Shakuntala ( ne, शकुन्तला) is a 1945

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

i epic poem written by

Laxmi Prasad Devkota Laxmi Prasad Devkota ( ne, लक्ष्मीप्रसाद देवकोटा) (1909-1959) was a Nepali poet, playwright, and novelist. Honored with the title of Mahakabi ( ne, माहाकवि) in Nepali literature, he was kno ...

and published by

Sajha Publications Sajha Publications ( ne, साझा प्रकाशन, lit=Common Publication, translit=Sajha Prakashan) is the oldest publishing house of Nepal. It was established in 1913 and is funded by the Government of Nepal. Headquartered in Lalitpur ...

. It is considered to be one of the greatest works of Laxmi Prasad Devkota and indeed of the entire Nepali literature.

Introduction

The epic is based on the classical play

Shakuntala Shakuntala (Sanskrit: ''Śakuntalā'') is the wife of Dushyanta and the mother of Emperor Bharata. Her story is told in the '' Adi Parva'' of the ancient Indian epic ''Mahabharata'' and dramatized by many writers, the most famous adaption bein ...

by ancient Sanskrit poet

Kālidāsa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and t ...

. It is considered the first original epic in the

Nepali language Nepali (; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a '' lingua franca''. Nepali has official status in the Indian st ...

. Although it is based on an ancient work, the work has sufficient originality to be considered as such, specially compared to the first Nepali epic

Bhanubhakta Ramayana ''Bhanubhakta Ramayana'' (), commonly known as ''Ramayan'', is the Nepali translation of Valmiki Ramayana by ''Adikavi'' Bhanubhakta Acharya. It was posthumously published in its complete form in 1887.

which was a translation of

Valmiki Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ) is celebrated as the wikt:harbinger, harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic ''Ramayana'', dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on ...

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

. It was published in 1945. Devkota took just three months to complete the entire epic.

Translation

Laxmi Prasad Devkota translated the epic into English himself. It was published posthumously in 1991.

Adaptations

Shakuntala has been adapted into a play and performed by the students of Bidya Shankar School under the guidance of Sunil Pokharel, the director of Aroha Gurukul.

References

Bibliography

*“Shakuntala.” A Survey of Nepali Literature in English. (M. Phil. Course Packet. Unit 1: Poetry). Kathmandu: IACER, 2006. 45-57. {{Shakuntala 1945 poems Epic poems in Nepali Works based on Shakuntala (play) Works based on the Mahabharata Nepalese books 20th-century Nepalese books Nepalese epics Nepali-language books