राष्ट्रकवि माधवप्रसाद घिमिरे (सन् १९१९–२०२०) गौरी शोककाव्यका लागि चिनिने गीतिकवि हुन्। यस पृष्ठमा घिमिरेको परिचय, जीवनी, प्रमुख कृतिहरू र साहित्यिक योगदान छ।
Madhav Prasad Ghimire lived for a century and wrote for most of it. Readers return to him above all for one book of grief.
Who was Madhav Prasad Ghimire? (परिचय)
He was a lyric poet and verse dramatist, known by the title Rashtrakavi (राष्ट्रकवि), "national poet". He also led the Royal Nepal Academy, as vice-chancellor from 1979 to 1988 and then as chancellor from 1988 to 1990.
Life (जीवनी)
He was born on 23 September 1919 (7 Ashoj 1976 BS) in Pustun, Lamjung, and died at his home in Lainchaur, Kathmandu, on 18 August 2020.
His honours include the Tribhuvan Pragya Puraskar and the Sajha Puraskar, which he won twice: for the verse play Himalpari Himalwari (2054 BS) and for the essays Charu Charcha (2058 BS).
In fairness to the record, critics also said he was close to the Panchayat rulers and supported the royal takeover of 2005.
Major works (प्रमुख कृतिहरू)
- नव मञ्जरी, Nava Manjari: his first book, 1994 BS
- गौरी, Gauri: elegy, written in 1947 and published by Sajha in 2015 BS
- मालती मङ्गले, Malati Mangale: verse play
- हिमालपारि हिमालवारि, Himalpari Himalwari: verse play
- शाकुन्तल, Shakuntal: epic
- ऋतम्भरा, Ritambhara: his last epic
Literary contribution (साहित्यिक योगदान)
Gauri (गौरी) is the book most readers know. He wrote it in 1947 as a lament for his first wife. Sources call it an elegy, an epic or a khandakavya, and the uncertainty is itself telling: a book of mourning long enough to be called an epic is a rare thing.
Beyond it, his long work in the gitinatak (verse play) brought Nepali lyric poetry onto the stage and into song.
Reading him today
An elegy is the hardest kind of poem to keep honest, because grief invites inflation. What makes a lasting one is precision about the person who is gone, rather than about the poet's sorrow. That is the test to bring to Gauri.
His work is in copyright, so this page describes it rather than quoting it.
Where to go next
Devkota and Siddhicharan Shrestha are his Romantic contemporaries. All the poets are on the Nepali poets page.