Kathmandu, Sept. 15 -- Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher banned any use of Nepal Bhasa for business or literary purpose between 1932 to 1945. Shumsher even sanctioned admonitions and fines-some were sent to prison and others forced into exile. This provoked a group of Newar litterateurs to defy government policy-planting a seed for a literature renaissance of their native tongue.

It was then the phrase once used by Mahakabi Siddhidas Mahaju, "Bhasa mwa sa jaati mwai" ("if the language survives, so will the civilisation") became a mantra for the language movement, and has been a staple slogan for the language rights advocates.

Mahaju, however, wasn't a political person during his lifetime. He was a poet, essayist and linguist. He often shar...