Sunday 7 August 2016

accounts of bishe nagarchi

O Lordship!
After two hundred and fifty years –
I have gone insane
in this very Gorkha rajya1!
My head is spinning like a wheel –
the Earth for me is stretching upto the skies
and the sky is descending down on Earth.
With my dazzled eyes –
I see in you, a ten-headed creature!
Where do my feet tread upon?
Where on the Earth is Bishe Nagarchi?
Lord! I have really gone insane!

I should have served you, my master!
I should have thanked you, my Lord!
– for all little pity you blessed on me.
Touching these feet of Gorakhkali2
I should have protected the history of this land.
But after two hundred and fifty years –
What has this happened to me today?
Lord, probably evil arrows of misfortune struck this Bishe!
I have simply lost it!

Just because my wife was murdered
My daughter was raped
And my hut set ablaze
Why did this Bishe have to react so much?
Shame on you Bishe!
Perhaps I have gone insane, my Lord!
I am out of my mind.

My hands are fractured –
I can now no more sew
the labeda3 of your courtiers.
I can now no more play
Narsingha and Sanai4
or, sing any seasonal and devotional songs.
My legs are battered –
I can now no more
guard your territory.
When my mind is not in its proper state –
I can hardly speak anything right now!
Lord! I am insane.

O Master!
How these lofty hills
once standing tall upon Gorkha rajya
suddenly turn so short and midget?
How these friendly and gentle people
turn so bloody and ugly today?
Why is this Daraundi5 flowing opposite?
Why do I see this palace a ruin?
Lord! I am insane!

Lord!
What does your sword cut – head or flower?
– I am in illusion.
What does your rifle shoot – people or their thoughts?
– I am in confusion.
Who made this country – the king or his subjects?
– I am in delusion.
Since two hundred and fifty years,
I am with you Your Highess!
How can I be a terrorist?
Probably I must have gone insane!
O Lord! I am insane!

May be –
I didn’t pay heed to your Majesty’s divine adage.
Under the influence of alcohol –
I might have flaunted that
this country is equally mine.
I might have regarded Bhanubhakta’s6 songs
and my needles equal.
I might have displayed my bare skin
to those adorned in clean attire sewn by me.
After going crazy –
I must have cursed my own God!
Your grace!
After a man goes screwed off
he starts picking quarrel in trifling matters.
I must have tried finding my descendants
who grew up in rags sewn by me.
Where have they disappeared
in this two hundred and fifty years time?
Perhaps the holes prickled on my fingers
and oozing blood in them
must have aroused me even more.
I might have thought that the country won by thread
must probably have been greater than won by sword.
O Master! Since the very history of this land
I am a subject to your rajya.
How can I be anti-national?
Most probably I have gone insane.
Real insane!

My head is spinning like a wheel –
the Earth for me is stretching upto the skies
and the sky is descending down on Earth.
With my dazzled eyes –
I see in you, a ten-headed creature
Where are my feet standing upon?
Where on the Earth is Bishe Nagarchi?
Lord! I have really gone insane!

(Original: बिसे नगर्चीको बयान by Shrawan Mukarung)

Glossary:

1. rajya: state; province
2. Gorakhkali: name of a Hindu Goddess native to Gorkha
3. labeda: a traditional male attire; usually a large piece of cloth wrapped around
4. Narsingha and Sanai: folk brass instruments often played by tailor-caste in Nepal
5. Daraudi: name of a river in Gorkha district
6. Bhanubhakta: regarded as the first poet of Nepal; a bard of Nepali literature