Light of the Himalayas
A Research-Based Novel on Buddha
by
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Gautama Buddha stood in full reverence for a while, bowed on all the directions and spoke modestly, “I know that whatever I am, wherever I am now, whatever I achieved and whatever I shall do ahead is not an outcome of my lonesome efforts. It’s due to the contributions of all my family, my friends, my gurus and all those who brought me up, reared, educated, encouraged to move into new pursuits and contributed to the attainment of this ultimate truth. I am indebted to all of them, and am thankful too. All those individuals, organisations and helping coincidences deserve my thankfulness. I pay my heartfelt obeisance to each one of them.” And then, the Buddha spoke in a high tone, “Now, I present myself on the base of my natural characteristics. I am free of all attachments and non-attachments. I don’t have to get deterred from death—that honoured liberation. Such a sorrow stiffens culturing. I admit: I shan’t die of such vacillation. I shan’t live with repressed sense of escapism. I shall launch an organised assault upon sorrow in its entirety. I shall fall as the cool drizzle laden with charity and compassion upon the world beset by sorrow. Here I present myself on grounds of my natural values, ready, against that dictatorial value, against that pain. Let the world know, I have launched my movement. My story starts here.”
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About the Book
To those who associate Siddhartha’s enlightenment with magical happenings, Light of the Himalayas is an answer. The novel traces the gradual development of Siddhartha from an inquisitive child to a serious explorer on a trajectory of science and objectivity, until his discovery of the elixir of life, the eight-fold path, and the four golden rules. The book decenters many myths and misconceptions about the life of the Buddha and invites readers to engage in scientific discourse about the religion.
About the Author
Kavitaram Shrestha is a researcher and a novelist. He has received many awards and felicitations, including Esteemed Award for "Mahabhinishkramanka Aswikrit Paaila" (the Nepali version of this book) from Philosophical Society of Buddhism (Sidney 2012). Similarly, he won the Innovation Award from Nepalese Cultural Center (London), Sajha Award for Children's Literature (Nepal 2001), The Youth of the Year ( Youth Forum 1994), Asia-Africa Solidarity Award for the story of the film "Mukti Sangharsha" at Pyongyang International Festival in Pyongyang North Korea (1994), The Best Feature Film Storywriter of the Year by Nepal Video Film Association for video film "Mukti Sangharsha" (1991), and The Best Children's Book Writer for the International Children's Year 1982-83 by UNICEF. The honors he has received include a felicitation by Pravasi Sahaitya Parishad (UK, 2008) and a felicitation conferred by International Nepalese Literature Society, DC (US, 2008). Mr. Shrestha is the pioneer of Aswikrit Bichar Sahityik Abhiyan, a campaign for the literature of the other.