Aswatthama within, Aswatthama without

By John Mazzocchi

The play Aswatthama utilizes several literary techniques such as symbolism  and metaphor. The play also incorporates the use of traditional philosophical ideas deeply embedded in Hindu tradition. The most obvious example of this is the presence of Aswatthama, the character from the Mahabharata himself. What allows this contemporary play to stand out is its ability to use literary technique to accentuate and deliver these timeless concepts to a contemporary audience. In the process, these concepts are applied artfully to modern problems and situations. Herein lies the true strength of this play's message. The contrasts between war and compassion, suffering and peace, have been a part of the human condition through eternity. These contrasts as well as others are brought to bear in the figure of Aswatthama. What these contrasts so successfully accomplish is a great shedding of light on the true nature of the ultimate conflict, the one between good and evil. And in true Hindu fashion, this contrast ultimately reveals itself to be ‘negating’ as well as complementary. This unveiling works throughout the play.

The opening act of the play presents us with an Aswatthama who is tormented by the repercussions of his actions. Having used the agni shastra to kill thousands, he now runs not from others but from himself. The fire caused by the great weapon now leaves him burning everywhere he goes. This personal conflict offers insight into the nature of karma. Aswatthama commits an act of great destruction, but he himself suffers what is essentially the same fate as those whom he has afflicted. Thus, the contrast is negated as there is not true difference between conqueror and conquered.

In act one, scene three, this same contrast manifests itself again in the village. As the sun sets, the village burns when the rays crisscross the sloping rooftops. The shadow left by the setting sun is representative of the dark cloud of negative karma. This is contrasted with the burning village which is the result of the same karma that has set the sun. This is related directly to act two, scene six, where young workers are overrun and overthrown by man’s shadow. "Man’s shadow outruns and overthrows man." It is the dark cloud of karma that overruns them. Whether it is Aswatthama’s karma, their own, or somebody else’s, the result is ultimately the same. A universal suffering has landed upon them. Here we see a first hint at the truth of conflict.

At the end of act three, scene two, a village woman states "Sources of light do not enter a woman’s womb by night." The night penetrates everyone, even the unborn. The dark shadow night of karma penetrates even the womb. At the center of Earth Mother is where "life commingles with ... light" From in this womb is where man’s essence emanates. "When tender life begins to stir in the womb/love also rouses and overflows the source.

The paradox becomes apparent here. The womb is the beginning and the end. It is the essence of man. It begins in love but is assailed accumulated negative karma, war karma. The karma that Aswatthama carries with him. The karma that we all carry. This is the ultimate negation. The essence of man within Earth Mother, overflowing with love, is being attacked by negative karma, its own karma. So it must again be protected with love and compassion.

Aswatthama seems to realise this, at least intuitively, when he asks, "mother, how did you fore know the agony of war? /Or does it come to you like the pangs of childbirth?" Aswatthama seems to see the answer unveiling itself. Mother is a universal mother. Good is born of her, as are the deeds of Aswatthama, as Aswatthama was born of her. While they are completely at odds, they are of the same essence. What unfortunately is not apparent is that he has seen the answer to this universality unveiled.

Aswatthama seems to allude to this tricky conflict again in act four, scene four, when he says, "I kneaded the breasts of mother earth in blood./I wiped vermilion off sister’s and women’s hair. It becomes apparent that he has indeed not seen the answer unveiled. "Pitying instead this unpardonable criminal,/O sweet women, don’t fill in this wound with your vermilion. "(4.4) Aswatthama’s language alone is indicative of the fact that he has not found the answer, as he is still enveloped by the conflict. He has yet to look past it and see even himself as the answer (or at least the answer within him). We see this as he calls himself an "unpardonable criminal" who has "kneaded the breasts of mother earth" while he refers to women in a compassionately calling them "sweet," he begs them not to dress his wound with their vermilion. In ironic contrast to Aswatthama’s own words and apparent shortsightedness, the women offer compassionate words of wisdom. "Should one lotus die, another one will bloom;/ should all of them die, none will adorn the head./When this flower hurts on the head, God too will hurt./No one remains a criminal forever."

