Tribhuvan University UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL. 35, NO.

2, DECEMBER, 2020 103

TRIBHUVANJournal
Vol. 35, No. 2: 103-115, December, 2020
Research Directorate, Tribhuvan University,
Kathmandu, Nepal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/tuj.v35i2.36195

ROMANTIC ELEMENTS IN LAXMIPRASAD

DEVKOTA’S MUNA-MADAN
Dharma Bahadur Thapa
Associate Professor, Department of English, Birendra Multiple Campus, Bharatpur, TU.
Corresponding author: dhrm. [email protected]

ABSTRACT
This article is an attempt to study Laxmiprasad Deckota’s poetic work
Muna-Madan to see how much it concords the romantic philosophical parameters.
It analyses the textual properties of the work on the basis of romantic principles
and philosophy propounded by William Wordsworth in his famous essay “Preface
to Lyrical Ballads.” It also invokes C. W. F. Von Schlegel’s poetic theory and
the philosophically grounded definitions of romanticism given by authors like
Bertrand Russell, Justin and Gaarder. Finally the paper comes to the conclusion
that Devkota’s Muna-Madan contains all the major characteristics like strong
subjectivism, foregrounding of folk culture, privileging the common over the
sophisticated and spiritualization of nature that a romantic poetry should possess.
Keywords: romanticism - rustic - nature love - self-expression.
INTRODUCTION
Laxmiprasad Devkota, the composer of the path breaking ballad
Muna-Madan, is famously known as Mahakavi Devkota (epic or great
poet) in Nepali literature. Despite being a rare genius who could write
many epics and who excelled in every genre of literature, it is Muna-Madan
which is said to have credited the poet the identity of greatness. These
have become a part of very commonplace knowledge among the literary
circle in Nepal and anybody who has preliminary sort of knowledge of
Nepali literature. This article attempts to explore and seek how the poem
underlies the European Romantic tradition. Keeping in view the limitations
of space of the paper, it does not dwell upon the matters like the poem’s
immense popularity, Devkota’s literary genius, his total literary output,
his contribution and place greatness and the circumstances of his life and
death. The paper introduces the theoretical premises and characteristics of
104 ROMANTIC ELEMENTS IN LAXMIPRASAD DEVKOTA’S MUNA-MADAN

romanticism and, side by side, shows how Muna-Madan abounds in these

features.
Although there are a few translated versions of Muna-Madan in
English, it uses the original Nepali version of the poem for the analysis.
Conforming to the academic practice I have quoted from the primary text
first in the Roman script of the Nepali equivalent and then translated it
into English keeping inside square brackets. Preferably, I have used
Christian year in the paper but wherever I have to use both, I have put the
Christian era inside square brackets. In the translation I have attempted to
preserve the sense than the literal meaning of the quoted lines. The paper
categorically deals with the basic tenets of romanticism like interest in folk
culture, innovation in form and content, projection of the poetic persona in
the poem and idealization of natural phenomenon
LITERATURE REVIEW
Muna-Madan is one of the few poetic works in Nepali literature
which has elicited such a huge amount of critical discussions, comments
and acclaims. It has been analysed and interpreted by innumerable scholars
using various theories and perspectives and search and research has not
waned. Bandhu (2010), for example, contends that it contains social ideal
and the main cause of its love story of the married couple is the main cause
of its immense popularity (p. 40). Dube (1970) interprets its theme as the
triumph of the spiritual over the material (p.150). Thing (1989) examines
the mini epic from Marxist point of view and concludes that it is a great
achievement for the Nepalese literature for its revolutionary epoch making
humanitarian social revolutionary national consciousness (p.169). Pradhan
(1988) attempts to investigate the poem from the psychological theory
developed by Freud and interprets the dreams of the characters Madan and
Muna had in terms of sexual desires. He asserts that the image of the queen
of Bhot [Tibet] bathing in milk and the dream Muna had the expression of
their strong unfulfilled erotic impulses (p.276). Aryal (2007) has analysed
it from the point of view of the characterization of women like Muna, Aama
[mother], Didi [elder sister], and Naini and concludes that “naari chitranka
dridhtibaata yo kaavya safal ra utkrishta dekhincha [this poem is successful
and excellent from the point of view of women charaterization]” (p.270).
Awasthi (1998) applies Kuntak’s “Vakroktivaad [Defamilirization]” theory
to examine its beauty derived from the juxtaposition of multiplicity of
sounds (p. 300). Gautam (1991) designates it as a great poetic creation on
 TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL. 35, NO. 2, DECEMBER, 2020 105

