Newari Children Books
by Amulya Tuladhar
I have the pleasure to bring to the notice of those adults and children trying to inculcate some culture into our children while getting overwhelmed by the big TV culture of America.
On a recent visit to Nepal, I bought some wonderful children books to teach NEWARI language, NEWARI values, NEWARI discursive referents, and generally to reproduce NEWARI culture. I have been trying to teach my 4 year old daughter some NEWARI while paging through some comic book like illustrations and nursery rhymes and have been lost in the sweet nostalgia of old familiar tales that I am doing most of the reading than my daughter. I have not read all but I recommend all interested in NEWARI culture to read and enjoy the really pure NEWARI idioms that are so enjoyably deployed in these books.
1. "Nepayagu pulan bakhan" [Old Stories of Nepal] by Karunakar Vaidya part III
This is a collection of some 15 traditional stories we grew up with to shape our values, world view, ethics, etc. Here are some example titles:
a. paju wo bhincha [uncle and nephew]
b. hwen khen dhoma wo gwasi daju [the match making matron..]
c. tiri maiicha [Cute Little Girl]2. part 5: (26 short stories such as) :
a. nag wo jyapu [the snake & the farmer]
b. kwo wo bwo [the crow and the crane]
c. pyama gajigulu pasa pin [four stoned friends]
d. machaya insaf [the child's justice]3. Folk tales of Nepal, (part 6, 21 stories)
a. dhwon cholecha ya bakhan [story of the shepherd]
b. kaka ju ya bakhan [story of the uncle]
c. kan, khu, dhusi yagu bakhan [of lame, deaf, and blind]
d. kala dya napalagu [meeting the death god] f. pyema khunta [the four thieves]4. Nepal bhasa gwo akha safu: nigugu
This is a do-it-yourself introduction to NEWARI letters and numbers, a "varna mala" designed for KG level by Bishnu Chitrakar and illustrated by Sharad Shakya and computer printed by JuJu Tuladhar. The book taught me the correct NEWARI way to count 1,2,3 as "chi, nasi, swo, pi..*' all the way to 100 "guisanha". The book also introduces the children to the real NEWARI script, many of whom are only exposed to the devanagari script. These scripts are beautiful Ranjana lipi and nepali lipi, two of the more common among more than 14 variants, supposedly used as distinctively nepali script to win membership to UN. This book also has short nursery rhymes.
5. "Chankha ma chakhuncha" [The Clever Sparrow] by Shyam Lal Shreshta published by Nepal Lipi Guthi [Nepal script trust]. A delightful comic book type in black and white line drawing with references to NEWARI scenes of jyapu and kharpan, NEWARI houses with tile roofs and tikijhya or latticed windows, I must admit that it is difficult to persuade my daughter to be interested for more than a few pages with perked up purple commercial monster,Barney, on the a PBS...
6. "macha kyaba" [the children's garden] This is another delighful children book with nursery rhymes such as "imu wo mari" [the ant and the bread] illustrated in musical score, do-it-yourself stories with sequence of pictures, short intro to river Bishnumati, introduction about the great chinese wall, the spiny anteater etc. obviously for first grader or above.
7. 'bhya-cha dyo" published by Nilkanth Shrestha, the pictorially illustrated "comic book' type book of the folk story of the origin of cross section between Indra Chowk and Kila Gal. Again delightful language that connects NEWARI kids to the place, how Newars are attached to the Kathmandu Valley.
8. "dhwo cholencha" another pictorially illustrated favorite story of animal love, cruel stepmother, greedy half sister, kind animals, coals and spits that speak, and the origin of NEWARI idiom, "ma ya samaa, samaaa mhya ya kanla, kanla"
9. "jatak" the story of the monkey and the crocodile, humours shows how the presence of mind saves the monkey from the crocs, delicious is the language with which wife croc speaks to hubby croc "ya yejju, jita wa maka ya nuga syen nayagu ichcha jugu ta da he de dhunkala" [oh my darling, it has been a long time I have been wanting to munch that monkey's heart}."
10. "hasi mala ma macha" a pictorial comic book format folk story the picturesand the print are crude, what can you expect for publishing only 4000 copies at Rs 4 a copy?
11. "chakhun chiya tangu kaygu" [the lost pea of the sparrow" another comic book format story.
12."maha satwo" [super compassionate] one of the favorite stories my mother used to tell me about a prince who cuts his own flesh to feed a starving tiger to weak to give milk to her cubs. One of my fantasies is to be eaten by a tiger, so romantic way of dying...
13. "kata maricha' [the doll } a collection of 58 NEWARI nursery rhymes a must compiled by Dr. Kumar Bahadur Jjoshi. It has songs to sooth children when crying, songs to teach them about birds, about sharing, about bathing, about toddling you name it, it is there, absolute gem.
14. "surat bajra" the story of the mythological NEWARI scientist who could do what modern satellites do now remotely sense that his house was on fire when he was conferring in Tibet and dousing it with his spit, my inspiration for remote sensing Himali environment from USA.
15. "Ti bhi bhin kaye yasa dwa dwan wa" a story of monsters and demons
16. "luti maye ju" about the great grandmother goddess who had many children but was very poor. She is humiliated for her poverty.
17. "makha pikha" (the cobweb), about a king who gets an ear infection with cobweb until a clever but a lazy boy cures him.
18. "jhigu bakhan" [our story] a modern story about cleanliness hygience, carpet labor, pollution, congestion,urban living.
19. "shilu" the celebrated story also made into a NEWARI movie is about an obstinate woman who insists on accompanying her husband to Gosaikund although there is a taboo against it
20. "taleju" another pictorial comic book format of the story of goddess Taleju in Hanuman Dhoka where hundreds of animal sacrifices are made on the nawami of Vijay Dashami.
21."kata mari cha ya bivah" [the marriage of the doll]] Comic.
If any of you are interested in these stories and would like copies or information about where to get them in Nepal or in US, contact me by email [email protected]
since Dec. 1, 1998.
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