Shantiya Shanti
(Peace and only Peace)
A collection of poems in Nepal Bhasa (Newar language)
Shantiya Shanti : Peace and only Peace — A collection of poems in Nepal Bhasa (Newar language)
Author: Srilaxmi Shrestha <srilaxmi_s@hotmail.com>
Bhavana Publications, Kathmandu
First edition: 2011
Shantiya Shanti is a collection of poems in Nepal Bhasa, the language of the Newars, original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley. The word ‘Shanti’ stands for ‘Peace’ in Sanskrit language, and many Nepalese languages that include Nepal Bhasa use this word to express the same. The book contains 42 short poems by Srilaxmi Shrestha under the title ‘Shanti’ or ‘Peace’.
Each of these poems depicts the desire for peace when the reality is in fact quite different.
The poems were composed between 2001 and 2008. These were years of great turbulence in Nepal, not a single day passed without bloodshed. The situation was extremely distressing and Nepalese were longing for peace and nothing else. However, the author finds rays of hope, and displays her conviction that peace can be restored. In this book, some of the poems show the author’s concerns to Myanmar where the military regime was at that time brutally suppressing the voice of peace loving monks.
By creating these poems, the author has conveyed the universal value of peace to the world.
To those who have to live under conditions of war one thing remains of paramount importance: peace and only peace.
Following is an English translation of a poem from this book:
Peace
The country where the Buddha was born,
In the realm of peace, Nepal,
Pure peace.
Blood-blended
Rivers stream.
Where has peace
Flown away to?
The word of peace is everywhere,
But no peace anywhere.
