JOURNAL OF FINE ART CAMPUS VOL. 1 (SEPTEMBER 2014) 1 In Quest of Human Dignity: Reading Rimal’s Aamako Sapana 1 in Republican Nepal - Komal Prasad Phuyal Abstract Gopal Prasad Rimal (1918-1973) constructs a visionary subjectivity in quest of freedom and equality in Nepal. Often labeled a ‘protest poet’ by critics, he addresses the social, political, and historical circumstances that are against ultimate realization of human potential. The redefinition of Nepal as a Democratic Republic in 2008 signifies a major step in Nepal’s quest for equality and freedom. For Rimal, the full bloom of human subjectivity lies at the heart of realization of agency that empowers each individual with equality and freedom. This paper argues that Rimal firmly stands as a visionary poet who addresses the absent socio-political circumstances and the very absence disallows the practice of freedom and equality in quest of human dignity. Now that the society has adopted Rimal as the major voice of its own, he needs to be revisited in the changed socio-political context. Quest for Human Dignity Gopal Prasad Rimal seeks to establish human dignity in society through social transformation that brings about equality and freedom. His poetry centers on missing social circumstances that help attain the possible form of realization of human agency. Addressing the gaps in the underlying structure of society, he poses threat to the prevailing socio- political structure through his writings; however, reading his poems in the Democratic Republic of Nepal after 2008 does not permit to position him as a ‘protest poet.’ On the contrary, unlike what Ananda P Shrestha and 1 Gopal Prasad Rimal’s Ammako Sapana [Mother’s Dream] that was awarded Madan Puruskar in 2019 B. S. is a collection of twenty eight poems written from 1992 B.S. to 2019 B.S. This paper discusses four poems from the collection: “Ammako Sapana,” “Prati,” “Timi Ko?,” and “Ek Din Ek Choti Aaunchha.” Except “Prati” which is taken for discussion in this paper from Dancing Soul of Mount Everest, edited by Momila, I have myself translated the remaining three as “Mother’s Dream,” “Who are you?,” and “Once in an Age, It Comes One Day” respectively.