In the next two scenes, this contrast between good and evil is expounded even further. Aswatthama, having been given the water by the women, now asks questions that juxtapose good and evil directly. "The killer often returns to the same darkness;/over and again he fears his own victim./How shall I live like a wild buffalo/that turns in its flight to strike?" (4.5) It is this knowledge of evil that allows this empathy towards all suffering, realised or potential. In scene six, the women recognise this and explain that they see no difference between the supposedly conquered and the supposed conquerors. "All youths who go to war are related/to womankind: brothers, husbands, in-laws./To us those who kill or are killed are the same./ Whom shall we pity? On whom be cruel?" Compassion may transcend this conflict between good and evil if it is unconditional. This is the answer that negates the contrast. True unconditional compassion renders good and evil, which are encompassed by it, completely relative.

In scene three of act five, a soldier confronted by the All-in-All finds stark contrast within him as well. You shoot arrows like cruel death in hiding,/ you kill even the embryo, as if to conquer the future." First, this "cruel death in hiding" is hiding everywhere, as the shadow and the night have already shown itself to be anywhere or everywhere. And then the comment about killing the embryo, "as if to conquer the future" is made. The All-in-All responds by saying, "You ought to have shot the agni weapon, not I!/ You are a war maniac thus to kill a child." Considering that earlier, when the soldier told the All-in-All that he killed the child’s mother, the All-in-All responded by saying, "Not I! The weapon killed her," the All-in-All creates a seeming conflict between the nature of the soldier, the agni weapon, and itself. The All-in-All was witnessed as killing the woman with the agni weapon. The All-in-All then states that he did not kill the woman, the weapon did. Then the All-in-All states that the soldier "ought to have shot the agni weapon" since he is a war maniac. The seeming contrast between the weapon, the soldier and the All-in-All seems to dissipate quickly. What we are left with is an indistinguishable relative set of ideas in the absence of unconditional compassion.

In scene two of act six, Aswatthama is seen as understanding the answer as unconditional compassion. He formally recognises the indistinguishableness of good and evil (or in this case, more specifically love and death) when the woman walks toward the pitch dark area as if she has seen her beloved. ".. They might say it is death;/I say she is mad love roaming for her lover." (6.2) Aswatthama does not say that it is mad love that is causing her to do this. Rather, he says that she is mad love. (A contradiction itself in purely literal terms). Aswatthama uses this term because he sees the indistinguishable now in compassion. He sees it in the womb of mother earth. He sees it in himself. He sees it in everyone and everything. He sees it as everyone and everything. He sees his "evil" deeds as the roots of empathy and compassion.

At the beginning of the final act, Aswatthama appears in the starry sky to the poet. Here, he basks in the true knowledge of this seeming contrast. The poet asks, "Who are you that materialises outside the window/this star-startling night, O surprisingly beautiful from ?" (7.1) Later in the sixth scene, Aswatthama knowingly answers, I am Aswatthama a warrior of Mahabharat/ a general of night war equipped with agni weapon/.. I am long-lived agony, grief incarnate. The poet on the other hand seems to have found truth in contrast as well. "All those who were suddenly killed without a chance to cry/beg a language from me, ah, with trembling lips." (7.4) Here his voice is compassion for all of the voiceless who were without a chance to cry.

All contrast is eliminated when the suffering and the voice for the suffering become one. "I am a war-criminal, grieved by experience or war;/you are a pure soul, grieved by knowledge of war./I shall always wail in the sarangee, poet dear,/I shall haunt this place as long as war lasts here." Universality is achieved through unconditional compassion. There is no longer any real distinction between the two-the pure sufferer and the war criminal-because they have realised the absence of this distinction.

(Essay on Nepali literature appears in the first week of every month and is coordinated by Literary Association of Nepal)

High level manpower for NRE sources

By Dr Chandra Bahadur Joshi

The importance of education and training on New and Renewable  Energy (NRE) sources in general and the need of post-graduate level engineering courses in this field in particular has for long been not realised in this country. One of the major reasons behind it is the lack of knowledge and awareness among the people of all walks of life, including the ones who are responsible for the entire development of the country. One way to impart knowledge and create necessary awareness is to educate these people by launching massive campaigns through various communication media, social organisations and other formal and informal means. Likewise introducing energy education in all levels of schools could equally lead towards fulfilling this objective. In fact both of these could go side by side. The country cannot come out of the energy crisis unless NRE sources of the country are harnessed to the maximum extent and the required infrastructure needed for it is built. Skilled manpower can, however, be generated if post-graduate level engineering courses in the field of NRE are introduced.

