Mahakavi Devkota: a Myth-taker &amp; a Myth-maker

Tara Prasad Adhikari

doi:10.17722/jell.v13i3.430

Abstract

Laxmi Prasad Devkota is simply hailed as the Mahakavi in Nepal that means he is the greatest poet of Nepal. He had a romantic inclination that a reader may easily notice while going through his writings. Of course, he had an immense knowledge of the romantic tradition of the West but at the same time he was a great scholar of English, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Nepali literature. Due to his vast range of knowledge, he has been able to draw numerous mythologies from various places and use them in his writings. But he is not just a taker of foreign myths because he even twisted them at many places. He was very playful of his subject matters and styles. Another interesting thing about Devkota is that his writings do not just take and break foreign myths; he also makes new myths in his own way. This is why this paper argues that Devkota is a taker, breaker, and a maker of myths.

Highlights

Laxmi Prasad Devkota is hailed as the Mahakavi in Nepal that means he is the greatest poet of Nepal
It is the birthplace of Lord Buddha and Laxmi Prasad Devkota
It is a well-known fact that the western romantic writers brought about a kind of revival of the era of mythology through their writings

Summary

Introduction

Devkota is considered as the greatest poet of Nepal and his writings carry Romantic ethos. These romantic poets sometimes borrowed the existing myths for their literary creations, and sometimes they created their own new myths. Well acquainted with the Western Romantic tradition, Mahakavi Devkota does not just borrow and rewrite existing myths and creates them. Love for mythology is clearly visible in Mahakavi Devkota’s writings.

Results

Conclusion