Molung Educational Frontierincorporates the articles and reports based on research carried out by Molung Foundation and the individuals involved in various research activities. This Special Issue includes the articles on language, literarture, and culture. Published by: Molung Foundation Koteshwar, Kathmandu Tel: +977-1-4600591 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.molung.org.np © by the publisher Computer: Molung Foundation Koteshwar, Kathmandu Subscription: An open access journal Disclaimer The views expressed in the articles are exclusively those of individual authors. The authors should not hold the Editorial Board and the publisher responsible for any controversy and/or adverse effects from the publication of their articles. Contact Address: Molung Foundation Koteshwar, Kathmandu Tel: +977-1-4600591 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.molung.org.np Molung Educational Frontier Editor-in-Chief Prof. Bhupa P. Dhamala, PhD Editors Prof. Shyam Bdr. Katauwal, PhD Prof. Shambhu P. Khatiwada, PhD Prof. Chakra Pani Luitel, PhD Prof. Khem Narayan Paudyal, PhD Executive Editor Sedunath Dhakal Advisors Prof. Bal Kumar KC, PhD Prof. Jai Raj Awasthi, PhD Prof. Bharat Shrestha, PhD Editorial Having realized the situation that quality education is the demand of the day, universities and higher education institutions as well as their faculties are engaged in research activities other than the ones they are awarded with PhD degrees. The findings of their research have been published in scholarly/periodical journals which have improved their standards over the years. Many articles published in peer reviewed/indexed journals have been cited and some of the journals have had a significant impact. This is certainly a matter of hope and happiness. However, the achievements are still limited, only a small number of scholars have got access to those journals as there is inadequate budget to operate research activities. Even as scholarly journals are coming out, they may not have undergone the rigorous process of peer review which is the heart of any journal. Considering the way journals are published, the task of research and publication is not satisfactory. In this context, Molung Foundation, a research institution based in Kathmandu, has been involved in research and publication for the last ten years. It has been publishing a journal named Molung Educational Frontier on annual basis. It is an interdisciplinary journal that accepts research papers from any field - nature, society, and culture which can be linked to the governance/management, development, and prosperity in some way. This Special Issue, however, includes the articles on language, literature, and culture which have inextricable relationship with one another. This is valuable in the context of multicultural setting where indigenous languages, literatures, and cultures are being subjugated by the more power cultures. Researchers, therefore, have concentrated on these pressing issues this time. As result, this volume specifically includes the articles which are more concerned about Nepali language, literature, and culture. This is why Molung Foundation realized its significance and published it as a Special Issue. The Editorial Board is thankful to the leadership of Molung Foundation which has provided the space and logistics for the publication of this volume as before. We would also like to thank our article contributors and expect them to continue with their research activities and support us in ways they can. June 15, 2020 Kathmandu, Nepal Molung Educational Frontier Volume 10 (Special Issue), June 2020 Table of Contents Name Title Page Badri Prasad Pokharel Reading Trauma in History through Post-Conflict 1 Narrative: Thakuri’s “The Descending Mountain” Ganga KC Knowledge and practices on maternal health care 13 among mothers: A case study from Sewar Bansbot village of Dang district Kamala Dahal Celebrating Teej as a Festival of (Re) 29 union and Enjoyment Kapil Dahal Why are there Escalating Incidences of 43 Confrontations in Nepali Hospitals? An Anthropological Critique Madhav Prasad Dahal Problems of Assimilation and Difficulties of 57 Becoming a Man in LeRoi Jones’s Dutchman Madhu Giri Storytelling for Promoting Social Cohesion in the 67 Marginalized Communities: A Study of Chautari Nataks Nirajan Khadka Chhaupadi Pratha: Women’s Experiences and 81 Perceptions about Social Suffering Pradeep Kumar Giri Buddhist Literature: A Cosmopolitan Philosophy 93 Pragya Paneru Tantric Nuances Arguing Gender Order in Mithila 101 Paintings Raj Kishor Singh Revisiting Official History in Evangel Athial’s Hitler 117 and the Decline of Shah Dynasty Ramesh Pokharel Exploring the Different Roles and Aspects of Music 125 Ramji Timalsina Causes and Effects of