Problems and prospects

A very common question frequently raised in this country is about seriousness of developing NRE sources that are available here. In order to clarify this question several facts have to be put forward.

Firstly, energy is a critical component in the development of any country and hence the improvement of quality life. Without the adequate supply of energy, none of domestic, agriculture, transport, industrial sectors cannot be developed. The rapid industrialisation is hampered by inadequate energy availability. Likewise, communication, health, shelter and other basic needs are also lacking due to inadequate availability of energy at several phases. Nepal, with 22 KOE of energy consumption per capita, has been among the five least per capita energy consuming countries of the world. It has also become one of the poorest countries. This illustrates that the standard of living of any country is almost directly related to its energy consumption per capita.

Secondly, the country is relying mostly on the fuel wood due to lack of alternative. As a result, deforestation has increased rapidly, apart from soil erosion, landslide, loss of top soil, flood etc. The other implications are social burden on rural women and children for collecting fuel and burning of dung and agricultural residues, depriving organic conditioning materials with declined soil fertility and agricultural yield on one hand and increasing air pollution through carbon dioxide emission on the other. Since, with the high level use of fossil fuel oxides of nitrogen and sulphur are also produced, which are responsible for growing acid rains, increasing green house effect, depletion of ozone layer etc, they will ultimately affect adversely on the living and non-living beings of the country.

Thirdly, the country is increasingly spending its hard earned foreign currency for importing the fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel, kerosene, aviation fuels etc whose supplies are repeatedly threatened by external shocks such as trade impasses and wars. The amount of spending incurred for this purpose comes up to forty percent of the country’s export earnings which is a substantial amount for a poor country like Nepal. In the context of ever growing population and industries, this problem might go from bad to worse in the time to come. Moreover eighty five percent of world’s commercial primary energy is being supplied at present by fossil fuels which is by nature limited and drying up very fast. A recent study estimates that at the current consumption rate, the world’s supply of oil would be depleted in 34 years.

On the other hand, this country possesses a substantial potential of NRE sources. Hydropower for example, has a potential of 83000 MW. Total potential for solar energy is being estimated at 26.6 million MW. In Kali Gandaki between Jomsom and Chusang alone, a potential of 200 MW of wind power has been estimated. Its nationwide potential has yet to be estimated. There is a potential of installing about one million of biogas plants all over the country. Similarly, there is a large potential of producing biomass energy through the adoption and development of various biomass conversion technologies. Likewise, a lot of power can be gained through the technologies of energy conservation. Even a tiny percentage of all these NRE sources, if properly harnessed and utilised, can replace a huge amount of commercial energy that is being used at present. Being environment friendly and available almost everywhere in the country, these sources will not only protect the environment but also contribute towards an independent and balanced development of the country.

Need of manpower

In the attempt of fulfilling the energy requirements of the future, different countries have adopted their own plans and policies, whereby the basis for all of them has remained one and the same i. e. harassing of NRE sources. For this purpose they have created all kinds of laws and infrastructure and a substantial works have also been done to prove the world that a transition from fossil fuel society to a NRE society is possible. Already in 1985 NRE options were providing 8.5 percent of industrialised country’s needs and 38.3 percent of developing country’s annual requirements. By 2020 the utilisation could surpass 3.5 times the 1985 mark.

In order to comply with this trend Nepal needs to mobilise people from all walks of life and generate adequate manpower at the same time to formulate plans, policies and strategies, educate people from all walks of life and at all levels, carry out research and development works, produce and/or adopt various appropriate technologies and utilise at different situations for different purposes in a national level, design, install, operate, maintain and repair technological systems, monitor them, evaluate their performances, economic viability, social acceptance etc because, precisely this is one of the major constraints that is being experienced by the country in the utilisation of NRE sources.

