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  Devkota in Translation Mahesh Paudyal Of all the Nepali men of letters, Devkota stands out as one of the first writers to feel and air the need for translating Nepali literature into different world languages. His Tashkent address, delivered as early as in 1958, was basically rooted in explicating this dire need for translation, which, to him, was the most fundamental prerequisite for taking Nepali literature to the global front. He himself lived up to his words by taking two approaches: himself sitting down to translate some of his works previously written in Nepali, and translating some of the finest works of his contemporaries like Lekhanath Paudyal, Siddhicharan Shrestha and Shyamdas Vaishnav. His own works Shakuntal and “The Lunatic”, besides a series of poems published in a bilingual edition of Indreni showcase Devkota’s calibre as a translator par excellence .          Translation was one of the key strategies through which Devkota’s fame crossed the limits of Nepali l
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Waiting for Grandmother

    Mahesh Paudyal   “Row me to the other bank, dear boatswain, and for that I will give you a golden ring,” said little Naini to the boatman, who ferried passengers across the Karnali River. The sun had just risen, and it was too early for any boatman to find passengers. They had to wait until it was nine for the first band of milkmen to board their canoes. The man had come out, because he had to ferry his wife and little daughter across the river to his in-laws’, because they had a feast that day. During the day, he ferried passengers back and forth. Since it was likely to rain, he had taken his family quite early today. The little girl, who was her first paying passenger for the day, made him think he was lucky. She looked like his own daughter. He liked the cute, little girl, but did not believe the ‘golden ring’. “Why do you want to cross the river?” asked the boatman, who looked quite tired. In fact, the sky was crying all its heart out, and no stars had twinkled for
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Loss of Compassion is a Big Challenge: Madhav Ghimire

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    [Poet Madhav Ghimire, popularly known as Rashtrakavi, is the Poet Laureate of Nepal. He basically writes songs, epics and lyrical dramas in meters, and there are several books to his credit, including elegiac short epic Gauri , lyrical drama Malati-Mangale , lyrical drama Aswatthama , and several other poems. Former Academician, Poet Ghimire passed away on 18 August 2020. Mahesh Paudyal , member of Rupantaran editorial board (presently its Executive Editor) recently had an exclusive interview with the Poet in 2017. Presented herewith is the edited excerpt of the interview.  Rupantaran   is an annual publication of the Department of Translations of Nepal Academy.]   Kaviji, what have you been doing, of late?  I am working on my latest creation R itambhara , an epic. It basically tackles two of the direst problems of our time: nuclear terror, and gradual loss of human compassion. The epic is rooted in eastern mythological and philosophical tradition, and I am likely to finish
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पारिजातको शिरीषको फूलमाथि शङ्कर लामिछानेको भूमिका

अल्छीलाग्दो एक अपराह्न । पसलमा बसेको छु, साथमा डेनिस एक चित्रकार छ । ऊ झन्डै वर्ष दिनलेखि काठमार्डौँमा रुमल्लिरहेछ । यहाँको साहित्यिक तथा सांस्कृतिक वातावरणमा अलमलिएर । गरिब छ यस कारण चित्रकारिता अपनाएको छ, अथवा भनौँ चित्रकार भएकोले नै गरिब छ ।  यस्तैमा आउँछिन् सुकन्या, यो उपन्यासकी लेखिकाकी बहिनी । एउटा चिट्ठी छ, र एउटा पाण्डुलिपि ।  पढ्टु —    “पुलतीसडक, पौष २५, २०२२ शङ्करदाइ, दुःख दियो नभन्नुहोला । एउटा उपन्यास लेखेकी छु र यसको भूमिका किन–किन तपाइर्एंबाट नै बाँधिनुपर्छ भन्ने अठोट लागिसकेको छ मलाई । छाप्ने प्रयत्नमा छु । कृपया निराश नफर्काउनुहाला ।  तपाईंकी पारिजात”  सम्पूर्ण चिट्ठीमा मलाई आकर्षित गरे दुई शब्दले “किन–किन” र “अठोट” ले ।  पारिजातलाई म प्रेम गर्छु । कसो–कसो एउटी बहिनीभन्दा बढी नै शायद प्रमिका जत्ति नै, जोसँग आत्मीय संसर्ग होओस्, जोसँग यौनको सम्बन्ध तुच्छकर वा हेयकर लागोस् । र यौनलाई नअँगालेर यदि प्रेमको यचनबकm (चरमसीमा) को कल्पना सम्भव छ भने, मैले उसलाई गरेको प्रेमको परिभाषा यही मात्र हुन सक्ला ।  अहँ, म मान्दिनँ ! यति आधुनिक उपन्यासकी लेखिकाका लागि मैले स्वयं दिएको परि
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Postmodernism in Nepali Literature: A Theoretical Mismatch

— Mahesh Paudyal Without being burdened by the imperatives of defining categories—as those related with ‘postmodernism’ are terms overwrought by discussions across the academia all the world over and are conceptually indefinable—this paper claims that there is no overtly visible and identifiable symptom in Nepali literature that is strictly postmodern, though in painting, music, films and fashion, one could probably make a tally of things, both structurally and thematically, and make a table of the postmodern. Postmodern is not something that conforms to strict bracketable traits; rather, it encompasses many things at once, and therefore, is plural. There are many postmodernisms, and different authorities of the theoretical conundrum position themselves on different ends of the same thing, sometimes even to the degree that they contradict one another, and nullify the whole attempt to define. In fact, postmodernism sprang from the debates about finalities, and sought to jeo
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