When growing up, Muna Gurung remembers being a voracious reader of children’s books But as she grew up the innocent excitement of reading Nepali children’s stories faded. She was determined to do something about it when she got a chance to work on six Tharu children’s books.
Gurung wanted to revive some of that excitement for herself and share it with a new generation of Nepali children, and worked with Srijanalaya on a campaign to breathe new life to stories for children in Nepal’s indigenous languages.
Supported by the Asia foundation’s Let’s Read project, the first book was Durga Lal Shrestha’s Khya which contained stories in Newa Bhasa with illustrations by Suman Maharjan.
The book became so popular that Srijanalaya decided to publish six books of interesting tales from the Tharu community. After a five-day residency in Dang last year with three writers and six illustrators, the exquisitely produced books are finally ready and are being launched digitally on Saturday, 30 May.
The writers are Krishna Raj Sarbhari, Shanti Chaudhary and Chhabilal Gopilal while the illustrators are Suman Maharjan, Bandana Tulachan, Ubahang Nembwang, Shraddha Shrestha, Umesh Chaudhary and Mithu Tharu.
“The residency helped crystallise the ideas, and get both illustrators and writers on the same page about the message they wanted to get across through the stories,” explains Sharareh Bajracharya at Srijanalaya, who adds that she and the writer-illustrator team were surprised that there were so many rich variations to the Tharu language.
While Krishna Raj Sarbahari and Chabbhilal Gopilal are from Danga, Shanti Chaudhary is from Bara. The six Tharu books are titled Gidrak Bhoj, Bhukali, Khuttruke, Ladeha aur Bachiya, Kailari and My Dudho, and have been translated into Nepali and English by Gurung and Niranjan Kunwar.
Krishna Raj Sarbahari who is already a popular writer in Tharu is also a well-known children’s book writer and says that the six new books are a literary milestone for Tharu literature, not just for children but for adults as well, and not just for Tharus but for Nepal too.
“Poems written in Tharu languages are relatively popular, but I believe these children’s books will contribute immensely to conserve our language and culture, and catch Tharu children young to be proud of their language,” says Sarbahari.
One of the most historic entries in this Tharu Children’s book was of the artist, illustrator Mithu Tharu, a contemporary art student from Lalitkala Campus who collaborated with Chabbilal Gopilal for Kailari.
Mithu Tharu used modern art as well as the traditional Tharu art Ashtamiki, for the book, and says: “The whole journey was so much fun, learning work from one another, I got to understand the writers’ perspectives and I could enhance that through my art.”
The Tharu books were to be launched at a gala ceremony, but is going ahead with a virtual launch on 30 May, followed by a week-long online campaign called Kailari to Bara to introduce books in four languages, Bara Jilla tharu, Dangaura Tharu, Nepali and English. Children and parents can join read alouds by the authors and conversations with the illustrators on Zoom or Facebook live.
“We grew up reading so much children literature and today’s generation is confined to international books whereas the Nepali literature and other languages are often sidelined,” says Muna Gurung who headed the project. “Enough of Ram, Shyam and Sita, it’s time for Bhukuli and other characters to evolve.”
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