Homework Of Dashain and Tihar

                  

National personalities


                Laxmi prashad devkota

Laxmi Prasad Devkota was born on November 12, 1909. Devkota is considered to be one of the most prolific and gifted writers in Nepali Literature. He has been given the title of "Maha Kavi," ("The Great Poet") of Nepal.

Devkota was the third son of Pandit Til Madhav and Amar Rajya Laxmi Devi. He was born in Dilli Bazar, Kathmandu on the day of Dipawali, theFestival of Lights, which is a celebration of Laxmi, the Goddess of Wealth. His name literally means a gift "Prasad" from the goddess of wealth "Laxmi". His family was never financially well-off.Devkota studied science at Tri Chandra College in Kathmandu. After completing the intermediate level studies at Tri Chandra College, he enrolled inHumanities and that was when he began to read English poetry. In 1931, Devkota went to Patna on scholarship hoping to study English for his Master’s degree. But because seats were not available as expected, he enrolled for the Bachelor of Law degree instead. After he received the degree, he returned back home and started to live the family life. Despite taking tuition classes to supplement his earning, sometimes for fourteen hours a day, financial problems never left him.

Devkota contributed to Nepali literature by bringing the Sanskrit tradition to its end and by starting modern romantic movement in the country. Devkota was the first to begin writing epics in Nepali literature. Nepali poetry soared to new heights with Devkota's groundbreaking and innovative use of language. Departing from the Sanskrit tradition that dominated Nepali literary scene, he wrote Muna Madan (1930), a long narrative poem in popular "jyaure" folk meter. The book received immediate recognition from the Ranas who ruled Nepal at that time. It tells the story of Madan who departs from his wife Muna to Tibet to make money. The poem deals with the themes of the hardships of journey away from home, grief of separation, longing and death. The following couplet which are among the most famous and most frequently quoted lines from the poem celebrates the triumph of humanity and compassion over any artificial hierarchies created by culture.

Besides poetry, Devkota also made significant contributions to the essayistic genre. He is considered to be the father of modern Nepali essay. He defied the conventional form of essays by blatantly breaking the rules of grammar and syntax, and embracing a more fluid and colloquial style. His essays are generally satirical in tone and are characterized by their trenchant humor and ruthless criticism of the modernizing influences from the West in the Nepali society. An essay titled भलादमी (Bhaladmi) or "Dignitary" criticizes a decadent trend in Nepali society to respect people based on their outward appearances and outfit rather than their actual inner worth and personality. In another essay titled के नेपाल सानो छ? (Ke Nepal Sano Cha?) "Is Nepal insignificant (small)?", he expresses deeply nationalistic sentiments inveighing against the colonial forces from British India which, he felt, were encroaching all aspects of Nepali culture. His essays are published in the collection Laxmi Nibhandha Sanghraha (लक्ष्मी निबन्धसङ्‌ग्रह).

Laxmi prashad devkota died on September 14, 1959.

                 Bhanubhakta acharya

Bhanubhakta Acharya (1814 AD - 1868 AD) The First Poet Of Nepal. He translated the great epic 'Ramayana' from Sanskrit to Nepali.

Nepalese people cannot forget the day Ashar 29, "Bhanujayanti"(July 13), the birthday of Bhanubhakta Acharya, who is also more popularly known as "Neplaka Adikavi"(Nepal's original poet).

"Adikavi" in reference to Bhannubhakta had first been used by Motiram Bhatta. While writing a biography of Bhanubhakta in 1981, Motiram described him as Adikavi, not because he was the first poet in Nepali. As Motiram himself recognized, there were many poets before Bhanubhakta. Instead, he argued that Bhanubhakta deserved the title because he was the first poet who wrote with an understanding of the "marma"(inner essence) of poetry.

Bhanubhakta Acharya Bhanubhakta Bhanubhakta (1814-1868) was a Nepali poet who translated the great epic "Ramayana" from Sanskrit to Nepali. Born to a Brahmin family in 1814 in Tanahu, he received at home an excellent education with a strong leaning towards religion from his grandfather.

