Sitayan: Way of life

By Nitya Nanda Timsina

"That sort of welfare state is no more today," says the author. Nevertheless, Dr Adhikari, the first PhD student from Mahendra Sanskrit University, values the disappearing social ethos of Nepali society.

It has often been said that one of the most silent barometers of a country’s wellbeing is its treatment of women. It is no accident that the nations with the least respect for women are also the most stagnant in every other way. For especially in contemporary Nepal, where no one gives a damn about respecting women and their interest, they face grim chances to shape their destiny. The social sanctions today facing the women in Hindu society is second only to Muslim countries. These are the countries where there is no fundamental approach to gender.

For ages, people have disregarded the role of women as the economic wheel of the family. Oppressive acts against women, including physical abuse, rape and economic control are prevalent in the poorer region, let alone Nepal.

Past difficulties are the causes of current happiness while the present pain is the result of previous life’s happiness. If that was what the philosophy of Karma, as preached in Hinduism follows, Sitayan, an Epic by Dr Rameshchandra Adhikari goes a step further to explain: With the role of a daughter in the economic life cycle, there can be no pain and no suffering.

The Hindu religion recognizes many religious paths, three of which are: The path of knowledge (jnana), the path of work and religious performances (karma) and the path of devotion (bhakti).

As a strong disbeliever of modernity and the age of science he says that Sita, the embodiment of tolerance and faith, has no western parallel nor any counterpart.

Leading a hermit-like existence, he scrambles into seats in a room, which is devoid of a basic minimum facility for a writer. Defending the ancient glory, he unveils the real key on how current problems could be remedied through a worship and devotion for Sita and going back to her days.

Adhikari has abandoned the extreme path of materialism after what he claims he saw the goddess dancing in his dream. The following night, he started living a hermit-like existence. "Sita is not merely a symbol of surrender but a symbol of co-operation, co-ordination and co-existence for the betterment of society, for the emancipation of human civilization…" he says.

There was a time in Nepal, when Sita was worshipped and revered as a daughter of the soil. Today, she is seen as a little more than the cult-like collection of religious zealots.

With the long-held Vedic worships and customs fading today with the attendance in the temples and religious gatherings in deep decline and with family values undergoing a major shift with abortion and divorce becoming a commonplace, the worst will come.

Nevertheless, Dr Adhikari, the first PhD student from Mahendra Sanskrit University, values the disappearing social ethos of Nepali society.

Boldly fighting back the all-embracing type of materialism and narrow-type of life in contemporary Nepal, he has been scribbling a towering tale of Sita -"Sitayan" or "Sita’s way of life." The author harbors a startling account of love for Sita, great daughter of Nepal. He points out that family is the backbone of a state. Its wellbeing comes from the respect shown to a woman. A woman can shape the destiny of a family with her husband playing the role of a breadwinner.

Born in 2011 BS in Dhading’s Sunaulabazar, inspired by Manu and Kautilaya, Dr Adhikari’s writing draws us towards the age of renaissance. "freedom without responsibility destroys society’s base." "This is a lesson we derive from Sitaji," he says.

While he also points out in his Epic in lucid description of how a political pollution worldwide has led to the ruin of ancient family values. The politician-turned poet had woven altogether 3000 pages and four volumes of heart-rending verses of the goddess, Sita. Spending sleepless nights, writing for twelve hours a day, the author scribbles phrases of praise for Sita attempting to explain how the model woman and a legendary daughter of the country’s soil had shown the country a rightful path of life.

He then explains how the game of politics has ruined the modern state, devoid of any humanity and compassion towards the poor living in the edges of absolute poverty. The poem lingers around with relentless account of the brutalities of political life. Structurally, his Epic begins with a statement of praises for Sita. It proceeds with an invocation to her, showing a muse or divine source of inspiration in narrative flashbacks.

Scrawling phrases of praises on the pages in his emotionally loaded first verses, Dr Adhikari narrates an advice Lord Rama gives to Sugriva, the King. By doing so he offers more than just insights into the generations of Nepalese that lived during the reign of King Janaka, father of Sita. "That sort of welfare state is no more today," says the author.

