Nepalese national daily Nepal Samacharpatra redesigned their masthead for Newari New Year Day

Nepal Samacharpatra, a leading national daily of Nepal, for the first time redesigned their masthead to commemorate the original script of Nepal ‘Ranjana Lipi’ on Newari New Year Day, also celebrated as Mha Puja.

The Ranjana Script (Lipi), was developed in the 11th century by Newar people, the indigenous people of Kathmandu Valley. They used the beautiful calligraphy to write Newari, Tibetan and Sanskrit. The script is the formal script of Nepal duly registered in the United Nation. Therefore, it is considered to be the standard Nepali calligraphic script.

This initiative of Nepal Samacharpatra is a step to remind and connect the next generation Nepali youth to their own history, tradition and cultural values. The Ranjana Script is a complex, artistic script that unfortunately is not much in use currently except for religious scriptures and literature mostly by monasteries. Most Nepali are more familiar with Devanagari script, the popular script of the Indian subcontinent.

Recently, Kathmandu Mayor, Bidya Sundar Shakya, requested all the schools of Kathmandu to teach Nepal Bhasa to students. Nepal Bhasa is the native language of Newar people. The crucial issue is newer generations have stopped speaking Newari language. The elderly Newars fear that Newari language will disappear in next fifty years if it is not preserved. Thus, government has been looking for ways to preserve native culture and languages.

Founded in 1996 AD, Nepal Samacharpatra is one of the largest circulated national newspapers of Nepal, is part of Kamana News Publications that also publishes Kamana (largest selling entertainment monthly magazine), Sadhana (largest selling health and beauty monthly magazine), News of Nepal (online infotainment portal) and also organizes Kamana Film Awards, the biggest cinema awards of Nepal. Nepal Samacharpatra have always taken initiate to promote Newar culture and language from its founding days.

Kapil Kafle, editor of Nepal Samacharpatra said: “We wanted to wish Happy New Year in our native, original script. We also wanted to share the newer generations the beauty of this calligraphic script.”

Ujaya Shakya, Outreach Nepal, said: “The Ranjana Lipi Masthead, on the New Year Day, took everyone by surprise and has been well appreciated. I would like to applaud Nepal Samacharpatra for this innovation and ingenuity.”