Mahesh Paudyal

— 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...

Mahesh Paudyal Everyone passing along that narrow hill trail saw the two brothers—one ten and the other eight, probably—playing on the bank of the Mugu Karnali, but few cared to stop and see what they were doing. We thought of taking a short rest there; we were extremely tired from walking uphill for around seventeen hours. So we sat, and took interest in the children’s game. It was Seri, a remote village in Karnali that had not seen the face of a vehicle, yet. A little further downhill, a broken cable that had, until recent times, formed the only means for the villagers to cross the river, hung downward, snapped into two parts, almost from the middle. It was no longer in use, and hence, people along the two banks of the river did not meet each other anymore. We stared at the children for a long time. They were offering leaves and flowers to Mugu Karnali. It was worship at their disposal; they were executing what they could. When they realised that we were near, they fle...

Dharanidhar Koirala The famous poet who wrote these beautiful lines in Nepali language was none other than Dharanidhar Koirala. He was born at Dumja village of Sindhuli District on 4 Feb 1893. Later, he moved to Benaras in India. During his stay in Benaras, a weekly newspaper The Gorkhali used to be published from there. He worked for that newspaper and got his patriotic poems published. After some time, the Ranas put a ban on the publication of the newspaper.      His numerous poems were also published in the monthly Nepali newspaper Chandrika was published from Kharsang, India. His publishes works are 1) Naibedhya (Food Offerings)   2) Spandan (Heartbeat)      and 3) Translation of Shreemad Bhagawatgita. Recognizing his love for his country and language, affection and belief in countrymen, and his social work, Royal Nepal Academy honoured him with Tribhuvan Puraskar for his long service to Nepali literature. He also be...