A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LAXMI PRASAD DEVKOTA AND THE ENGLISH ROMANTIC POETS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH BENGAL FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ( ARTS ) BY INDRA VILAS ADHIKARY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF NORTH BENGAL 1984 4£K»21£l£iBIiMl I am much indebted to my supervisor. Prof es8#r S.P, Sen Grupta, former Senior Professor and Head of the Department of English, Horth Bengal University for his guidance and encourage- m«at at eveiy step during ay research. I also express ny indebted­ ness to Professor S.K. Das, of the Bengali Section in the Depart­ ment of Hodem Indian Languages, Delhi University and to Professor Maresh Guha, former Head of the Department of Comparative Litera­ ture, Jadavpur University for giving me valuable suggestions on comparative literature and its methodology. I would also like to express w gratitude to Professor Iswor Baral, Department of Political Science, Jawaharlal Mehru University (Delhi) for guiding me in the sources, and the impact of various poets on Laxmi Prasad Devicota's poetiy. I express my thankfulness to the librarians and their associates of the North Bengal University Libraiy, Delhi University Library, Sahitya Akademi Library (Delhi), Mational Library (Calcutta), Departmental Library of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Padma Kaoya Campus Libraiy (Kathmandu), Tribhuvan University Library (Kathmandu) for providing me facili­ ties for using their resources. Dr. S.K. Sprigg's painstaking proof reading and Mr. D. Khaling's help in getting Hepali portion typed in time have been of much use in preparing the thesis. fhe project was fiaaaced by the Career Developmeat Progranaie, Tribhmvan TJaiversi-ty, to which I express w *••? gratitude. JQ-^VJA^ f}k4^ Departneat of Eagllsh, , _.^ Horth Beagai Uaiversity, (ludra Vilas Adbikaayj Baja Baonohaapar, Barjeeliag A LIST OF ABBRBVIATIQWS USED Bi THE THESIS Bs Bhanu BhJ Bharati 3t Sahitya-Srot Ti Pr^^ati 5 i Sharada RR t Roop-Rekha PrJ Pragyan I s Indreni OLJ The Comparative Literature LS i Literary Studies G t G-arima 3H » The Sevvance Review R s Rachana JJOJjt The Jadavpur Journal of Comparative Literature EG Esaays in Qritlciam PMLA The Publication of Modern I.aiisuage Associaticai Gfiiiaiis Page IMTRODUOTICM J Statement of problem, limitations, Survey of Sepalese literature previous to Laxmi Prasad Devkota, characteristics of Nepalese literature previous to Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Maoor Impacts on Hepalese literature. •• 1-36 CHAPTER - I 2he life and Works of Laxmi Prasad Devkota 37-89 CHAPTER - II 'Detailed estimate of Laxmi Prasad Devkota's »«orks which are distinctly Romantic in strain. .. 90-158 CHAPTER - III Romanticism and its characteristics. 159-222 GHAPTiiR - IV William Wordsworth and Laxmi Prasad DevkotaJ A Comparison and Contrast, .. ^25- 264 CHAPTER - V Direct and Indirect Echoes of Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Laxmi Prasad Devkota's Poetry. 265-314 Page CHAPTER - VI Laxmi Prasad Devkota's Humanitarianism Compared and Contrasted with that of Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. 351-382 CHAPTEH - VII Sensousness and Beauty in John Keats and Laxmi Prasad Devkota •• 383-440 CHAPTER - VIII Conclusion •• 441-465 BIBLIOGRAPHY- .. 46 6-476 APPEUDIX .. 477-489 *»« IM2E0DUCTICK- Statement of Problem Hesearch into the sources and establishing a relationship between the poets, dramatists and novelists of British literature and those of i^epalese literature have started only recently. In particular the influence of the poetry of the major British Romantic poets of the nineteenth centuiy on the poetiy of some Wepalese poets has been traced. Laxmi Prasad Dervkota, one of the major Romantics in i'^epalese poetic literature has not been excepted from the criticism. He was, in some instances, even charged with borrowing and translating from the works of those British poets. The purpose of this thesis will, therefore, be t¥fo-fold first, to find out whether the treatment duri-ng research into sources had been superficial, nominal and inci­ dental in the light of the modern comparative literature, and, secoiidly, to establish a genuine relationship between the works of Laxmi Prasad Devkota and those of the major British Eomantics of the nineteenth century by comparison. Limitations This research project, then is limited to the study of the works of Laxmi Prasad Devkota and that of the British Romantic poets of the nineteenth century including William -2- Wordaworth, Samuel i'aylor Coleridge, Lord %-roa, Fercy :^sshe Shelley, and John Keats. Devkota's entire literary corpus in general and selected poetical works in particular will be com­ pared with selected works of the British Romantic poets under the sub-headings giren in the Chapter Scheme for the thesis below. Bases of Qomparison Quite recent in its origin, comparative literature has not ai'iy agreed methodology. The opposing views of the two well- known schools of it represented iy the 