Name: Himal Khatiwada

Level: M.A second year

Subject: Rhetoric and Composition

Instructor: Punya Prasad Bhattarai.

Essay Type: Critical Essay

Exam Roll No:

‘Irony on Devkota’s Lunatic’

Irony is defined as a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their
intended meaning is different from actual meaning of the words. It may also be a situation
that ends up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated.

Laxmi Prasad Devkota a great figure of Nepal literature presents the condition of the
then society ironically in the poem “The Lunatic”. This is an autobiographical poem of
Devkota. In this poem Devkota wears a mask of a lunatic person. Each stanza brings out a
different aspect of the speaker’s character, confidence, abnormality, imagination and
sensitivity rebellion, aggression and awful majesty. Devkota shows the pathetic condition of
socio-political condition of Nepali society. His irony specially goes to the renowned person
such as political leaders, rich people.

Laxmi Prasad Devkota is known us as the Mahakavi or poet the great- the title given
by the state for his unmatchable contribution to Nepali literature. He deserves that title as he
had done so much in this field through his genre of writing that has earned a greatest honour
and respect in the heart of Nepali speaking population both at home and abroad.

Devkota was born on the night of Laxmi puja in 1966 B.S. from the womb of Amar
Rajya Laxmi Devi in Dilli Bazar , Kathmandu. As he was born at a time when the entire
Hindus including his family were worshipping Goddess Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, his
parents took his birth as the greatest gift of Goddess Laxmi. Accordingly, his name was
given Laxmi Prasad. However, he turned out to be the gift of Saraswati, the Goddess of
knowledge.

His father Til Madhav Devkota was a scholar in Sanskrit language. Laxmi Prasad
Devkota attained his basic education at home under the custodianship of his father. He was a
middle class family and financial status of the family was not very sound. He completed
bachelors degree in Liberal Arts and law. But his desire to complete masters degree couldn’t
be accomplished in the absence of sound financial position of the family.

Right after graduating from college, he started working as a personal tutor. It is said
that he used to teach more than 13 hours a day. He had to do that to support his family.
During Devkota’s time, the country had been under Rana’s dictatorial resign. Young Devkota
knew the importance of education and he bowed to do something to help educate the masses-
the idea was not well received by the then Rana rulers.

Devkota was a brilliant student and did well in school. He was good in both Nepali
and English language and could write in both the languages. Right from the early age, he was
keen in Nepali literature. At the early age of 10he wrote a poem when he was studying in
Durbar high school- the school setup for the education of the ruling Ranas children. The
ordinary people had to seek special permission to study in this school. Laxmi Prasad
Devkota’s father also had to run from piller and post to ensure admission for his son in the
Durbar high school.

Devkota and his friends were keen on generating awareness among the people and
educating them. They decided to establish a library to generate awareness. They had to seek
permission from the government even to establish a library during those days. Devkota and
his friends, thus were put behind bars for trying to establish a library. As a result, poet
Devkota had to understand a great suffering. He was later find an released. Devkota then
went to Benaras, India, where he used to sell his poems for his survival. He also worked as an
editor of Yugbani magazine in Benaras and gave continuity to his writing.

After he returned to Kathmandu, he wrote Muna Madan-an epic poem based on folk
verses. Although, Devkota has written many books including some of his master pieces, he
loved Muna Madan the best. It is said that Devkota, when he was in death bed, had asked his
friends and relatives to preserve Muna Madan even if all other works were to be burned.
 Although Devkota started writing during the Rana period when the free thinking and
creative writing used to be discouraged, he broke the traditional and conventional style and
introduced a new genre and approach in writing poems and other forms of literature. Along
with the criticism from the then scholars and so called well known people of the society, he
gave a big irony on their values , beliefs and so called established system of society.

Personally he is satisfied with the political, social and economic condition of people.
He presents all situations very ironically. Above all this is at once a very modern expression
of the deepest personal feelings of the poet and a surgical exposure of the hollowness of the
so called intellectual aspirants of the time. He says to himself that he is mad in the first stanza
of the poem. Surely my friend, I am mad exactly what I am, I see sounds, hear sights, taste
smells. The persona in the second stanza shows abnormal behavior. He does what a normal
man can’t do. For example, he can touch those things, the existence of which the people in
the world deny. He is so imaginative that he can see sound and hear the sight and taste the
sweet smell he can touch those things the existence of which the people of the world deny.
He is so imaginative that stone and enchantress of the heaven smiling into him. He
understands the language of the birds and talks to them.

The third stanza tells how the speaker’s hypersensitivity let people to have a wrong
impression of him. When he watched the mystery of the heaven in cold winter night when he
was sad at the death of people and the old age of fair lady people called him mad. When he
would be happy hearing the cuckoo’s song and uncomfortable by the dead silence, they
would punish him saying that he should be admitted to a mental hospital. Even his friends
would not regard him as a normal person.

In the fifth stanza the persona has upset that accepted values. He does not appreciate
those things which the world praises highly. What the aristocrats drink is the blood of the
poor people. Due to the lack of affection, prostitutes are no better than the highly learned me.
The best place in the world is the worse place for the speaker. So the world calls him
mentally deranged.

In the sixth stanza, the speaker revolts against the society which is being led by blind
leaders. He thinks that penances have run away from the society and they hate humanity. He
rather sympathizes the weak people. Finally, the speaker behaves like a rebel.

He criticizes the flatters because they have deprived people of their rights and they
have underlined the false action. The poor people accept their falsity and then the speaker
gets so angry because he thinks these man haters must be punished. The persona on this poem
attacks all the ugliness and wants to bring a complete change in the society.

The poet has used the contrast between the world of the sane man and can’t for
example, the mad man visualizes sound, hear the visible, taste fragrance and taste the
delicious food. The lunatic can touch the thing which as ordinary person can’t likewise, he
can see flower in the stone and can talk with the vied. He feels that heavenly beauty is
smiling to him. Similarly, mad man uses his sixth sense whereas the normal person uses only
five senses. The worldly people use brains, but he uses heart. By using the contrast, the poet
brings out the irony of the poem. The poet wants to say that the worldly people are cold and
cruel and they look are the world from their own convention. Although insane the speaker is
sympathetic and his hearing melts when he sees pathetic sights.

The phrase! The iconoclast of ugliness in the poem refers to the world led by the
blind people. The shameless leaders are breaking the backbone of backbone of human of
human right. They are persuading people to accept what is unacceptable. They don’t treat
human beings as man. They are cruel and in human.

The speaker in the poem can’t tolerate this type of ugliness so he wants to break it he
wants upset the conventional values which have helped the dictators to exploit common
people. In this sense the speaker is the iconoclast of ugliness. A persona is an invented person
in the poem. He or she may not be the author himself. To express the inner feelings or the
emotion of that persona, the poet has taken the persona of lunatic in this poem this poem has
an autobiographical element observing unusual behavior of the poet many people in the
society called him a mad man. This poem is a response to the people’s comment.

The lunatic persona thinks that people cram their brains who worldly facts and
figures and claims themselves to be knowledgeable person. The value materialistic thing such
as wine prostitutes power but they never appreciate the humanity shining brightly in every
significant heart. They value to the transitory things and disregard the really valuable things
that are why they are bigger fools. Stupidity makes the speaker arrogant.
 Works cited

Regmi,Chunamani.Devkota , Kathmandu:Sajha Publication,2036.print.

Dikshit, Kamal. Devkota’s Analysis<<http:www.nem.wikipedia.org>>