Champa

Champa is the only novel written by Laxmi Prasad Devkota. The book was written around the year 1947–48 and published posthumously 20 years later. Synopsis The story describes the life of a 12-year-old girl, Champa, who is married to Ramakanta but being self-reliant, she could not stay her home and she runs away. Due to some disease, the husband cannot have physical contact with the girl. One day he decides to leave home because he fears that if he goes close to his "tempting" wife his life may be at risk. Due to this Champa is blamed by her in-laws. This novel has however no distinct ending. Themes The novel is unique among Devkota's works as the only one depicting contemporary social issues and roles of women in society. Set in Kathmandu during the Rana rule, it depicts a society firmly adhering to traditional gender roles, with men engaged in learning and travelling, and women, uneducated and limited to household chores and religious activities. Reception Critic Bindu Sharma considers the novel's use of Freudian psychoanalytic theories to explore unequal relationships and conflict within family groundbreaking, and argues that it makes Devkota the first psychological novelist of Nepali literature. Sharma also considers it one of the most important novels of the early period of Nepali novel development (years 1936 – 1960).