'French School' and the 'American School', along with ideas'^ expressed to reconcile them, will be taken as the guidelines while comparing the works of Laxmi Prasad Devkota v^ilh those of the British Romantic poets of the nineteenth century. The transliteration of iiepali or Sanskrit words v/hich seem to be unfamiliar for easy reading follows the system adopted by the Indian Standards Institute (ISI), and -the International Organiaation for standardisation (103). V^hile comparing the works of Lazmi Prasad Devkota with those of the British Homantics, his works will be in the Devanagari script, and a version of it m English will immediately follow it. The translations, if no acknovaedgement is cited in 1 H.M. Block, "The Concept of Influence in Comparative Literature", rpt., JJCL, 7, 1958, pp. 3l-7. -6^ the footnote, mean that they are rendered by the researcher himself. i*hile dealing with the Kepalese section in the thesis, most of the dates will be given according to the Yikram iira following the sources, from which fifty seven should be deducted to get an approximate date according to the Christian Bra. Such dates will be followed by V.3., the abbreviated form of Vikram 3ambat, i.e. Vikram Bra. After this brief information dealing with technicalities, the background of the project will nCT?< follow. Brief sijpvev of the aepnl e.se literature previous to L'azmi Prasad Devkota. One of the members of the Indo-European family, Kepali has been used in inscriptions mainly in the forms of metal plates aM stone slab aince medieval times. But the use of it initially in a literary form ia still shrouded in rtQrstery. According to Br. 'iaranath Sharma, the first use of it in book-form started in 1649 V.S. (l592 A.]).} . Gradually, it v?as adopted in literary forme. Much later people like Paxidit Daibagyankesari Aiyal, Gumani Panta (1847-1904 ¥.b.), Indiras, Veershali Fanta, Vidyaranya Keshari, etc. - most of them poets - used it in their works''. Their poetic works are religious and heroic in character. The religious worka v/ere translations of Sanskrit prayers into —- ^^ Histoiy of the Hepalese Literature) Kathmandu J Sankalpa Prakashan, 2039 V.3.) p. 3, Ibid, pp. 18-3. -4- liepali, whereas the heroic ones were songs about the national heroes who had sacrificed their lives to preserve the indepen­ dence of the country. As is iiie case with aqy growing language, the form used by the poets and writers then was different from the present one at various levels, such as, spelling, inflecticwi, and meaning. Serious literature in Hepali began after the unification of the countiy by King Prithbi iiarayan 3hah (l722-l?75). The credit for using it as a vehicle fit for poetiy goes to Bhanu Bhaicta Achaiya (1814-1868), who leaped into fame as a result of his translation of the Adhyatma Ramayana into riepali* Unlike his precleoessOi-G he uaed very simple words free from aaJiSicrit, and ^^i^ Hamayana, popularly known as Bhanubktiya Itei,mayan, ia often heard being recited even hy illiterate persons. Besides transla­ ting the llafflay^afi^, he wrote mixior miscellaneous poems dealing vvith patriotism, social responsibility, philosophical thoughts, etc. He also wrote some other poeos such as ^U^ _^^(3:nstruction to Daughter-in-laws), crr^ftrcTfr (Questions and Answers), HrcwT^T Uecklace of beads for Devotees), andTTSPft^I (Eamgita). I'hou^ a devoted sid religious poet, he did not renounce the v«orld. He ha-d a family life, jmd v/as employed in an office for sometime. He v.'as even jailed for miscalculation in the official accoxuits. 3ven there he did not stop writing. In fact, he wrote poems in a satiric vein on the misconduct of government officials in -5- delayiiig the mo-^ng of files. He even wrote some portion of his liamayan in jail; and throu^ the Earaayari he has been recognized as the first poet of iiepal* The foot-steps of Bhanu Bhaicta Acharya were followed by Lekimath pouoyal, Chal-capani Chalise, Shanibhu Prasad Dhungyal, liharanidhar Sharma Koirala, and many others. Of them, Lekhnath Poud^^al (1884-1966) made distinct contributions to the history of xiepalese literatiire by v^/riting innumerable lyrics, and the noted narrative poem entitled 353z3T9I i'-^he young Ascetic), He was the first poet to bring a new refinement arid grace of expression, to the language-^. Bala Krishna 5aina (190E-1981), a dramatist aiid narrative poet followed in the footsteps of Lekhnath, smd yet showed tiis imique originality, for idhe first- time, In the field of drama. He used his new style, rhymeless 2 anustuv chanda, like the blank verse of English literature. It gives more freedom of expression like the latter in English. Moreover, by using it the dramatist wanted to impress in his readers that they were reading poetry like conversation. Lekimath and 3al Krishna were follov^ed by a galaxy of authors with nev»' ideas and style, xhere are Madhav Prasad Devkota (1903- ), Laxmi Prasad Devkota (1909-1959), Siddhicharan 1 .'David Eubin, iMepali Visions, i^epali Dreami j'he Poetiy of Lazmi Prasad Uevkota (iJew i^ork : Columbia Univ.