In the light of these experiences, it can be said that the problems can be solved to a large extent by introducing post-graduate courses in NRE engineering. Such a course will not only produce planners, policy makers, economists, engineers of NRE but also generates several kinds of low level technologists and technicians that are required in this sector.

Time for action

It is high time to realise that NRE sources are the only hope of future. Hence, all future plans of the country should be based on this fact and all necessary infrastructures to tap these resources should be built right now. Generation of manpower is one of them and this could be materialised by introducing education on NRE at all levels - particularly in Master level. Late start may end - up with heavy penalties. It is the right time for action.

 Present situation of HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS is the epidemic of our generation, initially perceived as only a health problem, governments and business houses across the globe begin to realize the potential threat of HIV/AIDS and its effect on the society. The first case was diagnosed in 1988. Since then, the number has continued to rise. According to records of National Center for AIDS and STD Control Projects of the government, nearly 1600 people have tested positive for the virus, 365 of them have already been full-blown, and 140 have died of the disease. But the UN estimates the real situation far exceeds this number, experts and doctors claim that virus must have already captivated more than 50,000 people in the country.

The recent UN release on AIDS states: 34.3 million people world wide are said to have been HIV positive and over 90% of the infected are assumed to be from developing countries. The situation in Nepal is not as frightening as in Africa but it is very serious due to open border with India where 3.7 million people reported to be infected with this virus in India alone.

At present there are altogether 200,000 Nepalese women prostitutes in Indian cities. Some of them are returning to Nepal after developing AIDS either under rehabilitation programme of NGOs or are forced to return by Indian authorities. Besides, about 200,000 Indian citizens enter into Nepal as temporary labourers. Annually 500,000 foreign tourists come to Nepal and over 100,000 Nepalese visit Thailand and Hong Kong.

National Center for AIDS and STD programme of the government has been organising various programmes on AIDS in different districts. But the government has no national policy on the rehabilitation of women prostitutes. NGOs which are very active in Nepal have been able to collect authentic data. According to them, by 2000, HIV/AIDS victims may reach to 100,000. Data are based on interviews and interactions with a number of medical personnel and NGOs working on HIV/AIDS.

Realizing this fact the students of Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) undertook a study on the present situation of HIV/AIDS in the country. Experts’ views were taken into consideration, structured questionnaires were distributed across the five development regions and finally HIV patients were interviewed to make this work more authentic. Upon processing all the data and information, we came across some very obvious and some very shocking results.

The basic facts and figures show that the majority of HIV infected people belong to the age group of 20-40 years. More than 75% of the HIV infected are from the prescribed age group. It is very pity that people of such a productive age fall prey to this misery.

From our study we came to know that 90% of the people know about HIV/AIDS and 88% of them were well aware of its modes of transmission, where as 12% were still not very sure about it. This indicates that there is still need for disseminating information to reach out all levels of the society. 42% of the respondents said they behave very indifferently towards HIV infected persons. It is sad but true that despite the very fact about the nature of the infection, a huge percentage of normal people tend to discard the infected and refuse to accept them as a part and parcel of the society.

Majority of the respondents (more than 75%) are convinced that westernization of life style and degrading cultural values have a major role playing in the rapid growth of HIV infections in the country.

We came across the most shocking news when our data analysis revealed that 20% of the people (among the respondents) feel that HIV/AIDS is a personal problem. This is a very alarming because this attitude of people will adversely affect the present situation of HIV/AIDS in the country. As the saying goes "Nothing is permanent in this World except change". Indeed, what is required at the moment is change in people’s attitude and fundamental change in the whole philosophy of perceiving HIV patients and the disease itself.

(Amit, Hegendra, Mridul, Ritesh and Vivek)

 It is her right to breast feed

By Kanchan V Lama

Kabita is a mother of a 3 month old baby. She works in a government office for seven hours a day and for six days a week. Everyday she has to get up at 4.30 am to complete all her household chores and catch the 8 o’clock bus to make it to the office which starts at 10 am. She lives quite far from her office with her husband and mother-in-law. Her husband also leaves home early in the morning to teach in a school. She has her mother-in-law who helps take care of her baby at home. Kabita breast feeds her baby twice in the morning in between her domestic work and as much as she can after she is back home from the office. During her absence her mother-in-law has to resort to bottle feeding during the day. She says "being a mother, who would not like to breast feed their own child? But what can I do? I feel very uncomfortable due to my heavy breast full of milk during the long hours when I am at the office. As I do not live near the office nor does my office have flexible working hours to suit my convenience as a lactating mother I am just simply helpless!"

