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Stirrings Of The Soul Yuyutsu R.D. takes a snapshot of Nepalese poetry and presents it to an international audience By A CORRESPONDENT Nepalese poets have used their profound creativity and thoughtful imagination to inspire and prod the nation’s soul. Generations of Nepalese readers have enjoyed the creative expressions of social and spiritual quests in verse. Despite the richness of quality and creativity, it has taken decades to translate Nepalese poems into English and present them to a wider international audience. Yuyutsu R.D. is among those figures who have dedicated themselves to providing wider exposure to the works of Nepalese poets. In "Roaring Recitals", Yuyutsu has translated the works of five Nepali poets who represent different literary phases. With great diligence and commitment, Yuyutsu, himself a poet, has translated many poems of contemporary and older-generation poets into English language under Nirala Series. "Roaring Recitals" is one of the recent series contributed by Yuyutsu. The works of five poets — Gopal Prasad Rimal, Bhupi Sherchan, Banira Giri, Shailendra Sakar and Bimal Nibha — have been incorporated in the book, depicting two different phase of Nepalese literature. The choice of Yuyutsu is remarkable. He has translated the works of two renowned late revolutionary poets, Gopal Prasad Rimal and Bhupi Sherchan, representing the old generation. From the contemporary genre, Yuyutsu has chosen Banira Giri, Shailendra Sakar and Bimal Nibha. Rimal and Sherchan raised voices of protest against oppressive regimes, which in the following decades formed the core of mainstream Nepali poetry. In many ways, poetry and politics has always remained inseparable in Nepal. Inhabitants of a small and landlocked country, Nepalese poets have always maintained their identity within a strong nationalistic vision. "Rimal remains the first poet to initiate the tradition of protest against the oppressive regimes which in the following decades of formed the corpus of mainstream Nepali poetry. Like Rimal, his successors Bhupi Sherchan, Banira Giri, Shailendra Sakar and Bimal Nibha also raise their anguished voices against the dictators of their times, partyless Panchayat system," says Yuyutsu, in his introduction. Rimal's poems elaborate the vision of the revolution of 1950-51. He was able to muster from deep within anger and protest against the oppressive Rana regime and the distortions it fostered in a society isolated from the rest of the world. Following the path shown by Rimal, Sherchan evokes the lives of people who lost their lives without a cause in foreign lands. Sherchan raises questions about the so-called bravery of the Gurkha. According to Sherchan, they are unfortunate children of partridges, quails and sacrificial buffaloes. Sherchan also describes extremely rapturous world of the Himalayan hills where the Gurkhas come from. Giri employs family images — prayers, vows, oaths, marriage rites, childbirth, a woman's private world and secrets of marital romance — to conjure a Nepal of her dream. Sakar is also very much inspired by opposition to oppression. He describes the cruelty of civilization, typical ways of Nepalese civil servants and other phenomenon. "Replete with the echoes of Nepalese folklore, local myths and hillside dreams-vision, Sakar's poetry tries to reframe the poet's role in writing the throes of a nation quaking under the pressure of senseless modernization and globalization," observes Yuyutsu. Nibha’s poems, too, pulsate with revolutionary thought. Nepalis’ struggle to survive in the treacherous mountains comes out with vivid resonance.
In the process of translation, Yuyutsu has chosen the best available words to convey the original feelings of the poets. Yuyutsu has been particularly successful in combining the rhythm and feelings that run through the Nepali versions. His commendable effort can be expected to go a long way in introducing a snapshot of Nepali poetry to an English-reading audience. Roaring Recitals |
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