Indra Bahadur Rai

Indra Bahadur Rai (Nepali: ईन्द्र बहादुर राई) is a Nepali writer and literary critic from Darjeeling. Being one of the most well-known modern authors of Nepali literature his major works are included on the syllabus of many universities for those studying Nepali in India. He has been an active writer for a span over 60 years and is the receiver of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jagadambashri Puraskar and Agam Singh Giri Smriti Puraskar. His first book Vipana Katipaya published in 1960 has had a great influence upon Nepali literature, especially on the genre of short stories.^[1][2] Rai is a very diverse writer and uses a wide range of literary styles which incorporate both traditional as well as modern techniques in his works. The texts he has written deal with a range of topics: from small private whimsies to key historical events making each document into a unique forceful piece of literature. According to Prem Poddar, the writings of Rai which reflect the heritage of the Gorkha/Nepali nation and national identity can be interpreted in two different ways:

"As I see it, Rai’s reflections on the Nepali language, the Gorkha/Nepali community, and his own writing practice can be read in two ways. The first is in terms of telos: that writing will strengthen the nation or ethnie. The other way is the more troubled interrogative reading that raises the same questions of cultural identity, through textual elisions and ambivalences inter alia, about writing and the Gorkha/Nepali community. I raise the possibility, and vacillate between, both kinds of reading in this introductory essay, but the very act of vacillating veers me towards the latter."^[3]

A selection of his short stories were translated 2009 into English as Gorkhas Imagined: Indra Bahadur Rai in Translation.^[4][5][6][7]

Works

He has edited some books and literary periodicals. His most important works are as follows:

• Vipana Katipaya - विपना कतिपय (1960)
• Aja Ramita Chha - आज रमिता (1964)
• Tipeka Tippaniharu - टिपेका टिप्पणीहरु (1966)
• Bhanubhaktaka Kriti Adhyayanharu - भानुभक्तका कृति अध्ययनहरु (1971)
• Kathastha - कथास्थ (1974)
• Nepali Upanyaska Adharharu - नेपाली उपन्यस्का आधारहरु (1974)
• Sandharbhama Ishwar Ballabhka Kavita - सन्धर्भमा इश्वर बल्लभ्का कविता (1976)
• Darjeelingma Nepali Natakko Ardhashatabdi - दार्जीलिङमा नेपाली नाटकको अर्धशतब्दी (1989)
• Kathaputaliko Man - कथापुतलिको मन (1992 )
• Pahad ka Kholaharoo - पहाड का खोलाहरू (1992 )
• Arthaharuko Pachhilitira - अर्थहरुको पछीलितिर (1994)
• Prishta-Prishtha - प्रिश्ता प्रिश्ता (1995)
• Samayankan Dainikiya - समयन्कन डैनिकिया (1997)
• Lekhanru Ra Jhya - लेखन्हरु र झ्याल (2000)
• Pahilo Din
• Sahitya Apaharan Markswadi Pratibadhdata

Indra Bahadur Rai is undoubtedly the greatest of all Indian Nepali writers writing today. He was the first recipient of the Sahitya Akademi (साहित्य अकदेमी) Award in Nepali. He won this award in the year 1976 for his Nepali Nepali Upanyaska Adharharu - नेपाली उपन्यस्का आधारहरु. His literary career spans over more than thirty five years. His initial writings were published in different periodicals. But his first work to be published in book form was Vipana Katipaya - विपना कतिपय, a collection of thirty short stories. In these stories he appears to be a realist treading the path of the French naturalists. The publications of his very first book proved to be an epoch-making event which carved him a safe niche in the history of the short story as a literary genre in modern Nepali literature.

References

External links

• "Video - Indra Bahadur Rai's Speech". Kalimpong.info. Retrieved 4 April 2011. 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo8ik8iAjAA

See also

• Nepali literature
• Sahitya Akademi Award to Nepali Writers