This is a serious situation which has so far been widely overlooked and given very low attention. It is the right of every child to get breast-fed as well as it is the right of a lactating mother to get free time to breast feed her baby. However, due to various reasons, some mothers cannot produce milk in their breast and miss the golden opportunity to be able to breast feed their children. On the same note, some mothers are compelled to work so hard in their household chores that, instead of taking care of their children, they are made to take more care of their husband, and other family members.

Although some of so called elite urban women are reluctant to breast feed in fear of affecting their physical beauty, the majority of the Nepali mothers are proud to breast feed and very often in rural areas that is the only source of nutrition available for their children. Normally the advocators on breast-feeding try to raise awareness among the mothers about the importance of breast-feeding. The issue being raised at a global level by the slogan "it is her right to breast-feed" is definitely not limited to educating mothers on breast-feeding. In a wider context it is also intended to raise awareness among the mothers that it is their right to claim for appropriate measure to be provided within the employment sector to allow women to exercise their right to breast-feed their children either at the workplace or be given time off to fulfil that basic need. Similarly in case of divorces, if separated from her child, the lactating mother must be encouraged and supported in exercising their right to claim for breast-feeding for their child.

The slogan is aimed at the rights of the lactating mothers. Therefore this indicates the need for raising greater awareness among employers on the necessity for adopting special provisions for working mothers who are unable to breast feed their children.

This raises the issue of providing flexible working condition for the lactating mothers in the workplace. Women have come out of their homes to work in factories, mills, offices and such other public services. That is why the lactating mothers who have babies of breast feeding age, need some free hours and facilities in the workplace to breast-feed their babies. But I wonder how many of such mothers have identified this as an important issue! Unfortunately, just recently I found that even the UN agencies in Nepal except UNICEF is indifferent to this issue.

Although the needs and interests of working women have changed, the working condition still remains stereotype and insensitive to this kind of changing needs and requirements. The slogan should be able to attract the Heads of all the organizations with a view to modify personnel management systems. Although they might be confused at the thought that how can an organization benefit from such flexible policies, yet there are many organizations in Nepal who implement such policies and most have obtained higher productivity as a result. Many I(NGO)s working in Nepal have gender sensitive personnel policies to suit the needs of the lactating mothers. Some organizations provide longer leave to the mother during maternity in order to enable her to take proper care of her child as well as to recover her health.

As an example, the Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project implemented by the Department of Forest in collaboration with 3 other Departments, namely, Department of Livestock Development Services, Nepal Agricultural Research Council and Agriculture Development Bank of Nepal has an innovative arrangement for the lactating mothers who work in the project as grassroots level group promoters. The technical assistance part (FAO through the Netherlands’ assistance) supports the employment of 46 group promoters through a special arrangement who are in fact rural women working for social mobilization of the leasehold forestry groups. Some of them are lactating mothers. When they are invited to some events such as, meeting, training, exposure tours or any kind of events by the project, they are provided with a special facility. They are encouraged to bring their children of 1-2 years of age with them. A reasonable amount is given for the maintenance of the children’s expenses for that period. This motivates them to work hard for the project as well as for own community. In fact they use the money to bring a caretaker with them to mind their children during their participation in the event. They are allowed to take free time off for breast-feeding during the event. Yet the productivity of the event does not get hampered. However these temporary arrangements seen on a sporadic basis. Such innovative and gender sensitive developments need to be institutionalized universally across the whole employment sector. Such simple but highly significant changes as a matter of fact increase productivity as opposed to belief that they will hamper productivity.

Conclusion: Generally women with children are not well accepted in many agencies with the thinking that she will not perform well in the office. While everybody recognizes the fact that the children are the future citizen of the country these convictions are not reflected in terms of attitudes and behaviour towards working women. Unless and until we change our attitudes, introduce and implement positive changes for working women we will be missing an important role in shaping the future of the next generation.