Newa People - Literature

Literature

The earliest known document in Nepal Bhasa is called "The Palmleaf from Uku Bahal" which dates from 1114 AD during the Thakuri period. Nepal Bhasa is one of the five languages in the Sino-Tibetan family with a literary tradition. Literature in Nepal Bhasa began as translation and commentary in prose in the 14th century AD.

Classical Nepal Bhasa literature is represented by all the three major genres—prose, poetry and drama. Most of the writings consist of prose including chronicles, popular stories and scientific manuals. Poetry consists of love songs, ballads, working songs and religious poetry. The earliest poems date from the 1570s. Epic poetry describing historical events and tragedies are very popular. The ballads Sitala Maju, about the expulsion of children from Kathmandu, Silu, about an ill-fated pilgrimage to Gosaikunda, and Ji Waya La Lachhi Maduni, about a luckless Tibet trader, are sung as seasonal songs.

The dramas are based on stories from the epics, and almost all of them were written during the 17th and 18th centuries. Nepal Bhasa literature flourished for five centuries until 1850. Since then, it suffered a period of decline due to political oppression. The period 1909-1941 is known as the Nepal Bhasa renaissance period when writers defied official censure and braved imprisonment to create literary works. Modern Nepal Bhasa literature began in the 1940s with the emergence of new genres like short stories, poems, essays, novels and plays.