I maintained that I would do the same.
How did you finally make it to the Sinja Valley? What was the outcome?
Before my Sinjha visit, I didn’t know what culture was and how it worked. I was not a student of culture by education and training. After the field visit, I developed my own definition of culture. Though people call me ‘sanksritivid’ (culture expert), I don’t have such educational backgrounds. Mine is empirical knowledge I picked form such fields. Before moving to Sinja, I approached Dor Bahadur Bista. He asked me to talk to one Bihari Krishna Shrestha, a cultural anthropologist. He got ready to accompany me. Next, I went to Junga Bahadur Singh, a geographer with the Department of Planning, and he too was ready. I then approached Pradip Rimal a folklorist and Dr. Chudamani Bandhu, a linguist from Tribhuvan University. With me as the fifth men, our team now had five researchers. When we reached Jumla, its Zonal Officer Badri Bikram Thapa initially discouraged us, but later agreed to give us a guide. We did excellent work in the field for two months, and produced five books together on history, language, culture, geography and folk tradition of the region. Royal Nepal Academy published the books, and five of us together won Madan Puraskar for the year. Sadly, however, those books are out of circulation, and the Academy never thought of reprinting them.
That is regrettable. Can’t we do something with these books? I mean, who holds the copyright? If not the Academy, can’t any other publishing house reprint them? If they make such an offer, will you be willing to permit?
I will. The copyright is with us. Recently, a private publishing house, Ekta Books, had come to me with this interest. Later, they did not come back. If anyone is willing to reprint these books, I will be readily willing to give mine. Bihari Krishna Shrestha donated fifty lakh rupees at Shankar Hotel to Social Science Baha, Battisputali to encourage cultural research and to publish such books. He himself came to me with one of the office-bearers of the Baha, urging them to publish these works. But they didn’t, and that is unfortunate! They did have cash, but they didn’t publish it. No one else has done it, till date.
We will see what can be done with these rare books. But we have another curious question. Your research into culture started with folk music. Later, you turned to other aspects of culture. Is your interest in folk music intact, or it has become a remote subject now?
I have missed the connection as far as my research is concerned. However, my interest in the field is still intact.
Besides research works, you have also delivered a volley of creative works. What is that common element that connects all of your creative works?
Culture! I don’t base my creations on mere imaginations. I bring the contents of my field and empirical research—especially those connected with culture—and integrate them with the structure of my creative work. I wrote plays, epics and even poems, and in all of them, I have made culture the pith of my creations.
Which event in your creative forage do you remember to be most thrilling and sensational?
I have written a play Maharshi Yagyabalka. In the play, at one point, there is an issue of Videha—the philosophy that treats a thing that doesn’t rest in a body—like drops of water on arum leaves. The play was performed recently at Rashtriya Naach Ghar. During the play, right at the scene where the concept of Videha was being most poignantly played, actor Bishwabhakta Dulal fell on the stage and never woke up again. He died, playing the concept of Videha, the non-attachment with the body. This is a coincidence I can never forget in my life.
Any work coming sometime soon?
My latest book is going to be Nepali Kalako Rooprekha, a history of ancient and medieval Nepali art, together with relevant pictures. Printed with indices, it includes a detailed study of Nepali painting, sculpture, architecture and other forms of art. BookArt is publishing it soon.
What are your advices to the youngsters, who are interested in the study and research of art and culture?
There is a whole lot of work to be done. I would love to sit with them and tell what needs to be done in the discipline. I shall share the difficulties, methodologies and urgencies associated with the field. I believe, our experiences will help the youngsters frame their research methods and guidelines. Our Jumla trip to such a remote place, the initial reluctance of the people to help, but their ultimate decision to cooperate, has been a lifetime influence on me. But the book that came as an outcome of the research is not available to the general readership. This is a reason to regret.
We feel like hearing you all day long and learning things! However, you too are busy in your works. We wish you good health! Many thanks.