After the fall of the Khas Empire in the 15th century, its language which evolved into present day Nepali was considered bastardized and limited to speech. Sanskrit dominated most of the written texts of South Asia and its influence was particularly strong in Nepal. Brahmins were the teachers, scholars and priests of the society by virtue of their caste. Their education was Sanskrit-oriented since most religious texts of the Hindu religion were in that language.

Many wrote poetry that was too heavily Sanskritized. Bhanubhakta was definitely "the" writer who gained the acceptance of a wide range of people and his creations played a key role in popularizing the written form of the Khas language.

Bhanubhakta's contribution was unique. Children who received an education at the time began their studies with light epics such as the "Ramayan" and graduated to the more complex "Upanishads" and "Vedas." Ram's heroic exploits were highly impressive to Bhanubhakta, so he decided to make the deity more accessible to the people who spoke Khas. (Since the social order did not encourage literacy, most country people did not understand anything when epics were read out to them in Sanskrit.)

When completed, his translation of the Ramayan was so lyrical that it was more like a song than a poem.

Bhanubhakta did not study Western literature. All his ideas and experiences were derived from his native land. This lent such a strong Nepali flavor to his writing that few poets have been able to equal his simple creations in terms of content: a sense of religion, a sense of simplicity, and the warmth of his country are the strongest features of his poetry. Those who read the first lines of the Bhanubhakta Ramayan can clearly feel Nepal in them.

Bhanubhakta was a young boy from a wealthy family and was leading an unremarkable life until he met a grass cutter who wanted to give something to society so that he could be remembered after death too. After listening to the grass cutter Bhanubhakta felt ashamed of himself. So by the inspiring words of the grass cutter, he wrote these lines:

He gives his life to cutting grass and earns little money, he hopes to make a well for his people so he will be remembered after death, this high thinking grass cutter lives in poverty, I have achieved nothing, though I have much wealth. I have neither made rest houses nor a well, all my riches are inside my house. This grass cutter has opened my eyes today, my life is worthless if the memory of my existence fades away.

Bhanubhakta wrote two masterpieces in his life. One, obviously, is the "Bhanubhaktey Ramayan" and the other is a letter he wrote in verse form to the prime minister while in prison. Due to some misunderstanding in signing the papers, he was made a scapegoat and put into prison. His health became bad and he was given false hopes of being set free. For a long time his case was not even heard. So he wrote a petition to the all-powerful prime minister requesting his freedom.

Everyday I see kind authorities and they get rid of my worries. I am at peace and at night I watch dances for free. I do what my friends - mosquitoes, fleas, and bedbugs - say: the mosquitoes sing and the ticks dance, I watch their play. I was jobless, wealth-less, my hard-earned food came from the spade, I served those people so everyone would notice me and give me respect. Without wavering I served and they were pleased and they gave overflowing attention that is never, ever, taken away. I am 40, I have a son who is eight years old. The time for celebrating his manhood-ceremony is close. I am rotting inside these four walls, so what can I do, my Lord? How can I complete the ceremony in this darkness-filled world. The secret of success should be given by the father, the lessons of life should be given by the mother, my child has yet to study the Vedas and serve his teacher, therefore to you, my Owner, I repeat my prayer. Even while a great ruler like you own this earth, a Brahmin's rituals of manhood are being delayed. Whose feet do I have to place my sorrow at except yours? Please take pity on me and decide my case for better or worse. My body is weak, it is made of grain and water. How shall I say what has befallen me here? I have suffered much sorrow, my body grows heavy, and I have been ill for many days. I was imprisoned for a long time at Kumarichowk, illness came upon me there and after much trouble I went home. When I became well they brought me here, now you, my Owner, you are my only hope. Whatever I explained to the authorities in writing is true. But others' answers and written proofs, I am told, have proved wrong all that I have said. I told them I would pay their fines a thousand-fold. But they say they have signatures on papers and letters, they say their witnesses have many more tales. I said I would not plead, I would rather be false, I will say anything that gets me outside these walls. I have no wish to spend the rest of my life in this quarrel. I have no wish to become a millionaire and fill my house with treasures. Days pass by uselessly and I cannot comfort myself if you would decide my case it would be a great help. I have talked with the warden and he does not speak. Even if he does, his: "tomorrow, tomorrow," sounds like a joke. What are these tomorrows? It would be better to know I won't be freed. Many tomorrows passed. Please fill this empty bag of mine, I beg.

