Newar literature
[2] From the 14th century onwards, an overwhelming number of stone inscriptions in the Kathmandu Valley, where they are an ubiquitous element at heritage sites, are in Nepal Bhasa.
The first story book is Tantrākhyāna (1518), and the first one-act play is Ekadaśī Brata (1633) written by King Siddhi Narasingha Malla.
[6] The literary genres prevalent during this era consist of chronicles, epics, stories, scientific manuals mainly dealing with astrology and medicine, didactic poems and drama.
Among the public, Jagat Keshari (1678) of Banepa in the east of the Kathmandu Valley is celebrated for a hymn dedicated to Goddess Chandeswari.
In the later part of the Classical Period, Rajendra Bikram among the Shah kings is famed for writing Mahasatwa Pakhyan (1831), a play based on a Buddhist story.
Pundit Sundarananda (circa 1793–1833) is known for his epics while Amritananda, besides composing poetry, wrote a grammar of Nepal Bhasa (1831).
After the Gorkha conquest of Nepal in 1768 and the advent of the Shah dynasty, the Nepali language, formerly known as Khaskura or Gorkhali, began edging out Newari.
[14] As a result, not only literary creations but also writing for general purposes almost ceased; and the distance between the spoken and the written language began to widen.
During this period, a new generation of writers emerged who asserted themselves by producing literary works defying government restrictions.
In 1909, Nisthananda Bajracharya published the first printed book in Newari, Ek Bishanti Prajnaparamita, a Buddhist text.
In 1925, Dharmaditya Dharmacharya published Buddha Dharma wa Nepal Bhasa, the first ever magazine in Newari, from Kolkata, India.
Chittadhar Hridaya, Siddhicharan Shrestha and Phatte Bahadur Singh were among the prominent writers of the period who were jailed for their writings.
Singh (1902-1983) was sentenced to life imprisonment for editing and publishing an anthology of poems by various poets entitled Nepali Bihar.
After half of the print run had been sold, the rest of the copies were confiscated; and the contributors along with Singh were put in prison.
[23] Poets like Kedar Man Vyathit and Dharma Ratna Yami, who had been jailed on political charges, began writing in Newari too during their time in prison.
From 1930, when the first yellow-robed monks appeared on the streets of Kathmandu since the 14th century, the number of their followers rapidly swelled, and books began to be published to educate them.
[24] Braving official harassment, the monks produced a steady stream of books on Buddhism from India and greatly enriched the corpus of religious literature.
His works range from a collection of children's poems and songs entitled Chiniyamha Kisicha ("Sugar Elephant") to romantic and progressive compositions that have earned him the epithet of People's Poet.
[35] As part of the protests, weekly literary meets were held at street squares and public courtyards for more than a year.
[36] Birat Nepal Bhasa Sahitya Sammelan Guthi (Grand Newari Literary Conference Trust), formed in 1962 in Bhaktapur, and Nepal Bhasa Manka Khala, founded in 1979 in Kathmandu, are some of the prominent organizations that emerged during this period to promote literature and struggle for language rights.