five counts: impermanence of wealth, naturalness, simplicity, contentment

of the heart and higher pleasure (p.81). He also advances that it contains
the philosophies of the eastern sages, Gandhi, Rousseau and romanticism
(p.85). Pradhan (1991) examines the poem from aesthetic point of view and
asserts that it is greatest tragic lore in the Nepalese literature and ascribes its
popularity to its beautiful and natural juxtaposition of metaphors (p.367).
Notwithstanding profusion of interpretations with multiplicity of the
approaches, there have been very little and sporadic references to the poem’s
association with the European romantic philosophical traditions and trends
of view. Therefore, an in-depth analysis of the poem completely focused
on romantic philosophical parameters is still a task worth undertaking. The
following section of the paper undertakes to fulfil this need.
What is romanticism?
Gaarder (1991) sees Romanticism as Europe’s last common
approach to life that began toward the end of the eighteenth and lasted till
the middle of the nineteenth century. He adds that it started in Germany as
a reaction to the Enlightenment’s unequivocal emphasis on reason (pp.345-
46). In other words Enlightenment or the age of reason overemphasized
the values of decorum and the established classical rules of correctness in
a literary composition. The writer used to follow the fixed generic norms
or conventions, in both content and form. Abrams (1993) advances that
romantics favoured innovation against this “traditionalism in the materials,
forms, and style of literature” (p.127). In other words Romantic Movement,
going against the prevailing literary fashion, sought for and foregrounded
the values which were innovative and ignored or sidelined during the
Enlightenment period.
In a nutshell, opposed to restraint and strict adherence to established
conventions, romantics advocated and practised a free play of imagination,
innovation and self expression in their poetic compositions. Such tendencies
are strongly found in the British romantic poets like William Wordsworth,
S T Coleridge, P B Shelley and others. In the succeeding section of the
paper, I deal with the textual and contextual features of Muna Madan in
the spotlight of specific romantic characteristics to show how it meets the
romantic criteria.
Muna-Madan and literary context
Laxmiprasad Devkota wrote Muna-Madan in 1936 (Devkota
2018, p.i). His contemporaries and predecessors were heavily influenced
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by Sanskritized contents, language and metrical pattern. Lekhnath Poudel

and Somnath Sigdel, for example, wrote poems in strict metrical forms.
Motiram Bhatta, on the other hand, specialized in amorous versus. In those
days, as Devkota (2018) stresses, Sanskrit education was in the norm and it
was the language of education of the elite class and literature. Nepali, the
vernacular, was the language of the working class and was looked down on
among the literary circle (p.ii). He further elaborates that literature was all
about gods, kings and beauties (pp.iii, iv, v). This means that poetry written
about/for common people, written in the language used by them would not
be accepted as literature. To a greater extent, it parallels with the emergence
of romanticism in Britain in the age when grand subject matter and elevated
style were demanded in poetry. Amidst such adverse context Laxmiprasad
Devkota came up with a long narrative poem which has the native origin,
which is about the common people and which is written in jhyaure, a form
of Nepali folk meter.
The context of the publication of Muna-Madan parallels with the
inauguration of English Romantic Movement. Wordsworth and Coleridge
jointly published Lyrical Ballads in 1898 with the Preface which heralded
the age of romanticism. They needed the apology for their poems because
they were marking a shocking departure from the tastes of the poems
of preceding period. In the Preface Wordsworth (1992) throws light on
the qualities of poems that the reader should anticipate. He advances his
principle in these terms:
The principle object, then, proposed in these Poems was to choose
incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them,
throughout, as far as possible in a selection of language really used by
men, and, at the same time, to throw over them a certain colouring of
imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in
an unusual aspect . . . Humble and rustic life was chosen, because in that
condition, the essential passion of the heart find a better soil . . . because in
that condition of life our elementary feelings co-exist in a state of greater
simplicity . . . (p.164)
Wordsworth’s poetic theory emphasizes that the subject matter
of poetry should be taken from the life of the common people and its
language also should be the language of the common people. In parallel
with Wordsworth’s principle, Devkota (2015) also begins his poem with
Samarpan [Offering] and Sajjanwargaka Prati [To the Humble Fold]. To
cite some lines of the latter:
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yo fulijaos! Yo failijaos! Basanta dakana,

