{"id":52495,"date":"2026-08-06T17:00:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T11:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=52495"},"modified":"2026-08-06T17:00:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T11:15:41","slug":"book-review-mahayug-a-quest-for-new-world-with-women-supremacy-and-dignity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/book-review-mahayug-a-quest-for-new-world-with-women-supremacy-and-dignity\/","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW – ‘Mahayug’: A Quest for new world with women supremacy and dignity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Narayan Prasad Ghimire, Kathmandu, Aug 6: Seema Avas, who began her creative journey by writing poems, gradually shifted her attention to fiction. Her latest creation ‘Mahayug’ is a riveting novel with a dominant theme of a quest for new world (order) with women supremacy and dignity, and human coexistence. Disruption of the present domination and suppression to women is advocated by the writer. Avas not only presents harrowing stories of female subjugation and coercion but also gives the remedy for establishment of women power, authority and sovereignty.<\/p>\n

The same three secrets- ‘yantra, mantra and tantra’- that male ones applied for time immemorial to coerce female are suggested restoration and utilization for women’s primacy and new world order.<\/p>\n

Story and strands<\/strong><\/p>\n

The story begins with a setting of squatters’ settlement in Kathmandu- confluence of Bagmati and Bishnumati Rivers. Nilanjana (Nile) and Abbe are two children where Nilanjana remains central character till the end of the story. The book is divided into two parts- Nilanjana and Yakshini. The first part Nilanjana beginning with stories of Nile and Abbe ends with the story of Nile and Akhya’s parting. The first part explains trial and tribulation of a woman who migrated to Kathmandu to live a dignified life, liberating herself from a sordid state in a Brahmin family in an eastern hilly village of Nepal, but faces acute shortage, severe hassles and hostilities. With abject discrimination and ill treatment to her at her home, she resorts to escape- departure and protest.<\/p>\n

She is forced to battle odds for existence. She comes in contact with several persons- male and female, rich and poor- but has to protest for her ambition and liberation once the generous ones turn cruel. She gets shelter and rescue in emergency but sustainable protection eludes throughout her life. She even gives birth to a daughter but has no husband (father to her child) in life. Once the daughter\/child’s protest with and departure from Akhya, a male character, is over, the novel itself is over.<\/p>\n

So, the next part ‘Yakshini’ can be regarded as a reincarnation and awakening of Nilanjana. The second part is spiritual, gothic and meditative. Tantra, mantra and yatra prevail here. Tantra is applied for rebirth and reawakening of women and girls who died and were killed at early age, in deprivation. The second part is the imaginative world order where females have dignity. The first part serves like ‘Second Coming’ of WB Yeats, which needs immediate rescue due to its wretchedness, while the second part the peaceful home where women can write their literature and scripts. There are several characters telling stories in the second part. Solution to women’s sufferings are explained by many, among which Ripumardinidevi seems vital.
\nThere are multiple settings- urban and rural, lofty rich house and ragged and rubbles, shelter and temples. Pashupatinath Temple and vicinity, Teku, Kathmandu comes frequently. Rivers, mountains, forests, ponds\/lake and gardens are other areas the characters frequent. Two noticeable periods- before1900BS or establishment of democracy; and before restoration of democracy (2046BS) are found with references of the political systems, and glimpses of deprivation of education and struggle for democracy\/freedoms.<\/p>\n

Dichotomies and division<\/strong><\/p>\n

The novel applies several tools like parallel and allusions, including physical and meta-physical, real and spiritual, to engage the readers so that they could realize the sensitivity and seriousness of the characters, their attitude and settings- time and places. Other dichotomies featured in the novel are city-village, Rana autocracy-freedom fighters, aristocrat-downtrodden, rich-poor, male-female, old-new, physical and metaphysical, real and spiritual, love and lust, body and spirit\/soul. These feature the characters and detailing settlings and attitude; and help readers understand well the divisions, differences, decay, dissonance, disappointment and disenchantment in society and system and human psychology.<\/p>\n

The struggle and suffering of women in the system and rule that are created, narrated and controlled by men is hostile to women, so women liberation is underscored through spiritual journey not physical devastation. In each dichotomy, women are at the receiving end. The female character, who comes to Kathmandu (city) from village, suffers so much, lives sordid life, battles odds, and continues existence and paves way for liberation.<\/p>\n

