Books and Culture

The Day To Honour Universal Feminine Energy

•  Kuber Chalise

The worshipping of the Adi Shakti, the mother goddess, the mysterious creator of life is found in almost every culture. Unlike Hindu tradition, more than 50 nations in the world celebrate Mother’s Day in different manner and on different days.
But our celebration has both the social as well as religious significance, because religion is a part of our social life, in our culture.
On this special day, the new moon day of Baishakh, according to the lunar calendar, Hindus pay great respect to their mothers by offering her fruits, sweets and dishes.
The day is locally known as Ama Ko Mukh Herne Din, a day to honour mother. On this day even the married daughters visit their mothers to offer their gratitude.
Mother is the manifestation of selfless love, supreme compassion and great devotion. So, she is regarded as goddess in the ancient Hindu scriptures. The worshipping of Astamatrika, the eight-mother goddesses represent the same fact.
Prakirti, the universal feminine energy plays the vital role in creation. Without the feminine principle, the Purush, benevolent male principle is worthless. So, Mother’s day is celebrated to honour the universal feminine principle. That universal feminine energy not only creates but also nourishes life in this cosmos.
This day is also known as Matatirthe Aunshi, because on this day the motherless visit Matatirtha, a sacred pond near Thankot in Kathmandu to pay respect to their deceased mother.
The motherless take a holy dip in the pond at Mathatirtha and offer their gratitude by performing Shhradha, the post-death rite.
Legend has it that once the place was a grazing ground. The shepherd kids used to throw foods while playing and to their amazement the foods used to disappear; but it used to happen only on certain days and with only certain people.
After many years, the locals discovered that the food of the motherless disappears on one special day in a year, on the new moon’s day of Baishakha.
The people, then dug a pond, and every year on this day motherless people visit the pond and take bath in the memory of their mother.
There is yet another fascinating tale, according to the locals. On this day, it is believed that the motherless can see the image of their deceased mother in the clear water of this pond. And a large crowd of people throng this place on the day.

(PS: International Mother’s day is on May 11)

• Kuber Chalise
  
  Under the shadow of violence is a depiction of a state of anxiety and pain, reflections of a disease that in itself is the indicator of causes.
  Kishor Nepal, prominent Nepali joutrnalist, undertook a gruelling two-and-a-half year long travel over more than 2,00,000-km across hills, plains and distant mountain areas of Nepal, to hear the lot of common man. The reverberations make up ‘under the shadow of violence’, a telling chronicle of government apathy and Maoists anarchy in detail.
  The book is a partial diagnosis, partial prognosis and remedy as well of the current insurgency. It touches upon the roots of the malaise and reflects upon the post-1990 era of political awakening and the eventual betrayal of people’s aspirations and trust.
  The book, the voice of the voiceless, is neither a didactic documentation nor is it an academic accumulation but a frozen account of terror. A terror that haunts in similar fashion Kehar Singh Saud, ex-chairman of Duni VDC of Accham in the western part of the country and Lava Kumar Rai of Khotang in the eastern periphery of the nation.
  The first part of the book gives account of different sectors like economy and education that are worst hit by the insurgency.
  In the ‘Classroom in the frontline’, the writer depicts the agony of the education sector that has become the scapegoat both for the rebel and government who use schools as their battlegrounds.
  Similarly, ‘Crumbling business’ paints a picture of the deteriorating state of economy in the country. Through the terror and pain, the question stares at the reader: for whom are the Maoists fighting?
  Lack of social cohesions and the demoralisation of society may have made Maoists stronger for a while, but the reckless destruction of physical infrastructure and brutal killings are backfiring.
  Having first created a mesmerising miasma of social unanimity, the Maoists only disappointed people by their brutality and coercion. Going through the horrific accounts of the Maoists atrocities, a reader might be reminded of the Nazi concentration camps. Nazis killed six million Jews six decades back on the pretext of racial and social justice, in the search of an unearthly utopia. Maoists seem to be doing that over the last decade, justifying killings.
  Apportioning blame for the on-going tragedy, the writer laments, ‘the inadequate exercise of democracy and Nepal’s traditional social structure’ that ‘has made it difficult for civil society to pressurise the government and the administration to act decisively to end the violent conflict’.
  The book, in the second part, features tales from 18 districts where terror has sunk deep in the hearts of people, putting identities in crisis and leaving future prospects bleak. There is an alarming commonality in plight and angst between Pyuthan district in the west to Khotang district in the east.
  Leaders are equally blamed for reneging on promises to address social, political and economic disparities, furrowing fertile ground for Maoists movement to germinate. The blatant self-aggrandisement by political parties has left people caught between the internecine conflict between the armed Maoist militia and state machinery.
  As the writer puts it, ‘Khalanga was not so remote until four years ago. In 2001, Maoists attacked Churajahari airport and it is now cut off from the other districts.’ Isolating every district from the other and the centre from all, is what the Maoists are doing. Where will this disintegration lead? It might fulfil their immediate cause but in the long run what will be the consequence? What kind of Nepal have they envisioned?
  According to the people, “today we are living in a different country than from what we had dreamt during the 1990 movement. They underlines that there are new realities. Issues that the Maoists highlight have deep roots in our historical moorings and the author suggests that a profound reassessment of our political and social values are inevitable in order to put balm on the festering wound.
  The last decade has been a decade of myopic politics and brutal killings. Kishor Nepal’s untiring efforts and hard labour brings alive the darkness of this decade. It is hoped that this history of revolution and revelation will guide us towards a united, socially and economically equitable and prosperous Nepal.
  The book gives us a chance for serious introspection. The failure of certain leaders is not the failure of the multiparty democracy. After 1990, democracy had slowly started to make modest inroads into the existing traditional authoritarian structures but wide spread corruption and the Maoists insurgency have totally derailed the process.
  The time for totalitarian doctrines seems to have passed. As the writer concludes in the last chapter ‘Power shift’, Nepali society is undergoing a massive transformation, something that is yet to be understood. And it is the last chance for political parties to unite people and lead them to a better tomorrow as both the Maoists and the establishment continue to ignore and belittle the causes of the common man.
  The political parties must expand their visions and rationales, move away from little parochial interests to higher entity — the nation. That is when the tears might dry.
• ……………………………..
• Book: Under the shadow of violence
  Author: Kishor Nepal
  Publisher: Samir Nepal (CPJS)
  Pages: 156