NEPALI: THE EMERGENCE OF A NATIONAL LANGUAGE MICHAEL JAMES HUTT Ph.D. Thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1984 ProQuest Number: 10673218 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10673218 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract Since the thirteenth century, the Indo-Aryan language now known as Nepali has become the mother tongue of an increasingly large proportion of the population of the eastern Himalaya and is spoken throughout the highlands of Nepal and contiguous regions of India. After the political unification of Nepal in the late eighteenth century, the importance of Nepali as an integral part of Nepalese national identity grew considerably. Early in this century, it acquired the official status of the national language of Nepal. This study is concerned with the development of the Nepali language and its literature. The first part describes the linguistic diversity of Nepal in order to demonstrate the need for a lingua-franca in the region. Statistics provided by Government censuses are utilised to quantify the number of speakers of various languages and to evaluate their current status. The effect which the increasing dominance of Nepali has had upon the other languages of the country is also examined. The second part of this study describes the efforts which have been made by Nepali-speakers to standardise and promote their language as a major factor in favour of national integration, and assesses the adequacy of Nepali to perform the functions which have been prescribed for it as a national language. Particular attention is paid to the role of the language as the medium of education. The third part of the study traces the evolution of a Nepali "national literature", the existence of which is quite fundamental to the modern status of the language. The most important trends in the development of standard written Nepali are described, and illustrated by extracts ranging from the earliest known inscriptions to a variety of modern published works. Developments in Nepali literature which serve to distinguish it from the literature of other North Indian languages are identified and analysed. - Ill - Nepali: the Emergence of a National Language CONTENTS Page Tables v Introduction vi Note on transliteration ix Part One: The Linguistic Diversity of Nepal Chapter 1 The Languages of Nepal 1 Chapter 2 The Censuses of Nepal 10 Chapter 3 The Current Status of the Languages of Nepal 22 Chapter 4 The Current Status of Selected Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal 37 Part Two: The Emergenceof a National Language Chapter 5 Introduction to Nepali 56 Chapter 6 The Development of Nepali Linguistic Nationalism 76 Chapter 7 The Standardisation of Nepali 89 Chapter 8 The National Language in Nepalese Education 116 Part Three: The Development of a National Literature Chapter 9 Introduction 138 Chapter 10 Early Nepali: Evidence from Inscriptions 145 Chapter 11 Political Unification: The Beginning of Nepali Literature 155 Chapter 12 Devotion and Heroism: The "Formative" Period 170 Chapter 13 Bhanubhakta Scarya (1814-1868): The 'Founder Poet' 190 Chapter 14 Motlram Bhatta (1866-1897) 205 Chapter 15 Early Nepali Publishing 213 Chapter 16 Lekhnath Paudyal (1884-1965) 237 - i v - Page Chapter 17 Balakrsna Sama (1902-1981) 258 Chapter 18 Laksmlprasad Devkota (1909-1959) 278 Chapter 19 Modern Nepali Literature 304 Conclusion 335 Bibliography 343 - v - Tables Page 1. Table of Transliteration x 2. Indo-Aryan Languages of Nepal 7 3. Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal 8 4. Reclassification of Tarai languages in the Census of 1961 16 5. Language Statistics from the Censuses of Nepal 20 6 a. Nepali in the 14 ancal (zones) 22 6 b. Nepali in the 75 jilla (districts) 22-23 7. Distribution of Maithili-speakers in Nepal 28 8 . Distribution of Newari-speakers in Nepal 38 9. Distribution of Limbu-speakers in Nepal 43 10. Distribution of Gurung-speakers in Nepal 47 11. Mother-tongue speakers of Nepali in Nepal 56 12. Nepali-speakers in zones and districts of Nepal 57-61 13. Languages of the Nepalese population of Darjeeling (1961) 64 14. Language of Textbooks on Principal Subjects 133 15. Comprehension of Nepali Textbooks 134 16. Competence in written Nepali 135 17. Competence in written English 135 18. Early Nepali Inscriptions 148-149 19. Early Nepali Texts, Prior to the 19th Century: Summary 188 20. Expansion of Publishing Industry in Nepal (Period­ icals) 1898-1957 22.4 21. Nepali Periodicals Published in Nepal Prior to 1950 227 22. Nepali Periodicals Published in India Prior to 1950 235-236 - vi - Introduct i on This study describes the development of Nepali as the national language of Nepal, and examines the major literary achievements which have contributed to its growth. Ever since the political unification of the country, which took place during the last decades of the 18th century, the conscious promotion of Nepali by the Government of Nepal has been one of the most important elements of its building of the nation. Even now, the issue of language occupies a significant place in Nepalese nationalism. Although very few studies of Nepali have been produced in English, Nepalese scholars have devoted a great deal of time to the study of their national language and its literature. Thus most of the information presented in this study has been drawn from original sources in Nepali. Research for this study was conducted in London from 1980 to 1984, with a visit to Nepal in 1981-82; readings in Nepali scholarly works were supplemented by consultation and correspondence with scholars in Nepal. The first two parts of this study document the emergence of the national language, initially in the form of a functioning lingua franca and subsequently as an increasingly standardised written language. In order to set Nepali in its linguistic context, the various languages currently spoken in Nepal are described with reference to statistics taken from the Censuses of Nepal and with the assistance of a number of supplementary works. This account of the country's linguistic diversity is intended to demonstrate the need for a "link language" common to all linguistic groups in an increasingly unified and integrated nation. Chapters 3 and 4 describe the effect which the dominance of Nepali has had upon the "minority languages" of Nepal; the situation with regard to the Indo-Aryan languages of the Tarai has been comparatively well documented elsewhere, and so particular attention has been paid in this study to the linguistic changes which have occurred among the Tibeto- Burman speaking populations of the hills. The second part of the study is more directly concerned with Nepali itself. The early origins of the language and the distribution of its speakers are described and its current status of national language is explained in terms of the growth of modern linguistic nationalism in Nepal. Chapter 7 describes the efforts which have been made by grammarians and lexicographers to standardise written Nepali and to render it adequate to perform the tasks which are prescribed for it, and the final chapter of the section assesses the extent towhich Nepali now fulfils its role as the medium of education in Nepal, The third and most lengthy section of the study describes the development of Nepali literature. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of a literary form of the language and so extracts from the texts under consideration are given in the original Nepali as well as in English translation; this is intended to illustrate the changes which have occurred in written Nepali. The account of literary development begins with an examination of some 14th-century inscriptions which are the earliest examples of written Nepali extant. Epigraphy excites considerable interest in Nepal and research is continuing in this field. This account summarises the most important discoveries which have been made so far and suggests some tentative conclusions. For the account of the "middle period" of Nepali literature which follows, much use was made of the works of such pioneers as Baburam Acarya, Kesavaprasad LJpadhyaya and Balakrsna Pokharel. Chapters 11 and 12 identify the major literary trends of the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries and assess the extent to which a standard form of written Nepali evolved during the period. It is quite evident that the bulk of Nepali literature has been written since the mid-19th century, and that the number of Nepali writers has expanded rapidly since the early 20th century. Thus it has not been feasible to mention every modern writer of note in this account of literary development; rather, the study concentrates on the most important writers of the period 1840-1960. The great prestige enjoyed by such writers ensures that a substantial number of critical and biographical studies are available in Nepali. Their works reflect most of the literary trends of the period and Chapter 15, which describes the early development of Nepali publishing, provides a context for the accounts of their lives and works which follow. The final chapter brings the study up to date by summarising recent developments in modern Nepali literature. Thanks are due to the Dept, of Education and Science, who funded this research, and to the Central Research Fund of the University of London for their loan of funds and equipment.