Echoes of harmony amid nature’s warning

Respected Chairman and the Madan Puraskar Guthi family, honored scholars, and all my relatives present here whom I must respect and cherish.

At the very outset, I would like to bow respectfully to the immortal memory of Rani Jagdamba, the founder of Madan Puraskar Guthi and the honored daughter-in-law of Nepal. I also wish to bow to the immortal soul of Kamalamani Dixit, whom I addressed affectionately and humorously as ‘Kalam Mani Dada’ whenever we met, a revered individual who did not pause his resolve to nurture this guthi amid the difficult environment and circumstances of our country, where numerous literary institutions languish and shut down, unable to weather the storms of pediatric ailments and falling victim to “the cruel jaws of treacherous time.” Extending heartfelt congratulations to the awarded scholar couple, I also wish to express my hope that our minds, too, will continue to benefit profoundly and for a long time from these talents who have been transformed from individuals into the sovereign property of the nation.

After receiving the letter sent by the secretary of this guthi, Dipak Aryal, on September 6 for the scholarly discourse, I felt touched by good fortune and doubt simultaneously. Good fortune in the sense that a provincial Nepali residing outside the Kathmandu Valley got this opportunity. However, the sentence mentioned in the aforementioned letter, “this guthi family, the dignitaries present at the ceremony, and the entire Nepali society will benefit from your experience, knowledge, and scholarship,” certainly filled me with doubt because, in my view, this is an extraordinary expectation from an ordinary person.

Why cannot the repetition of events that secure prominence not in national but in international media, and cause the nation’s head to hang in shame, be prevented?

Exactly one year ago today, on the afternoon of Sunday, October 12, 2025, in this very hall, during the award-presentation ceremony, I would like to request permission to mention the first paragraph of the welcome speech delivered by the Chairman. Expressing “heartfelt condolences to all who passed away during the movement” conducted by the younger generation on September 8 and 9, 2025, and “deep condolences to the bereaved families,” you had expressed good wishes that “this time following the movement, change, and floods-landslides, may nature and the environment as our main basis of living” and “lay the basis for building an even more advanced yet sensitive society.” But sadly, having to speak here today, I feel that the condition to repeat these very words and style still exists.

On July 26, 2026, the fire of communalism ignited in Kaptanbagh under Devanganj Rural Municipality of Koshi Province. The lives of four robust young men were lost. Many were injured. The heat and fury of destructive activities, including arson and looting, reached the banks of the Narayani River. Ultimately, like last year, the army took to the streets, and after being widely mobilized in society, the situation calmed down temporarily. Why cannot the repetition of such incidents, which receive prominence in international rather than national media and cause the nation’s head to hang in shame, be prevented?

Before the terror experienced due to the corrupted intellect of the people in a village of Koshi Province could subside, exactly one month later on August 26, 2026, the flow of water and land went awry in the Bhote Koshi riparian region, and the mega-disaster resulting from it has sunk deep into every Nepali as a wound that can never heal. The poignant tale of the warped intellect of the people of Nepal and the erratic movement of the soil of Nepal has now become the bitter reality of our national life. A profound and serious deliberation on this subject has become imperative.

Piercing through divisions such as Aryan-Non-Aryan, Shakta-Shaiva, Baishnav-Shaiva, and Buddhist-Sanatani, Nepali society and culture have embraced egalitarian and inclusive approaches for human compassion and welfare since a long time ago.

I have dared to state in scholarly gatherings on multiple occasions, we must never forget the basis of our Nepali social harmony. Piercing through divisions such as Arya-Anarya, Shakta-Shaiva, Baishnav-Shaiva, and Buddhist-Sanatani, Nepali society and culture have embraced egalitarian and inclusive approaches for human compassion and welfare since a long time ago. From Budhasubba in Bijaypur and Mangaladevi in Khandabari in the east, passing through Manakamana Mai in Gorkha, to the Baraha Temple at Barhakune Lake in Dang in the west, Magar priests serve in many temples across Nepal. In the old forts of the Gandaki basin region during the festival of Bada Dashain at midnight on Kalaratri, after the Magar priest offers rice beer to Goddess Kali, a Brahmin priest recites the resolution verse and makes the sacrificial offering of Kalaratri. In the Sankhu Bajrayogini Mai, Guhyeshwari Mai, and Dakshinkali Mai around Kathmandu, tantric priests, and in Gadhimai of Bara district, the Tharu priest applies tikas on the foreheads of others, and everyone receives blessings from these priests. Similarly, in our Madhesh, everyone worships or pays respects at the temple of Salhesh, of the community once looked down upon and belittled as Dusadh.

At the holy spout of Muktinath, Sanatani and Buddhist people bathe together because they find the symbols of their worship and faith in the same place. The daily worship there is performed jointly by a Bhoteni Jhuma and a Hilly Subedi Bahun. On the one hand, the Chhath festival, tied to the history and culture of Mithila, has transformed today into a national festival celebrated with wide participation across our entire country; on the other hand, the increasing presence of non-Madhesi people to gain the religious merit of the Mithila Parikrama is also a strong example of religious foundation and faith.

If the well-off Nepali who harbor the sentiment that religion is a personal matter can explain this to the destitute Nepali through examples rather than sermons, the sentiment of sectarian neutrality will grow stronger in our Nepal, and this will ultimately reinforce national integrity and unity. Indeed, as a direct consequence of religion being a personal matter, King Mandeva was a Vishnu follower, while his queen and daughter were followers of Shiva and worshippers of Shakti, respectively. The Vishnu-devoted King Mandeva even built a Buddhist monastery. Furthermore, the Harihar temple in the Pashupati precinct embodies the joint oneness of Shiva and Bishnu, that is, Shaiva and Baishnav, making sectarian neutrality even more meaningful. Similarly, the folk tale of Sumnima and Paruhang not only recounts the matrimonial context of the Aryan daughter Parbati and the Kirat Shiva, but it also draws our attention to the fact that Shiva, the supreme god Mahadev, has no caste or lineage.