Gandhi Raj Kafle

The genre of poetry is not the main identity of litterateur Govinda Raj Bhattarai. Moreover, he is known as a post-modern author who has explored different avenues of writings for his literary expressions. He has written essays, novels, works of criticism, prefaces and literary translations.

But, here the context is poetry, which is slim compared to other beats of literature for him. However, to speak statistically, he has had two publications of poetry books until now – the fresh one is the under review book "Bhukampa Prarthana" (Prayer of the Earthquake). The other one is "Aek Kalpa" (One Aeon), which he had published six years ago in 2071 BS.

The book under review is a collection of his long poems. There are eighteen titles and the book size is 110 pages. Thematically, all poems in it originated from the nightmarish feelings, which kept haunting the mood of the poet during the deadly Earthquake of 2072 BS (2015). But there is a point in comparing this anthology to his first poetry book, too. He had offered prayer to the genre of poetry thematically like this time in his earlier book.
This means the poet has full honour for poetry. He gives his reason, which is this – 'survival period of poetry at least one aeon. He further says the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Gita and all the Upanishads and the Iliad and Odyssey and the Shakespearean works and other many, which have been touching the human heart and are remembered perennially, will survive with sweetness and softness of expressions soothing the mind and soul of readers.

This is the faith of the poet for poetry and he is eager to contribute even to poetry, especially when he feels poetry alone can provide enough art to outpour thematically grave matters of life – to freedom of life, for existence and even possibility of extinction of life. The under review this book shows such grave issues kept coming into his mind and heart, compelling him to compose poems during the Earthquake Year of 2015 in Nepal.
The 'prayer' is a sacred word and prayer without poetry is tasteless. He is offering prayer in a troubled time. The poet was in Tyanglaphanta, Kirtipur, at his residence, when the Earthquake of 7.6 Magnitude occurred and the earth kept shaking even with aftershocks continuously. Bhattarai chose to compose poems with a single theme of 'earthquake' and it became a true friend to console his disturbed mind and heart.

The titles of poems in 'Earthquake Prayer' are simple, but the meanings in them are deep and philosophically symbolic. It seems the feeling of the poet during the shaking of the Earth, too, is related to the unavoidable bitter truth of life. The poet says the devastation will stop only when its gargantuan spade ploughs through the Earth again. His poem entitled 'Throw The Other One More Spade, Too' contains such messages.
The poet reminds the truth through the lines of the Gita:
Nantam na madhyam na punastabadim
The other suitable lines he mentions to quote from the Gita in the times of the Earthquake are:
Yatha pradiptam jwalanam patanga
Bishanti nashaya samriddhabega
The meaning in the poems clarified by the poet in the context of the aforementioned lines of the Gita is nature, the supreme god and the truth, which are endless and origin-less. It is spontaneous; what we love to see or find is not only the truth, the truth of nature or god appears inevitably and it is beyond our desire.

To symbolise this Gita view, the poet also takes help from his knowledge from the Western World which he acquired during study and teaching as a professor of English on TU. He even mentions names and views of world-famous authors and poets like Jorge Luis Borges, Boris Pasternak, Earnest Hemingway, Jan Paul Sartre, VS Naipaul, Simon de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, Haruki Murakami and Henrik Ibsen to sweeten his poetic expressions.
No doubt, the theme 'earthquake' as the subject of the poem is dry and pessimistically charmless. The tough talk in this situation needs help from art. Poet Bhattarai has tried to define the grave meaning of life to share succour and solace in the Earthquake hit times composing poems of 'The Earthquake Prayer'.

Bhattarai has dedicated this anthology to Michael Hutt, a well-known non-native Nepali speaking scholar of the Nepali language and literature. It would be relevant to remember Professor Hutt's Paper Presentation on the theme "The Nepali Poetry of the 2015 Earthquakes and Their Aftermath" in July 2018 in Kathmandu.

In gist, the Earthquakes like of 2015 are rare incidences. There are many ways to remember its physical damage. But, so far as sentiment is concerned, the genre of poetry is a powerful means. Poet Bhattarai deserves kudos to do this artwork and the freshly published book 'Bhukamp Prarthana' is a gift to Nepali poetry readers.