Today’s leaders and politicians need to learn much from the life of Sita, where tolerance and co-operation hold a premium.

Evergreen octogenatisan

The school had such a reputation that people from remote areas began to send their children to study there.

By Shreedhar Khanal

Atall and lanky figure is seen almost everyday strolling at the premises of Adarsha Vidyamandir (10+2 higher secondary school), Man Bhawan at Jawalakhel. He is none other than evergreen octogenarian Satyanarayan Bahadur Shrestha known by all academics in this country. He is also the founder principal of Tribhuwan Adarsha Vidhyalaya (TAV), Pharping. This is the first boarding school started by a Nepali citizen after the St Xaviers’s, which was established by Father Morang (a Catholic priest) in 1952. Shrestha, being an democrat as well as a fast friend of the late Ganesh Man Singh, was in exile during the Rana regime.

Staying at Kolkata in India, he went on writing revolutionary articles against the Rana regime and published them in the magazine Udaya. But after the establishment of democracy, he returned to Nepal and found that a Christian priest had opened the first English boarding school at Godavari. Having known that the country badly needed modern boarding schools, he approached His Majesty the King Tribhuvan and got permission to open a boarding school at Pharping. He named it Tribhuvan Adarsha Vidyalaya and became himself the Principal.

He imposed strict discipline on the students as well as the teachers. Nobody was allowed to speak any other languages, except English during school hours. Both teachers and students maintained good discipline in their classes. The students had to take part in physical exercise everyday under the guidance of a well trained sport teacher. They took part in sports too. Medical facilities were provided for minor diseases and injuries.

The school had such a reputation that people even from remote areas began sending their children to study here.

Today, there are many doctors, teachers, social workers and political leaders who have studied at TAV, Pharping. One of them is Minister of Environment and Population P L Singh. Whenever I meet him anywhere on any occasion, he first salutes me and introduces me to others as his teacher.

The founder principal of TAV was not only regarded as the pioneer of modern boarding school but also envied by some persons. After the demise of King Tribhuvan, some people disguised themselves as teachers entered into the school premises. They deliberately misled the students about the strict discipline imposed by Shrestha. This made him to resign from the post of principal. But that did not deter him from imparting high quality education to young students.

He started another boarding school named Mahendra Adarsha Vidyashram at Thapathali and continued serving this country. Later in 1966, he founded Adarsha Vidya Mandir at Bhairav at Kupondole and shifted it to Man Bhawan, Jawalakhel (the present AVM). Now he is the founder director of AVM and he has upgraded the school to a college level. He has been honoured by various governmental organisations and private institutons for his long and effective service to this country. He is still working hard at the age of 87. He works more than ten hours a day and says there is no place for a lazy person in this world. And his motto is to go on working until death.

Sita: Symbol of Chastity

Sita is a national heroine of Nepal. She is also one of the most popular heroines in the Hindu mythology. She is also famous as the wife of Rama, the hero of the epic Ramayana.

By R.D. Rakesh

Janak was a famous King of Mithila. He was called Videh (Bodiless). His name was synonymous with wisdom and goodness. He was himself a great scholar. He ruled the Kingdom of Mithila in southern Nepal for many years. But he had no children. Once his Kingdom was hit by a dangerous drought. He was advised by his priests to till the land himself for avoiding this natural calamity. One day, the childless Janak sanctified the land and tilled it. He found a beautiful baby girl lying in a furrow. The word ‘Sita’ itself means furrow, the line made by the plough and is the name of a goddess associated with ploughed fields in Vedic literature. He brought her back to his royal palace. She was brought up with great love and care and with all comforts. She was the paragon of beauty. Tulasidas, a great poet has described her unparalleled beauty in the following lines:-

"She lends charm to charm itself, he said to himself, and looks as if a flame of light is burning in the house of loveliness. The smiles already employed by the poets are all stale and hackneyed; to whom shall I liken Videha’s daughter" She is also called Vaidehi. She is called Ayonija (not born of a womb of woman). She is considered dutiful daughter of Janak. He also loved her very much.