Radical feminism or not<\/strong><\/p>\n

Celebration of women- their bodies, body parts, passion, yearning, ambition, dream and mission, puberty, pregnancy and procreation- is the another theme of the novel. Living a life of women with full exploration of potential and thriving emotion and ambition is stressed here. For this to happen, protest, awakening, meditation, consciousness and narrative building are strongly suggested. Women are alluded to nature and mother earth where the living beings are given birth, reared, nurtured and nourished.
\nThe novel does not see the essence of world in absence of women. The writer is ardent advocate of women’s supremacy and authority. The silence provides space for suppression, so the dominant character, Nilanjana, in the novel always engages in struggle and protest for survival, meaning and existence. She always wants to establish the meaning and identity of female. Submission is not in the list of Nilanjana’s dictionary. “While racing, I never regarded myself as a tortoise, but a hare- one that did not lose. I had the unbeatable hare hopping in me,” is the very first account of Nelanjana’s childhood. It is that very spirit which kept her inured and alive.
\nSome readers may wonder whether the book talks of radical feminism for it censures suppression of female by the male ones, but the close observation does not suggest the writer is against male. She is against the evil practices of society where males are privileged and protected, but does not like to annihilate male existence. Her character ‘Biryaban’ is a potent symbol. She wants to have ‘Biryaban’ with each reincarnated woman and girl so that they could continue procreation. But the Biryaban, the male figure, must abide by women’s narrative and rule. Women’s ‘yantra, mantra and tantra’ will prevail in new world. Stri philosophy, stri awakening, stri yug (era) will be in place.<\/p>\n

Three secrets: Yantra, mantra and tantra<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Yantra’, mantra and ‘tantra’ are three essential secrets the writer applies to expose the male’s atrocities and women’s submission and subjugation which however are equally imperative tools for women’s new world or ‘mahayug’ (grand world\/epoch). In a common sense, yantra is understood as a tool\/device, mantra as a formula\/rule and tantra as a blend of yantra and mantra. Because of these very three measures, the males have been suppressing females for time immemorial. With the best application for these keys, the novelist suggests establishment of mahayug where women are sovereign and men their assistants.<\/p>\n

One can cogitate much on these three secrets. For example, tantra is more than magical- cruel, gothic- which needs rigorous attention and paraphernalia for its proper and judicious functioning. The stories- mythical, hearsay, unwritten and undocumented- find presence in Avas’ writing, thereby revealing the domination by male and appalling state of women in the past and present. Some may have heard the tantric practice of procreation, while many become bewildered. Taking control of the evil power through invocation, incantation and enticing are explained. The chapter ‘Strikuchal Badh’ is the culmination of tantric practice.<\/p>\n

Major Characters<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are several characters in the novel which has numerous stories and strands, making it a metafiction. However, dominant characters are the narrator herself- Nilanjana and Yakshini. They tell the stories and make several others to tell stories. The foibles, failures, social malaise and repression are narrated by creating the significant characters, including Ripumardinidevi. To the readers, character Ripumardinidevi may give a glimpse of Goddess Devi. Devi is much revered for her potency to defeat the demonic forces. In the novel, Ripumardinidevi gives solution or the measures to defeat the evil spirit\/force that tortured women of different ages for year. The character, Srikuchal, is such evil force that is neither male nor female but both, which acted against women. The chapter ‘Strikuchal Badh’ (Murder of Strikuchal) is vital, for it mentions how this character which played a cruel role to eliminate the existence of women is wiped out with the application of ‘yantra, tantra and mantra’.<\/p>\n

Once the Strikuchal is obliterated, it paves way for new world order of women where they can live a dignified life. It helps pave way for ‘mahayug’, where women can live their lives as per their desire not as per others. Such fictional characters and events make a clarion call that the evil form of practices and rule in physical that rendered women to non-entity must be wiped out. Strikuchal denotes social malaise and anomalies, injustice, torture, biased narrative and faulty scripts which must be removed for women’s rights and sovereign self.<\/p>\n

Human coexistence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Irrespective of advocating for wiping out the evil forces and male narratives, the writer is essentially for continuation of procreation, where she presents a character ‘Biryaban’. Interestingly, she does not give a male name to this character but addresses as Biryaban, and in the story, Ripumardinidevi suggests those reincarnated women and girls to have their own Biryaban so that they can live happily. So, this novel deplores and exposes evil practices where male enjoyed and female were subdued. In the new world or the mahayug, there will be women supremacy but no suppression to male. So, male-female harmony and co-existence with equal dignity is envisioned by the writer through this novel. Establishment of women regime and supremacy is envisioned where it would not only be a new place of new women and men but also of the reincarnated and reawakened women\/girls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Narayan Prasad Ghimire, Kathmandu, Aug 6: Seema Avas, who began her creative journey by writing poems, gradually shifted her attention to fiction. Her latest creation ‘Mahayug’ is a riveting novel with a dominant theme of a quest for new world (order) with women supremacy and dignity, and human coexistence. Disruption of the present domination and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52495"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52498,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52495\/revisions\/52498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}