A Tribute to Mahakavi Laxmi Prasad Devkota

Mahakavi Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s famous verses were put to music and the poet was given a fitting tribute in the latest edition of the Paleti series at nepa~laya’s r sala on Friday.

Devkota, well known for his works like Muna Madan, Sulochana, Prithivi Raj Chauhan and Prometheus, is probably Nepal’s most famous litterateur ever. The Lunatic, the translated version of his poem Pagal, is praised outside Nepal as well. He is supposed to have introduced the popular Nepali folk meter in Muna Madan, which remains one of the classics of Nepali literature.

The evening started with the famous composition Kun Mandir Ma Janchau Yatri, regarded as one of the landmarks of Nepali music. The music by Narayan Gopal, Gopal Yonjan, Ashok Rai, Amber Gurung, Chandraraj Sharma, and Govinda Bahadur Gurung took the audience to a different world of poetic verse.

Devkota’s student and lyricist Ratna Shumsher Thapa remembered him as a teacher and a man of liberty just like his poems. Other people who knew him well like writer Kamal Mani Dixit shared some of their moments with the Mahakavi. Devkota’s son Padma Devkota also attended the event and expressed the view that the concert took him back to his childhood days when his father used to play the harmonium and sing along with the children.

The next session of the Paleti series will feature singer Fatteman.

Source: The Kathmandu Post