Bhanubhakta not only won his freedom with his poem, but was given a bag of money as well. So passed the most dangerous and exciting time of his life. He died in 1868 as a simple man who did not know he would be among the most revered poets of Nepal. Perhaps, it is only he and Laxmi Prasad Devkota that have become literary gods in this country. The only difference between the two is that Devkota's works continue to enjoy as much celebrity as the great poet himself, while Bhanubhakta's fame tends to overshadow his writings.

However, his creation was not published and he was to die without receiving credit for his contribution. It was in 1887 that Moti Ram Bhatta found his manuscript and printed it in Benaras, India. Bhanubhakta Acharya is considered the first poet writing in Nepali language. Poets before him in Nepal usually wrote in Sanskrit. One of his writings is well known for its colorful, flowing praise ofKathmandu valley and its inhabitants.But he has been a lost identity. His works are not as famous as other poets in Nepal's history of literature.



International personalities

  Florence nightingale

Florence Nightingale was born on 12 May 1820 at the Villa La Columbia in Florence; she was named after the city of her birth. Her father, William Edward Nightingale (1794-1874), was son of William Shore, a Sheffield banker. When Nightingale came of age on 21 February 1815 he inherited the Derby shire estates at Lea Hurst and Wooded in Derby shire from, and assumed the surname of Peter Nightingale, his mother's uncle. On 1 June 1818 he married Frances Smith, a strong supporter of the abolition of slavery. They had two daughters, Parthenope and Florence. "Parthe" was given the classical name of Naples where she was born.

Florence Nightingale was brought up at Lea Hall; in 1825 the family moved to Lea Hurst which Nightingale had just built. In 1826 he also bought Embley Park, in Hampshire and in1828 he became High Sheriff of the county. The family invariably spent the summer at Lea Hurst and the winter at Embley Park, occasionally visiting London. Florence Nightingale had a broad education and came to dislike the lack of opportunity for females in her social circle. She began to visit the poor but became very interested in looking after those who were ill. She visited hospitals in London and around the country to investigate possible occupations for women there. However, nursing was seen as employment that needed neither study nor intelligence; nurses were considered to be little less than prostitutes at that time

Nightingale's hospital visits began in 1844 and continued for eleven years. She spent the winter and spring of 1849-50 in Egypt with family friends; on the journey from Paris she met two St. Vincent de Paul sisters who gave her an introduction to their convent at Alexandria. Nightingale saw that the disciplined and well-organised Sisters made better nurses than women in England. Between 31 July to 13 August 1850, Nightingale made her first visit to the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth. The institute had been founded for the care of the destitute in 1833 and had grown into a training school for women teachers and nurses. Her visit convinced Nightingale of the possibilities of making nursing a vocation for ladies. In 1851 she spent four months at Kaiserswerth, training as a sick nurse. When she returned home, she undertook more visits to London hospitals; in the autumn of 1852 she inspected hospitals in Edinburgh and Dublin. In 1853 she accepted her first administrative post when she became superintendent of the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen.

In March 1854 the Crimean War broke out and the reports of the sufferings of the sick and wounded in the English camps created anger in Britain. William Russell, The Times' correspondent, described the terrible neglect of the wounded, and pointed to the differences between the facilities provided for British and French soldiers. He asked: ‘Are there no devoted women among us, able and willing to go forth to minister to the sick and suffering soldiers of the East in the hospitals of Scutari? Are none of the daughters of England, at this extreme hour of need, ready for such a work of mercy? Must we fall so far below the French in self-sacrifice and devotedness?’