jhyaure bhani nagara hela he pyara sajjana!
[Let it blossom forth! Let it spread! To call spring,
Oh my dear humble readers don’t look down on it for being folk song!]
Jhyaure is the type of folk song that is sung collectively in working
places. Such songs are not written down but spontaneously and instantly
produced by the singers according to the demand of the situation. Such
songs, during the time of the poet composed it, did not meet the criteria of
literature. However, Devkota is confident that his poem is going to make a
stir among the traditional minded literati. He was also aware that writing
a folk poem in the Sanskrit dominated atmosphere is like going against
the tide. However, he is also sure that his poetic work is going to prove a
landmark in the history of Nepali literature. In the penultimate couplet he
further pleads:
Yo mero saarwajanik savda sabaile soonnechhan,
Aadima tara naveen chijko wajana gunnechhan.
[I hope everybody will listen to my public appeal
They will feel the gravity of the thing which is primitive but new.]
This couplet, undoubtedly, is an apology for the poem directly
addressed to the public hoping that it will be accepted and valued. He calls
his poem primitive and new. It is primitive because it is production of the
‘lowly life’ of the common people. It is new at the same time because it has
not been treated and tasted like literature before. To use today’s fashionable
parlance Devkota has attempted to deconstruct the classical tradition of
poetry by trying to bring into the centre which was once in the margin.
The source of the poem
The story of Muna-Madan stands on the common native culture in
two ways. First of all, as people of dependent country, Nepalese youths have
tradition of working in the foreign land as low paid workers or mercenary
soldiers so that they can earn a little to fulfil the needs. Chapagain (2020)
asserts that “The epic makes a heart-rending depiction of the life of lower
middle class people” (para. 18). The aspirations of Madan, the protagonist,
represent the aspirations of such youths and Muna represents the young
wives who desire their husbands rather stay with them than go to unknown
places for financial quest. Muna expresses her preference for hardships and
108 ROMANTIC ELEMENTS IN LAXMIPRASAD DEVKOTA’S MUNA-MADAN

scarcities than separation with her husband. She represents thousands of

young women whose husbands are in faraway lands for employment. This
culture has still retained with considerable modifications in the love faith
and devotion between couples. Secondly, the plot of the story is adopted
from a Newari folk ballad (Joshi 1991, p.58). Therefore, the story has the
native footing. Devkota (2018) in “Introduction” to his English translation
of Muna-Madan mentions that the source of the poem is a Newari ballad
where the protagonist, Merchant Udas, obeys his mother and prepares
to go to Lhasha to trade. Despite his wife’s plea not to go and leave her
behind, he leaves home. When he is away, someone informs his wife that
her husband has died. She cannot bear the shock of this news and falls down
dead. (p.xxx)
Of course, Devkota makes a lot of modifications and alterations;
the main frame work of the plot is this folk tale. In Devkota’s version, the
mother is not shown forcing the son to go away to Lhasha and Madan is not
a merchant like Udas.
To take interest in folk culture and render it literary quality is one
of the main characteristics of romantics. Gaarder discusses the differences
between two varieties of romanticism: Universal and National. The former
refers to the school which is preoccupied with nature, world soul and the
latter to the culture, language and history of the people. He cites the example
of Herder as a National Romantic who collected folk songs from different
parts of Europe ( p.352). Devkota has exactly done like what Herder and
other European romantics have indicated.
Bhote: An epitome of rusticity and humbleness
A minor character from the point of view of the role assigned, Bhote
or Lama in Muna-Madan occupies the central position from the romantic
philosophical point of view and the moral values he stands for. Romantic
philosophers and writers privileged the rustic life to the sophisticated
civilized living. The underlying notion is that being close to nature, rustic
living is farther away from the corrupting effects of civilization. In other
words rusticity prefigures the state of Edenic untainted innocence and
simplicity in the romantic imagination. Romantics are said to have been
influenced by Rousseau’s slogan ‘back to nature’ (Gaarder p.349). Russell
(2002) explains that “The poor were supposed to possess more virtue than
the rich; the sage was thought of as a man who retires from the corruption . . .
to enjoy the peaceful pleasures of an unambitious rural existence” (p.651).
 TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL. 35, NO. 2, DECEMBER, 2020 109

