For Nepali readers searching out literary voices in Nepal's national languages, the book Rastriya Bhaasaakaa Kabitaahaaru, (ed. Mohan Koirala, Royal Nepal Academy, Kathmandu, 2050) is a treasure: it showcases the work of contemporary poets writing in the Newari, Limbu, Tamang, Bantawa/Rai, Thulung/Rai, Khaling/Rai, Sherpa, Tharu, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magar, and Gurung languages. Nepali translations are printed alongside original works. Several of the works contained in the book are truly excellent-often bringing to Nepal's literature local sensibilities missing in Nepali-language literature. In this issue of Nepaliterature I translate into English several of the Nepali translations from this book; I will also translate other poems from this book in future articles.
The first poem translated below is from the Tamang language, originally called Aasyaang! Dano Mano. Like many poems in the book, it focuses on the exploitation of downtrodden ethnic groups.
AAsyaang-Think for Yourself!
Pratap Bal Tamang
Those soles of yours which steer rikshaws
must now steer the country and the universe
Your tireless hands which shove loaded carts
must raise your own culture and people
Deceived sometimes by religion
and sometimes by your facial features-
seek now the sky of your own sunrise
Seek out feet which will take you to high peaks
You too are a person like others
You too are a citizen-like the others of this country
Give up your foolish sincerity now
alongside your auctioned identity
The country is yours as well
The universe is yours as well
Your rights exist here too
And so
search for your missing self
recall your forgotten history
and
And Aasyaang-
Your son Theba birthed by your young lass:
what should his future be like?
Think-think about this for yourself
The second poem, originally called Indel Kamabi Ho Ei, is written in the Khaling/Rai language. It speaks of the depopulation of the villages, and the struggle for identity, themes largely missing from Nepal's literature.
will YOU Come BACK to the Village?
Shiva Kumar Khaling
You.
saying you'll come by this evening
you'll come by tomorrow
you'll definitely come by this winter
or by any means you'll arrive by the end of the year
you keep me waiting and waiting
I'm left to stare at the path
Where have you gotten ensnared?
Here.if there were a sun it's on the verge of setting
if there were a fire it's close to dying out
if there were a river it's drying up,
if there were a flower it's begun to wilt
Here.there is great difficulty
in keeping our culture alive
There are no Shilee dancers for the Tosi puja
There are no Risiwa singers
There is no one to recite veda and mundhum texts
And so.will you come back to the village
before the Khaling language of Khaling is lost
before the mundhum vedas of Khaling are forgotten
before our culture becomes extinct
before our identity is erased?
The third poem takes a lighter tone, and shows, with humour, the conditions of rural life. It is originally written in the Maithili language, and called Bhagawanak Lalten.
God's Lantern
Dr Dhirendra
In her childish lisp
my daughter Annaa explains-
"That's not the moon,
it's god's lantern
Don't you see, Manju didi?
Like our father, for fifteen days
they light it quite brightly
without a care in the world
And then when the kerosene runs out
they have to make do
with the oil lamps of the stars."
The final poem, below, is also on the lighter side, and it shows the clash of cultures taking place in rural Nepal. In its original Bhojpuri language, it is called Pop Leela.
A POP DRAMA
Bhagyanath Gupta
Endowed with a supple walk
and suggestive dress,
an enchanting appearance,
gigantic tresses decked with ribbons,
large eyes,
rosy cheeks,
a teeka on the forehead,
a flat breastless body,
a gentle perfume
caused by scents,
a chain around the neck,
polish on the nails,
a natural crimson hue to the lips,
bangles decorating both wrists,
earrings on the ears-
anyone would be spellbound
to behold such a beautiful form.
But a father's heart splits apart
to see his son looking like this.
A father gets bewildered thinking
-oh lord, what kind of age is upon us?
The father is halved by the thought
that a son like this will
drown the whole lineage.
So the father said to the son-Babu!
We must get you married now,
I'd be at peace
if we could set up your family
within my own lifetime.
The son replied-
No need for elaborate preparations,
No need for barbers, priests or feasts.
I'll have a court marriage.
And so the advertisement for a bride
was printed in all the newspapers.
Many response letters were received.
When he opened the letters
the pop son was shocked!
Seeing the picture of the pop boy
everyone took him to be a girl
and wrote back making
sundry demands for dowry.
Now the son lost his mind.
He said to the father-
That's enough, Ba.
Let's call a barber at once
and cut off all my hair,
Let's also call a brahman.
I'll get married in
the traditional way.
