वीर पुर्खा (कविता)
Introduction
Bir Purkha (वीर पुर्खा, "Brave Ancestors") is a patriotic poem by Prof. Dr. Basudev Tripathi (वासुदेव त्रिपाठी, born 1999 B.S.), one of the brilliant talents of Nepali literature. Written in four stanzas in simple, third-person language, the poem is a song of national pride overflowing with love for the country and gratitude to the heroes who built it.
Summary
The poem sings the glory of the brave ancestors whose daring no power in the world could stop. No river, no mountain and no storm could block their victorious march; their speed was like that of the Garuda flying free in the open sky, which no heaven could bind. It was their courage and labour, their paurakh, that joined the Tarai, the hills and the Himalaya into one and created Nepal. Enemies trembled at the very sound of their name, for they were men who could die but never learned to lose.
The poet then traces the map of their heroism. In the north their conquering steps reached Digarcha in Tibet; in the west the songs of their bravery still echo at the Ravi river, at Kangda and Kalanga; in the east at the Teesta; and the banks of the Betrawati carry the marks of their valour. Facing modern machine guns and swords, the Nepali heroes fought and won with khukuris, slings and stones. Crossing the seas, the blood of the brave Gorkhalis flowed across the world, in the World Wars they earned fame as the finest of soldiers, and history shows that no imperial power could ever plant its empire on Nepali soil or force this nation to its knees.
In the final stanza the poem turns to the present. Even enemies who close the border passes cannot stop the brave Nepalis, who never hesitate to shed their blood for country and people. The glorious story of the ancestors who bled to build the nation is inscribed on the moon-and-sun flag, and their heroic blood still runs in the veins of every Nepali. The poem thus quietly hands its readers a duty: to walk the path the brave ancestors showed, to guard the nation's sovereignty, self-respect and territorial integrity, and never to let the land they built be broken or trampled.
Theme
The poem glorifies the sacrifice, courage and labour of the ancestors who created a united, independent Nepal. Its message is patriotic inheritance: the blood of the brave flows in every Nepali vein, and preserving the nation they built (its unity, honour and freedom) is the sacred duty of every generation.