Yangsila
Love Across the Himalayas
by
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Panchashar woke up with a start, when sprays of water fell on his body. For the past two years, Panchashar had been keeping to himself, deeply lost in his own world. He was in a state of stupefaction, and was pathetic, caught in the memory of Sanjhang and Teejhang. But he thought it unwise to share this fact with anyone else. Instead, he contemplated about it on his own. Finally, he asked himself, `Why am I pulled so powerfully toward them? Why am I getting restless every moment? What power lies in the land of the Kirats? Why am I drawn so powerfully toward Sanjhang and Teejhang? Or, is it that they are calling me to see if I have forgotten my promise?' There was a sadhu an ascetic that moves from door to door, asking for alms in front of him. He had a kamandalu a metal goblet an ascetic carries with him in his hand. Panchashar stood and showed his reverence to the ascetic. “Panchashar, wake up. The nation is being looted; it's being stripped. The boundary is being encroached. The lopsided treaty, unequal agreements and selfish accords are rendering the state extremely weak and diseased. Centuries passed, but we could never give ourselves a powerful administration. The nation, in the process of becoming a mere memory of the past, has been incessantly slipping toward annexation. This is an outcome of the bad conduct, anti-national thought and behavior of our politicians. The people who give such rights to such wicked people are also equally guilty. Lack of awareness is perhaps a reason. For that reason, you now resume the halted tasks, and give the nation its armor. Wake up!” the ascetic said. “Revered one! I could not quite get you.” “Remember the words you have given to Siddha Kirat. And act accordingly.” “I could not remember anything. I ask for forgiveness.” “While you were on your way to China, Siddha Kiran had proposed you to construct an administrative building for the kingdom of Kirat. You expressed your inability then. That is a fact. But you had promised him you would do it on your way back. Recall that. Now is the time you should be fulfilling your promise.” `How?' he said to himself. The sadhu read his mind, for he could easily do that. He said, “The Kirat dynasty is the biggest and the most powerful dynasty here. Its three factions --Western Kirat, Central Kirat and Eastern Kirat --should become one. From the unity of the Rais and the Limbus, a powerful, scientific and modern political power should come up. For that, we have our blessings.” Panchashar went on listening to the ascetic, as though in a spell of charm. The ascetic added, “Foreign powers have started intruding into the nation, with active support from our politicians, and are enslaving us. Those who are inside the country, but are engaged in anti-national and treacherous activities, are traitors. Only the power of the Kirats can vanquish them and make the nation developed and prosperous. This is what we expect from the Kirat people. If they also go astray, fail to recognize their innate power and refused to wake up, we will be obliged to appeal the kings of the Magarat Region for help.” He continued to listen, getting more and more curious. The sadhu continued, “But we believe that the Kirat Dynasty will perk up; it will surely rise again. No one can decline the appeal of the Kirats. We pray: let the Kirat Dynasty resurrect with all its unity and commitment, and become our protector, jurist and our pathfinder, and save us from perishing. We have full faith in the Kirats.” Panchashar continued in the state he was in. The sadhu added, “Go and meet Siddha Kirat this moment. He has been waiting for you. He needs your hand in his commitments.” The sadhu stopped for a while and resumed, “Those two Kirat maidens --your friends --also are waiting for you. They are under the patronage of Siddha Kirat, at your request. I hope you haven't forgotten them, have you? You still owe some responsibility toward them. “I will now bless you with interminable confidence, special vision, matchless strength and successfulness.” Panchashar woke up, when the holy water with special incantations fell from the ascetic's goblet on Panchashar. `Oh, what a strange thing I happened to dream about?' said Panchashar, as he came back to senses. He resolved, `I must anyhow go to the village of Siddha Kirat once. I must see him.' He changed the context and said, `Sanjhang and Teejhang also must be waiting for me. I had promised them I would go back. On the same occasion, I can also visit Rishi Ashram and Budha Subba Temple, and seek their blessings. That will be matter of great fortune for me.'
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About the Book
Yangsila: Love across the Himalayas is a fiction that picks up a historical event from a medieval setting and renders it new, tuning it up with contemporary socio-cultural issues in Nepal. The protagonist Panchashar is modeled after medieval Nepali sculptor Arniko, who had been invited by the Chinese Emperor Kublai Khan to build pagodas and stupas in his kingdom. The novel beautifully depicts socio-cultural, including marital relations, dependency and migration among people of eastern Nepali hills with people in China, basically Tibet. It also makes a passing note on the gradual loss of unity and cultural sovereignty of the Kirats living in the eastern hills of Nepal, and the possible danger of external cultural intervention thereof. By giving the novel a positive resolution, the author suggests an amicable solution to the cultural crisis through familial understanding and closer interactions, despite cultural and geographical differences among the people on the two sides of the Himalayas. The novel also gives an allegorical rendering to the latest crisis and uncertainty in the history of Nepal, and its symbolic negation by creative people through an escape into a mythical, imaginary and bucolic setting.
About the Author
Hari Raj Bhattarai is a Nepali author of high repute. A professor of Nepali literature, he taught for several decades at Tribhuvan University and Banaras Hindu University before his retirement and movement to the US. With his rich expertise of Nepali and Sanskrit language and literature and his in-depth knowledge of Eastern civilization and philosophy, he has woven several mythical content in the frame of modern fiction. He enjoys mytho-poetic writing and re-reading of ancient allegories and historical facts.