Indra Bahadur Rai

Who is Indra Bahadur Rai?

Indra Bahadur Rai is a Nepali writer and literary critic from Darjeeling. Being one of the most well-known modern authors of Nepali literature his major works are included on the syllabus of many universities for those studying Nepali in India. He has been an active writer for a span over 60 years and is the receiver of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jagadambashri Puraskar and Agam Singh Giri Smriti Puraskar. His first book Vipana Katipaya published in 1960 has had a great influence upon Nepali literature, especially on the genre of short stories. Rai is a very diverse writer and uses a wide range of literary styles which incorporate both traditional as well as modern techniques in his works. The texts he has written deal with a range of topics: from small private whimsies to key historical events making each document into a unique forceful piece of literature. According to Prem Poddar, the writings of Rai which reflect the heritage of the Gorkha/Nepali nation and national identity can be interpreted in two different ways:

"As I see it, Rai’s reflections on the Nepali language, the Gorkha/Nepali community, and his own writing practice can be read in two ways. The first is in terms of telos: that writing will strengthen the nation or ethnie. The other way is the more troubled interrogative reading that raises the same questions of cultural identity, through textual elisions and ambivalences inter alia, about writing and the Gorkha/Nepali community. I raise the possibility, and vacillate between, both kinds of reading in this introductory essay, but the very act of vacillating veers me towards the latter."