A remarkable book with a long title From India’s freedom to Nepal’s Democracy: Memoirs of DB Parihar (2018) was launched at the book fair held in Bhrikuti Mandap in the first week of June 2018. A scholar of political science, a compiler, translator and young generation intellectual named Shankar Tiwari has edited, with a long and revealing introduction, this small book of autobiography of the famously active political activist and artist DB Parihar (1933-1994). In this book of non-descript design Tiwari’s claims about this man are worth noting because they problematise the history of political personas and their achievements in South Asia. Importantly, it shows how Nepali politicians, artists and freedom fighters were working for the freedom struggle of India, and how that very factor trained them on two scores: establishing political parties like the Nepali Congress, and organising cadres’ incursions into Nepal with accoutrements like pamphlets, messages, and in later times, light weapons.

Life and time of Parihar

Tiwari introduces two claims about DB Parihar both of which warrant New Historicist discussion. First, DB was born ‘in the age of big heroes’ from Gandhi to BP Koirala, whose presence overshadowed many other leaders who could create their niche only through hard struggle and their rare quality. DB Parihar was one of them whose creativity, smart personality, brilliant understanding of the situation and courage made him useful for the party structure and leaders. Second, DB Parihar could not create his own comfortable space in the world order because he was a Dalit. That factor did always hurt DB who even reinterpreted his own family linearity claiming his family’s history going back to 1200 AD in Rajasthan, coming to Nepal, later having working links with PN Shah’s court (Pg90). DB makes very moving observation of the social practice in an event that he saw as he was entering Kathmandu incognito in March 1947 carrying anti-Rana pamphlets (Pg88). But he remained a Dalit despite his praise by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, BP Koirala, Ganeshman Singh and others. Tiwari’s subtle perception of this matter can be seen in his New Historicist interpretation that is based on foregrounding the genius and the value of DB Parihar’s actions. In this regards, Tiwari calls the perception of a Nepali Congress historian Sagar SJB Rana in his book Singha Durbar, in which Rana says, DP was given a place in the party in the capacity of a Dalit—an elitist approach to history.

The memoirs is what Tiwari calls a disorganised collection of DB’s writings that he has sought to put in order and link all the strands with his long introduction. In a small space of the book we get to see the formative years of Nepali Congress, interest of Indian socialist leaders in Nepali freedom movement, Nehru’s effort to persuade the Nepali Congress activists, as per prime minister Mohan Shamsher Rana’s request made to him, to halt the revolutionary movement (Pg109), surprising encounter with poet Lekhnath Poudyal in Calcutta and his praise of DB (Pg58), his visit to Narayanhiti Durbar at the invitation of King Tribhuvan for the release of his first Nepali movie Raja Haris Chandra in 1951 (Pg119), and many more historical events.

Shankar Tiwari has presented evidence and logic to dispel the impressionistic interpretations of Nepali film critics who claim that Raja Haris Chandra was not the first Nepali film and DB was not its director. Shankar has met some of DB’s rare contemporaries, which include DB’s close friend in Calcutta Balakrishna Pokhrel, with whom I arranged a meeting for him last year. Tiwari has published a long essay about DB in Fursad (July 15, 2017) under the rubric The true history of directing Harischandra film. He has given evidence of DB’s Hollywood’s film education and his thesis writing. At the launch of the book the famous director, scriptwriter and filmmaker Yadav Kharel unreservedly said, “Shankar Tiwari’s discovery of DB Parihar reminds us of Motiram Bhatta’s discovery of the famous poet Bhanubhakta Acharya.”

Similar works

I have known Shankar as an interpreter and as a JNU PhD scholar. Other than that, I have no knowledge about his educational pursuit. But this book warranted comments and interpretations from scholars, and non-partisan persons like the prominent film director Yadav Kharel. Shankar is one of those young generation scholars whose interest in interpreting history tends to take theoretical and ideological turn as introduced by New Historicism. I stumbled upon this young scholar first when he came to participate in seminars organised by Professor Lokraj Baral. He is one of those youths who are close to party ideals but keep themselves free from any dogmatic bondage of that. Shankar is close to the Nepali Congress party but works, I guess, independently. I know similar scholars who are close to the Communist Party of Nepal but keep their independent views and work with scholarly mode of operation. I have guided postgraduate academic works of some leftist scholars on subjects that are related to Cultural Studies and postalities of theories and ideologies. Despite their scepticism, the leftist scholars have never let the fruit of scholarship go without rewarding them.

Shankar had first impressed me as a fresh scholar who understood BP Koirala better than any of the Nepali Congress leaders. Two huge tomes that these youths gave me show my position as a free reader and teacher. The first tome is, Lokendra Bista’s Historical Documents of Nepalese Communist Movements and People’s Revolution (2013) that includes documents of major party conferences from 1953 to 2012, including a pamphlet of Nepal Communist Party’s birth on 15 September 1949. I wrote a review of this huge book in Kantipur (May 19, 2014). The second tome is Historical documents of Nepali Congress (2010, 2015) edited by Gagan Thapa. Shankar Tiwari is also one of the compilers and editors of this volume.

To return to my theme, the DB Parihar memoirs with Shankar Tiwari’s interpretation is a very important that applies the New Historicist lens to unravel issues such as the role of a subaltern and that of a Dalit genius in the movements for democracy and freedom that remain largely muted in historical discourses.