Editing Newar language (section)

====Jail years====

The years 1941–1945 are known as the jail years for the large number of authors who were imprisoned for their literary or political activities. It was a productive period and resulted in an outpouring of literary works.

[[Chittadhar Hridaya]], [[Siddhicharan Shrestha]] and [[Phatte Bahadur Singh]] were among the prominent writers of the period who were jailed for their writings. While in prison, Hridaya produced his greatest work [[Sugata Saurabha (epic)|''Sugata Saurabha'']],<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/religion/9780195341829/toc.html |title=Sugata Saurabha: An Epic Poem from Nepal on the Life of the Buddha by Chittadhar Hridaya |publisher=Oxford Scholarship Online |access-date=24 January 2012 |date=13 November 2009 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341829.001.0001 |isbn=9780199866816 |last1=Lewis |first1=Todd T. |last2=Tuladhar |first2=Subarna Man |archive-date=15 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715030935/http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/religion/9780195341829/toc.html |url-status=live }}</ref> an epic poem on the life of [[Gautama Buddha]].<ref name="Lienhard, Siegfried 1992 Page 4"/> Shrestha wrote a collection of poems entitled ''Seeswan'' ("Wax Flower", published in 1948) among other works. Singh (1902–1983) was sentenced to life imprisonment for editing and publishing an anthology of poems by various poets entitled ''Nepali Bihar''.<ref>Shrestha, Siddhicharan (1992). ''Siddhicharanya Nibandha ("Siddhicharan's Essays").'' Kathmandu: Phalcha Pithana. Page 73.</ref>

The efforts of Newar authors coincided with the revival of [[Theravada]] Buddhism in Nepal, which the rulers disliked equally. In 1946, the monks who had been exiled by the Ranas in 1944 for teaching [[Buddhism]] and writing in Newar were allowed to return following international pressure. Restrictions on publication were relaxed, and books could be published after being censored. The monks wrote wide-ranging books on Buddhism and greatly enriched the corpus of religious literature.<ref>LeVine, Sarah and Gellner, David N. (2005). ''Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada Movement in Twentieth-Century Nepal.'' Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-01908-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-674-01908-9}}. Pages 47–49.</ref><ref>{{cite web | last = Tewari | first = Ramesh Chandra | url = https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache%3A-D1GwWzwnb0J%3Aarchiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de%2Fojs%2Findex.php%2Fjiabs%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F8607%2F2514+ven+aniruddha+nepal&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi7UvGTqtWcxhGkkXX0xYcBDKBG7i9cWlbDEc0A3Q37914n_D60UF3BGD69oA-lM4ITV9uiU7nFvR_RR_wOrOZalFzx7PONG1_9tZ_WkVbGZQlS0l2-9lB7yESd7JGJngX1_MRx&sig=AHIEtbTPapjCajNSZPIauHNVQ7QpgBWI4w | title = Socio-Cultural Aspects of Theravada Buddhism in Nepal | work = The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies | year = 1983 | access-date = 19 April 2012 | archive-date = 5 October 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131005064552/https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache%3A-D1GwWzwnb0J%3Aarchiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de%2Fojs%2Findex.php%2Fjiabs%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F8607%2F2514+ven+aniruddha+nepal&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi7UvGTqtWcxhGkkXX0xYcBDKBG7i9cWlbDEc0A3Q37914n_D60UF3BGD69oA-lM4ITV9uiU7nFvR_RR_wOrOZalFzx7PONG1_9tZ_WkVbGZQlS0l2-9lB7yESd7JGJngX1_MRx&sig=AHIEtbTPapjCajNSZPIauHNVQ7QpgBWI4w | url-status = live }} Pages 89–90.</ref>

Outside the [[Kathmandu Valley]] in the 1940s, poets like [[Ganesh Lal Shrestha]] of [[Hetauda]] composed songs and put on performances during festivals.<ref>Bajracharya, Phanindra Ratna (2003). ''Who's Who in Nepal Bhasha.'' Kathmandu: Nepal Bhasa Academy. {{ISBN|99933-560-0-X}}. Page 225.</ref>