|
Abstract:
|
This history is not a scholarly conspectus, it only gives a rapid account of a few major tendencies which have gone into the making of the Nepali literature. Nepali is a language spoken by the people who are also called Gorkhas or 'Gurkhas', well-known for their valour. Many books have been written in English about their life, manners and customs, but almost nothing about their literature. That the history of Nepali language can be traced back at least from the early part of the thirteenth century A. D .. as evinced by a number of epigraphs; that prose writing in Nepali began earlier than in many other modern Indo-Aryan languages; that constraints stunted in general the growth of Nepali literature; yet that its achievements in different genres are no mean- are facts little known to many. This history is mainly for the non-Nepali readers and, for their benefit, Nepali literature has been taken as a whole, as is the general custom followed by the Nepali historians. The position of Nepali, a language variously called till recent times, is indeed peculiar. Like other modern Indo-Aryan speeches it took its birth and grew in the Indian sub-continent long before India and Nepal took their present political shape. These two countries are divided politically but not geographically, and there are also elements like religion, culture and language which bring them closer. It is true that Nepal was independent before 1947
|