Sita is a national heroine of Nepal. She is also one of the most popular heroines in the Hindu mythology. She is also famous as the wife of Rama, the hero of the epic Ramayana. She is considered as the model Hindu wife. After her marriage with Rama, her mother-in-law Kaushalya also brought her up with love and affection. In her words:-

"Moreover, I have found in her a beloved daughter-in-law, exceedingly beautiful, amiable and accomplished. I have treated her as the very apple of my eye and loved her so much that my very soul is centered in Janaki. I have tended her as carefully as a creeper of paradise and watered her growth with streams of affection. Never yet has Sita left bed or seat or lap or cradle to set foot upon the hard ground. I have been tending her like a life giving herb and never even asked her to trim the wick of a lamp.

Sita has been described as the ideal wife of Rama in the Ramayan. She was very loyal to him. She remained steadfast in her loyalty to him throughout he whole life. He was the centre of her life. He was always in her mind. Her role as the ideal wife has been mentioned in several episodes in the Ramayan. When Dasharath, King of Ayodhya, told Rama to go into exile in the forest for fourteen years, Rama advised her to remain in the royal palace of Ayodhya because she would not bear the ordeals and discomforts of the forest. She became very sad. She told Rama that a husband was a god to his wife. Without husband a wife’s life is meaningless. Tulasidas has described this with these words:-

"As a body bereft of life, as a river without water, so, my lord, is a woman without her husband. In your company, my husband, all are delights, as long as I can behold your countenance that vies in brightness with the immaculate autumn moon."

Valmiki the celebrated poet of Sanskrit has mentioned this version of Sita in the following lines:

"O son of an illustrious monarch, a father, a mother, a brother, a son or a daughter-in-law enjoy the fruit of their merits and receive what is their due, a wife alone follows the destiny of her consort, o bull among men, therefore, from now on, my duty is clear, I shall dwell in the forest! For a woman, it is not her father, her son, not her mother, friends nor her ownself, but the husband, who in this world and in the next is ever her sole means of salvation. If thou dost enter the impenetrable forest today, o descendant of Raghu, I shall precede thee on foot, treading down the spiky Kusha grass...I shall willingly dwell in the forest as formerly I inhabited the palace of my father having no anxiety in three worlds and reflecting only on my duties towards my lord.

The Ramayana of Valmiki, trans. Hari Prasad Shastri, 3 vols.

She is so loyal to her husband Rama that she compares herself with Savitri who was also devoted and dedicated to her husband Satyaban. She followed him even in the Kingdom of dead and brought him back alive on the strength of her chasity and purity of character. She defeated the god of death by her wisely idealism. Sita persuades Ram not to leave her alone in ‘Ayodhya because "to be with thee is heaven, to be without thee is hell, this is the truth."

Sita never touched another man except Rama even in her dream. When Hanuman, monkey god requested her to return to Ayodhya from Lanka, on his back, she outrightly refused his request because by carrying her on his back, he would touch her body. This also proves how loyal she was to her husband.

Sita was imprisoned in Ravan’s Ashok garden in Lanka. He proposes her to accept him as her new husband. She was stunned and shocked at this proposal and became very furious. She even threatened to burn him to ashes with the fire that she had achieved from her chastity of character. She did not do that because she had no permission from her husband Rama.

Sita loyalty and chastity had been put on trial on several occasions in the Ramayan. Rama defeated Ravana in the war. Sita was brought before Rama but he wanted to prove the chastity of Sita in front of the people because she spent many years in the Ashok garden of Ravana. She asked Lakshman to prepare a funeral pyre because she wished to die after this accusation, but the god of fire refused to harm her because she was pure in her character. Rama was totally convinced of her purity and accepted her as his faithful wife.

Sita is thus a perennial source of inspiration for all the Hindu women today. She is an ideal woman who never disobeyed her husband. She always accompanied Rama whether in the palace or in the forest. She was the constant companion of Rama.