Wordsworth also stresses that “humble and rustic life” is free from “the
influence of social vanity” ( p.164). Lohani (2020) opines that Bhote is
“altruistic . . . a rustic character- simple, natural and noble” foil to the
villain corrupted by “civilization” (para. 9). In Devkota’s (1997) opinion
he represents the man of primitive state in which violence has not found
its place yet (p. 253). Bhote/Lama is such a virtuous, humble and rustic
character who is free of social vanity and corruption.
Before analysing the role of Bhote or Lama, I feel it necessary to
define these terms. The word ‘Bhote’ literally means someone from Bhot or
Tibet. In Nepali usage it indicates the ethnic group known as the Tamang
who must have migrated from Tibet hundreds of years back. They are the
greatly marginalised people who inhabit in the remote high hills around
the Kathmandu Valley. Lama, on the other hand, is the priestly class of this
group. To this character Devkota has given the group identity instead of
designating the character with an individualized name and he has used both
terms without any distinctions.
Madan starts returning home as he thinks he has earned sufficient
enough to get his aspirations fulfilled. He catches cholera in the forest on
the way back home. His friends desert him, saying that it is not beneficial to
waste time for a dying person. Mean time, there arrives Bhote, treats and
gives him shelter. Madan realizes:
Chhetriko chhoro yo paau chhunchha ghinale hoondaina;
Manisa thulo dilale hoonchha jaatale hoondaina. (p.20)
[Despite being a son of a noble I touch these feet without ill feeling;
A man is great not by birth but by great heart.]
In the Hindu culture to touch someone’s feet is to honour or express
gratitude to the person. It is a surrendering or a form of supplication. Only
the feet of gurus, parents and other superiors are touched. Here Madan
renounces the vanity and pride based on birth, social rank and so called
superiority of upper caste. At the same time the kind and selfless attitude
of Bhote contrasts the selfish and business minded behaviour of Madan’s
friends who have deserted him in the time of need. Madan survives because
of the Bhote’s selfless service and devotion.
Dwelling far away from the pollution of civilization amidst the
purity of pristine natural surroundings of forests and high hills, Bhote
epitomizes the romantic ideal of humanity. Romantics believed in the
110 ROMANTIC ELEMENTS IN LAXMIPRASAD DEVKOTA’S MUNA-MADAN

organic unity between man and nature (Gaarder, p.352). This implies that
natural environment one lives in has direct bearing on one’s character.
Bhote and his livelihood are presented as:
Muskaanma chhaina maancheko chhoori, wachhanma chhaina
wish,
Haawama chhaina dooshana kehi, manama raaga ris,
Daaridhrya tyahan kya dhani thiyo, thoraima kati dher!
Chhahindo raichha ke sookhalai? Prakriti vaye ner! (p.21)
[No hidden knife in man’s smile, no poison in speech,
No pollution in the air, nor jealousy and scorn,
Scarcity was wealth there, and plenty in few!
Once one is close to nature, nothing needed for happiness!]
These paradoxical lines abound in richness of meanings. On one
hand the poet draws a sharp contrast between the treachery, duplicity and
artificiality of the so called advanced or civilized people and on the other,
the honesty, simplicity and openheartedness of the people who live in
nature’s proximity. Civilization has taught man to be deceptive and it has
polluted nature too. Subedi (1997) comments that Bhote represents the
great spirit of humanism (p. 181). Contrast is also drawn between wealth
and poverty. Civilization is measured in terms of physical prosperity, but
there is scarcity of warmth of human heart. On the contrary, the poor, though
suffer from scarcity of wealth, are rich because they live amidst nature and
hence they have human heart. The same idea is further highlighted in the
line, “Shaharmaa bhari jiwana bhanchhan jiwana ta thiyo wan” [People
say there is life in the city but life was in the forest.] (p. 21). The contrast
between Madan’s friends and Bhote, wealth and poverty, and between the
city and the forest highlights the superiority of rustic and humble life.
Divinity in nature
Romantic poets are grossly designated as nature lovers. According
to Abrams (1993) the landscape, together with its flora and fauna became
a persistent subject of poetry and was described with an accuracy and
sensuous nuance (p. 128). Natural description, however, is presented
not only for the sake of its superficial visual beauty. More than this, the
poets spiritualized nature. Gaarder informs that Schelling was the leading
romantic philosopher who wanted to unite mind and matter. All of nature is
 TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL. 35, NO. 2, DECEMBER, 2020 111

