Laxmi Prasad Devkota was born on the night of Laxmi Puja Day (a festive day in Deepwali, the great Hindu festival) in 1909 to Tilmadhav Devkota and Amar Rajya Laxmi Devi in Dillibazar, Kathmandu. Born at a time when the Hindus including, his family, were worshiping Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, his parents took his birth as the greatest gift of the Goddess and accordingly, named him Laxmi Prasad— the blessings of Goddess Laxmi.
Devkota’s father was a scholar in Sanskrit language. Laxmi Prasad Devkota got his basic education at home under the custodianship of his father. He completed Bachelor’s Degree in liberal arts and law.
Right after earning his bachelor’s degree, Devkota started working as a personal tutor—a rigorous job, that lasted for hours everyday. He had to do that to support his family.
During Devkota’s time, the country was under Rana’s dictatorial regime. Young Devkota knew the importance of education and he vowed to do something to help educate the masse, but the idea was not well received by the then Rana rulers who believed in the idea that the general people should continue to remain illiterate so that any chance of gaining anti-establishment consciousness always remained bleak. Devkota knew this, and was therefore, determined to foiling the Rana’s insidious design as much as he could.
Devkota, as a student, was exceptionally brilliant. Right from an early age, he was keen on Nepali literature. At the early age of ten, he wrote a poem when he was studying in Durbar High School—the school set up for the education of the ruling Rana children. Children of ordinary people had to seek special permission to study in this school. Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s father also had to run from pillar and post to ensure admission for his son in the Durbar High School.
Devkota and his friends were keen on generating awareness among the people and educating them. They decided to establish a library to generate public awareness. They had to seek permissions from the government even to establish a library during those days. They tried, but were caught and sent behind the bars. As a result, poet Devkota had to undergo a great suffering. He was later fined and released. Devkota then went to Benaras, India, where he used to sell his poems for survival. He also worked as an editor of Yugvani a Nepali magazine in Benaras and gave continuity to his writing.
After he returned to Kathmandu, he wrote Muna Madan—an epic poem based on folk verses. This book is about a poor man’s hunt for wealth in order to fulfill his mother’s dream. Madan, the protagonist, goes to Lhasa in the present day China to earn his fortune. The book is one of the earliest literary works to highlight the symbiotic relation between China and Nepal. Since the day of its publication, the book has remained one of the most popular works in Nepali literature till date, and has the record of being the best-seller every year, till our own days. Its direct humanitarian appeal, high sentimental ethos, and simple and lucid language woven in folk meters has given it a timeless presence. The line, “Manisa thulo dilale hunchha jaatale hudaina,”—greatness of a man is determined by the magnanimity of the heart, and not by birth—has become one of the most popular adages in Nepal. It is said that Devkota, when he was in death bed, had asked his friends and relatives to preserve Muna Madan even if all other works were to be burnt.
Muna Madan is perhaps the most popular of all works of Devkota. The simplicity of language, folk and lyrical verses and rhythmic expression made this book popular among the all including ordinary folks. Muna Madan’s popularity also made the Ranas appoint Devkota a member of the Nepal Bhasanuwad Parishad. During this period, Devkota wrote the epic, Shakuntala, in three months.
Devkota is a versatile writer and has tried with hands with extraordinary success in many genres, including pomes, epics, prose, essays, plays and fictions. But he is basically a poet. The influence of western romantic poets like William Wordsworth, John Keats and PB Shelley is seen quite apparent in him.
The theme of much of Devkota’s works is nature and human sensitivity. Human and his centrality in the creation identifies one of the most dominant themes of Devkota. He is therefore often remembered for his humanistic outlook, though his identity as a romantic poet par excellence always survives.
One very important feature of Devkota’s writing is his pro-people concern and the awarness that voice of the poor and downtrodden, and the peasantry needs to be sufficiently aired. Devkota’s writing turned revolutionary in 1946, and made socialism the ideal of his belief after 1953. The speech he delivered in the famous Tashkent Conference is a proof of this. Many of his works give voice to people’s fundamental concerns of life, and a strong urge for systemic change. His Prometheus rooted in the mythological story of fire being stolen from heaven, is an acceptance of the fact that unless the most fundamental of the people’s needs are catered to, higher consciousness remains a far cry. In his poetic drama Krishibala, Devkota lends voice to the concerns of the peasantry of Nepal, while through magazines like Yugvani and Pahadi Pukar he aired a dire need for political awakening and revolution.
Devkota, throughout his life, wrote in favor of the human, and to him, an egalitarian society with faith in work and the primacy of humanity and love was central. He located divinity in human beings and argued that service to the humanity was the only path to attain divinity. His poem “Yatri” claimes that God kisses hands that are working, and he appeals human to wash the wounds off the hands of ailing men.
Devkota has also written essays, one act plays and plays and novel. Devkota is the first modern essayist in Nepal. Laxmi Nibanda Sangraha (Collection of Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s Essays) is the example of the modern essays in Nepali language, which have clarity in meaning, expressive in feelings and eloquent in terms of language. In this, Devkota broke the traditional style of essay writing and popularized the personal and expressive style of essays writing instead of descriptive and narrative approach. The Laxmi Nibanda Sangraha is perhaps the most brilliant book of essays ever produced in Nepali literature.
As a versatile and multi-dimensional writer, Devkota has made contribution in the field of plays, fiction and short stories. Sabitri Satyaban is Devkota’s acclaimed play, which has earned equally high fame for Devkota. Champa is the only fiction Devkota has ever written. Despite holding some important and high-ranking positions—a lecturer, a minister, for example—Devkota’s financial status was always precarious and he had to struggle a lot for survival. But the difficulties he suffered never deterred him from writing and making contribution to Nepali literature.
The contribution Devkota made to enrich the Nepali literature will always be written down with golden letter. We cannot imagine the state of Nepali literature without Laxmi Prasad Devkota. An estimation of his greatness may be made by referring to what the great Indian philosopher Rahul Sankrityayan has remarked: “Devkota is a confluence of three great Indian romantic poets: Jay Shankar Prasad, Sumitra Nandan Panta and Suryakanta Tripathi Nirala.”
Recognizing his unprecedented contribution in the field of literature, he was honored as a life member of the Nepal Academy. Devkota was conferred with the title of ‘Mahakabi’ (Poet the Great). He died of cancer in 1959.