Trauma in Bhutanese Nepali 135 Diasporic Poetry Roshani Dhamala Internet Public Sphere as a Counter-Public Sphere: 149 The Question of Effectiveness Shankar Subedi Female Masculinity in Radclyffe Hall's The Well of 159 Loneliness Yam Prasad Sharma Tracing the Traditional Contents and Forms in 169 Contemporary Nepali Paintings Indira Acharya Mishra Tāpa as an Underrated Nepali Novel (Book Review) 181 `1 Reading Trauma in History through Post-Conflict Narrative: Thakuri’s “The Descending Mountain” Badri Prasad Pokharel, PhD* Abstract Maya Thakuri’s “The Descending Mountain,” is a testimony of an event that might have happened during the People’s War instigated by the Maoists towards the end of the 20th century. It has unfolded the truth hidden behind the curtain, that is, how Nepal’s geopolitical development in the post-democratic movement has made one mass depart towards the forest and raise the voice against those who were still marginalized in the name of caste, gender and ethnicity; which ultimately caused the death of more than fifteen thousand Nepali citizen and hundreds of thousands other displaced from their own homes. The theme of this article is to show a bitter truth that happened in history - the compulsion of perpetrators and victims to sabotage physically and to mourn in trauma. It is to bring the fact of Nepal’s hinterlands’ people’s history of traumatic life – how much traumatic their life was, as well as the reluctance of the civil society to such grave tale. The end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the new era, in political development to grab the power from the elite group have been remarkable to heed for the historians and academicians to knit the very emotional facts in the form of narratives, which is called here post-conflict narrative. Mrs. Thakuri, to some extent, is successful to weave a plot of a mother and her daughter on the background of the People’s War – a historical turning point in the history of Nepal and narrativize the painful traumatic story to the readers. Keywords: History, People’s War, post-conflict narrative, testimony, trauma Introduction Nepal had been a site of some of the bloodiest conflicts in the recent past including many invisible wars, visible ethnic conflicts and protracted conflicts in many hinterlands. Mass displacement, attack on civilian populations, mass losses of homes and belongings, amputations, child soldering and rape had typified in many parts of Nepal. Even following the signing of a ceasefire, the environment remained more *Dr. Pokharel has done PhD from Lumbini Buddhist University, Nepal and currently has been working as the Associate Professor of English at Saraswati Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Reading Trauma in History………… Pokharel 2 violent owing to the rise of banditry and crime. This situation undermined a sense of security that was a prerequisite for psychological well-being and building of peace in the country. The political and economic disenfranchisement of a large number of youths and other people enabled their participation in the armed conflict. It was grounded in an unpredictable mixture of poverty, poor governance, and fragile political and economic system. Different kinds of conflict and violence produced different patterns of psychological distress that would lead them to suffer from trauma. Rape and other forms of gender-based violence were also integral elements of armed conflict. Even among the combatants, the main actors in the conflict, those who survived gender-based violence showed great prevalence of mental health problems. The organized and prolonged armed conflict and its aftermath bring enormous psychological and social burdens to individuals who experience them. As such, for the last two decades, Nepal witnessed the suffering and the life threatening experience that caused individuals go through traumatic reactions, which is termed as 'post-traumatic stress disorder' and 'collective trauma.' These unhealed traumatic experiences may contribute to linger the ongoing cycles of violence and further thwart peace building efforts. The narrative written after the conflict and war would be a tremendously valuable tool for identifying the condition of people during and after periods of the violent conflict. The narrative genre and the voices serve as alternatives to portray their pathetic life they were compelled to lead along with their family and expose how violence affected the people. The post-conflict narratives let the reader know the suffering and understand the dynamics of the problem and to be moved to respond. Most narratives of the conflict have identified such linguistic devices that would help create the polarization between the victims and victimizers as protagonist and antagonist that would