She received was the Order of Merit in 1907 and in 1908 she was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. She had already received the German order of the Cross of Merit and the French gold medal of Secours aux Blessés Militaires. On 10 May 1910 she was presented with the badge of honour of the Norwegian Red Cross Society. Nightingale died in South Street, Park Lane, London, on 13 August 1910 at the age of ninety and was buried on 20 August in the family plot at East Wellow, Hampshire. An offer of burial in Westminster Abbey was refused by her relatives. Memorial services took place in St. Paul's Cathedral and Liverpool Cathedral, among many other places.
 

                 Madame Curie

Madame Curie was the physicist with expertise in chemistry that, in 1898, discovered the radioactive substances of radium and polonium in Paris, France. She was the first to isolate pure radium, and was world renowned as the leading expert on radiation. In fact, she coined the term, "radioactivity." The Curies and Henri Becquerel shared the Nobel Prize for Physics because of their discovery of natural radioactivity. Years later, after a brutal political fight, Marie was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry for determining the atomic weight of radium.

The incredible woman who we all know as Madame Curie came into the world in a different place, and under a different name. Maria Salomea Sklodowska was born on 7 November 1867, in Russian occupied Poland. The circumstances of her youth, and her reactions to them, helped to form the bright, passionate, and dedicated scientist who changed the face of physics forevermore.Maria was the youngest of five children born into a family of patriotic intellectuals. Her parents were teachers, and supplemented their children’s education with a love of and dedication to learning. Their mother tutored her children privately, and their father patiently played games that taught math and geography.

Personally, Pierre was a brilliant, shy, and kind-hearted man whose love of life perfectly complemented Marie’s serious personality. His anti-establishment beliefs blended well with her hatred of Poland’s oppressors. Pierre’s old promise to remain a bachelor dissipated quickly. He now tried to convince Marie not to return to her father in Poland. He wrote of their dreams: her patriotic dream, their humanitarian and scientific ones. They were both convinced that science was the way to save humanity.They were married in 1895, and rode to their honeymoon on newly purchased wedding gifts: bicycles. People were shocked to see a women in pants, but Marie was unafraid to display her unique qualities, be they mental, spiritual, or athletic. Husband and wife settled in Paris, and sought an interesting project on which to work

Marie Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel were nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1902, but didn’t win. In 1903, a letter was written to nominate Pierre Curie and Becquerel. This letter gave Pierre credit for the discovery of thorium and radium and falsely reported that Becquerel and Pierre Curie worked side-by-side in the laboratory. In reality, they had never worked together. In fact, Pierre had never liked nor trusted Becquerel who was part of the political hierarchy that Pierre so detested. What is even more incredible, is that one of the authors of the fictional letter, Lippmann, was the one to read to French Academy of Sciences the first paper written by Madame Curie on her discoveries of radioactivity. Lippmann was Marie’s mentor. 

He had also sought funds for her work. Another of the authors supplied Marie with the uranium with which she experimented. All four authors of this nomination letter were fully aware that Marie Curie alone, was responsible for the isolation of a decigram of pure radium. Why did they leave Madame Curie out of the picture? No one knows. Fortunately, Marie had an ally in Sweden who happened to be a most influential of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. He informed Pierre of the nomination letter.

 Pierre responded, "If it is true that one is seriously thinking about me, I very much wish to be considered together with Madame Curie with respect to our research on radioactive bodies." Pierre then referred to the important role, which Marie had played. The Nobel Committee investigated the research done by Becquerel and both of the Curies. The nomination of Marie in 1902 was hurriedly resurrected to include her as a nominee for 1903, and all three received the Nobel Prize.Only a few months later, on 4 July
1934, Marie died at the Sancellemoz Sanatorium in Pansy 

in Haute-Savoie, from a plastic anemia