the expression of one Absolute or the world spirit. In other words, nature is
the visible expression of God. Schlegel (1990), another powerful influence
on romantics, also believed that the higher and spiritual world can be
everywhere embodied and shadowed forth in our terrestrial materials (p.
22). Altogether, romantics treat nature as more than material phenomenon;
rather they treat it as a spirit or the manifestation of God.
Devkota’s Muna-Madan is rich in vivid and lively description of
natural beauty. Upadhaya (1999) commends the poem for its description of
the Himalayan natural phenomenon (p. 117). Khanal (2008) also maintains
that this poem is richly coloured in romantic nature worship (p. 237).
As a romantic poet, he has also treated outer natural phenomena as the
expression of the power of God influencing the human spirit. As I have
already mentioned, in the humanist spirit of Bhote, his being close to nature
has influenced his character. A few more extracts from the poem illustrate
how Devkota presents the beauty of nature:
Nakali gyana pothika bhanda, fool paanaa hansilaa
Rangilaa patra prakritdevi ultanthin rasila,
Ishwarako jyoti talkanthyo tyahin shitaka daanaamaa,
Kya bolthyo Ishwar pakherubaata rangeena gaanaamaa! (p. 21)
[The blossoms impart knowledge more delightfully than the artificial
volumes of books
The colourful pages of nature goddess unfold the juice of knowledge
The light of God would sparkle in the drops of dew
He would speak in the mellifluous chirping of birds from the hills.]
In the above lines nature is taken as ‘nature goddess’ and ‘birds’
songs from the hills are the voices of God and sparkling dew drops represent
God’s light. In other words, as mentioned earlier, nature is visible aspect of
God and God is invisible form of nature.
The intruding ego: Expression of the poet’s self
Abrahams opines that much of romantic poetry invites the reader
to identify the protagonists with the poets themselves ( p. 128). This means
that poetry is the self expression of the poet rather than of an impersonal
character. Gaarder calls it ‘ego worship’ ( p. 346). Ego worship has resulted
112 ROMANTIC ELEMENTS IN LAXMIPRASAD DEVKOTA’S MUNA-MADAN

in the unrestrained free play of the poet’s imagination in the act of poetic
creation.
Certainly in Muna-Madan Devkota is not the protagonist, nor does
Madan represent the poet in the least. In that sense it is not a work of
self expression. However, the reader can feel a strong presence of the poet
persona in Muna-Madan. In this regard Gautam remarks that Devkota
concludes the poem as one of the characters (p. 93).The poet projects his
personality into the poem in two ways: first through the direct narrative
voice in the prologue and epilogue and secondly, in the delightful vivid
description of natural phenomena.
As mentioned earlier, Muna-Madan begins with Samarpan
[Devotion] and Sajjanwargka Prati [To the Humble Fold] which are not the
integral part of the narrative, yet they are essential part of the overall design
of the work. In both of them Laxmiprasad Devkota makes his presence in
the first person ‘I’. Madan returns home with gold for Muna and the mother.
His sister relates him the death of both of them. He is heartbroken and
left without his dear ones and a purpose. He wails for the death of his dear
wife and mother and desires death for himself. The narrative ends in a very
intensely tragic note. But the poem does not end with the completion of the
story. The poet concludes the poem with his personal didactic voice which
attempts to compensate the tragic end:
Prithivimaa basi swargamaa herne chhan haamraa najara,
Tala nai hari tala nai heri bilaunaa nagara,
Manako batti tanalo bali swarga chha prasada,
Karma mai pooja ishawara bhanchha yo Laxmiprasada.(p.40)
[We fix our gaze on to heaven sitting on the earth,
Do not wail looking down again and again,
With the sacrifice of the body and holding the inner light, heaven is the
reward,
I, poet Laxmiprasad, urge to worship God in the form of work.]
These are the concluding lines of the epilogue, although a separate
topic is not given unlike in the beginning. It contains five rhyming couplets
which bear the poet’s optimistic philosophy. Bandhu maintains that the poet
has made direct presence to conclude with his didacticism ( p. 171). The
 TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL. 35, NO. 2, DECEMBER, 2020 113

scope and purpose of the article is not an explanation the poet’s philosophy
in the poem but only to see how strongly Devkota projects himself into it.
As indicated earlier, Muna-Madan is more than retelling of a
folk tale which was already familiar among the Newar community. It is
a reworking on the available raw materials which undergo a big change
in the poet’s hand. The poet embellishes and enriches it with his romantic
outlook, namely, the vivid description of flora and fauna as the corporeal
manifestation of God. On his way to Lhasa, Madan goes through the
beautiful Himalayan landscape. Madan’s visual perceptions of nature’s
sublime are in reality, the poet’s own perceptions and love of nature. To this
extent Madan represents the poet. Therefore, as a romantic poem, Muna-
Madan contains a strong presence of the poet persona.
CONCLUSIONS
The discussion leads to the conclusion that Laxmiprasad Devkota’s
Muna-Madan meets all criteria of romantic poetic work. It was published
in the age which was heavily guided by strict Sanskritized classical tradition
which shunned the folk literature. The narrative the poem tells is based on
the folk tradition. It is written in simple language which is used and can
be easily grasped by the general mass. It privileges the common man to
the so called civilized one and guided by humanitarian values. It abounds
in the description of the beauty of nature as the physical manifestation of
the immaterial spirit commonly designated as God. Though Madan, the
protagonist of the poem, does not completely represent the poetic persona,
the poet makes a strong presence in the poem. All these features make
Muna-Madan a great romantic poetic work rooted in native flavour and
tradition in the Nepalese literature.
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