Nepali poetry of the “Third Dimension” movement

Abstract

This article deals with the origin of the modernist literary movement in Nepali literature in the 1960’s. In 1963 a new periodical, entitled «Tesro Ayam» (Third Dimension), appeared in Darjeeling. Tilvikram Nembang, known under his pen-name Bairagi Kainla, was an editor of this periodical and published his own poems in it alongside with poems by Ishwar Ballabh and stories by Indra Bahadur Rai. For the first time in the history of Nepali literature a small group of Nepali writers made an effort to formulate a coherent literary theory related to their works. These new poets aimed at adding a deep meaning and extra third dimension to their works in order to reproduce real life as an indivisible entity. Bairagi Kainla and Ishwar Ballabh declared an abandonment of conventional allegories, metaphors and symbols. But from their works it becomes clear that they did not break with tradition completely and continued to use traditional poetic vocabulary due to it conveys now non-conventional meaning. In this article modernist ideas and stylistic devices of Nepali poets are considered, with transformation of the traditional Hindu and Western mythological images in their poems being analysed.

Keywords:

Nepal, Nepali literature, Modernism, «Third Dimension», Ishwar Ballabh, Bairagi Kainla