Heritage tour
Ashok Binayak temple of royal Ganesh

Members of royal family take their children to the temple of Ganesh to accomplish rituals of rice-feeding, bratabandha and wedding.

By Razen Manandhar

Among fifty plus monuments constructed in the various stages of the history, the most commonly visited shrine in Hanumandhoka Durbar Square area is the insignificant temple of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god. It is associated with the social life of the public as well as the royals of the Himalayan Kingdom.

The temple of Ashok Binayak is situated at the east of Hanumandhoka Durbar Square Protected Monument Zone, beside the tumultuous vegetable and flower market. It is dwarfed by the giant pagoda structure of Kasthamandap that stands in front of the temple but the locals automatically turn themselves to the temple and take a round from the left whenever they arrive at the courtyard of Maru.

The Ganesh temple, however, is still waiting for the proved accounts of its history. The only historical evident we have about the temple is that it was renovated in 1850 AD that certainly cannot be the date of origin of the temple. It is the unwritten history and the strong belief of the locals that the insignificant shrine among the grandiloquent temples of the monument zone draws hundreds of pilgrims to its small threshold. The legends give credit of initiating religious rituals to a Tantric priest Jamana Gubhaju and continuing the rituals and caretaking the temple to a local merchant Dhamanan Sayami. Perhaps this is the reason the Ganesh is held to be deified incarnation of oil pressers (Manandhars).

According to a legend, the area where the temple is situated today was once upon a time a big jungle and people found the miraculous idol of Ganesh there. The legend implies that it belongs to the time long before Hanumandhoka as a royal palace came into existence. But as it was cramped among trees, the makers could not give the final touch by adding a pinnacle to the small temple. Branches of an Ashok tree was hanging above the temple. So the people named it Ashok Binayak. The tree shaped decoration inside the temple that is hardly visible these days, are the reminders of the Ganesha’s love the Ashoka tree that gave him its name.

The temple is only a small chamber, no garbhagriha or doors from other directions. From outside, almost all parts of the front is covered with brass plates. The reppouse plates resemble the wooden structures behind. A decorated Torana is on the top of the gate, which is tightly tucked up with iron bars, to save it from the hand of art thieves but a small Ganesh figure under the Torana has been missing. Two lions at the door and a shrew across the street guard the temple. Four ancient looking pillars inside the temple indicate the ancient structure of the temple. Like in the shrine of Budha Nilkantha, the pillars were meant to make the temple roof but it kept falling off, as people believed it, due to the God’s unwillingness to dwell under a roof. And people left the temple without completing the roof. This legend supports another logic behind the temple’s missing pinnacle.

The stone idol that has endured innumerable pilgrims’ beggings, and scraping of "prasad" is seated on the floor. With an unusually big face, the god with elephant’s head sits with four hands. On every Tuesdays, the stone idol is given a "cover" of copper idol and during major festivals like Dashain, the temple is decorated with silver idol. Recently, a gold plated idol was made for ceremonial purposes. His Majesty King Gyanendra was also present on the occasion.

A pilgrim hardly gets enough space in front of the temple to sit and ask for his blessing. And the busy pilgrims find it easy to "salute" the poor god from outside. Irrespective of its indistinct history and archaeological value, people throng themselves to the temple every day with unlimited desires they believe will be fulfilled by bless of Ganesh.

The metal idol of Ashok Binayak is taken around the core city on the eighth day of Dashian. The locals offer animal sacrifices and flowers to the god who runs from one street to another in hurry. The chariot of Ganesh is also taken to Simha Durbar and Narayanhiti Royal Palace to grace offerings.

Members of royal family take their children to the temple of Ganesh temple to accomplish rituals of rice-feeding, bratabandha and wedding. Similarly visiting the temple is a must part of coronation of every monarch of the country.

One among the four guarding Ganesh: Surya Binayak (Bhaktapur), Chandra Binayak (Chabahil), Jal Binayak of (Chobhar) remaining the three.

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