बुढानिलकण्ठ, बुद्ध र यम्बू

यो अतिनै जिज्ञासु मनलाई सत्य, तथ्य र यथार्थ बुझ्न अतिनै उत्सुकता लाग्छ किन कि यस विश्वका विद्वान बुद्धिजीवी, दार्शनिक, वैज्ञानिक आदिहरुले भनेका रहेछन सत्य भन्दा ठुलो धर्म अरु छैन भनेर | साथै सत्यले मात्र मानवलाई मुक्ति दिलाउछ भनेर | त्यस्तै गरि नेपाल आमाको महान पुत्र, राजकुमार सिद्धार्थ गौतम जो बुद्ध हुनु भयो उहाँले पनि भन्नु भएको रहेछन, 

"सत्यताको मार्गमा लाग्दा जो कोहिले मात्र दुई गल्तिहरु गर्ने गर्छन, प्रथम सत्य के हो बुझ्नको लागि शुरुवात नै नगर्ने, दोस्रो शुरुवात गरेता पनि सत्यताको गहिराईमा नजाने" |

जहिले पनि लाग्थियो किन होला हाम्रा राजा महाराजाहरु बुढानिलकण्ठ गएर विष्णुको मुर्ति हेर्नु हुन्न भन्ने भ्रामिक विश्वास गर्छन र सो मुर्ति हेर्नको लागि हनुमान दोका भित्र सानो दुरुस्त मुर्ति निर्माण गरेको रहेछन उनीहरुको लागि हेर्न र पूजनको भनि जुन सन् २०१२ मा मैले पनि हेर्न अवसर प्राप्त गरे प्रचण्ड नामको एक जना स्थानीय नेवार ७०-७५ वर्षको बुबाले मलाई लागेको हेर्नु पर्छ नानी त्यस्तो जो पायो उसले कहाँ अवसर पाउछ भन्दै |

जे होस कुरा गम्भीर छ, एकदम झालाजेल छ किन कि प्रष्ट रुपमा लेखिएका हाम्रो नेपालको इतिहास छैन | त्यसैले एकदम सोच विचार गर्दै चारैतिर सोच्दै सत्य, तथ्य र यथार्थ के हो भनि बुझ्नु पर्ने हुन्छ |

सन् २०१२ ताका फिल्ड वर्कको लागि म तथ्यांक संकलन गर्न नेपाल जाँदा मेरो आमा र दिदीले नारायणथान पनि जानु आफ्नो व्यक्तिगत फाईदाको लागि त सेतो नागको छोरी हो भन्छन लामा बाजेहरुले भनेकोले गर्दा म पहिलो पटक गएको थिए बुढानिलकण्ठ, नारायणथानमा दर्शन गर्न |

कस्तो अच्चम लाग्थ्यो मलाई कुरा बुझ्दा बौद्ध दर्शनको तिर्थस्थलहरु कसरी हिन्दुको पनि हुन गयो भनेर | तर कुरा बुझ्दा त प्राय बौद्ध धर्मको तिर्थस्थलहरु हिन्दुस्तान र बुद्धस्थान दुबैमा विगतमा हिन्दुस्तानी दार्शनिक आदि शंकराचार्यले बौद्ध दर्शनको भिक्षुहरुलाई तर्क बाद्विवाद्मा हराउदै कतिको त बध पनि गर्दै हिन्दुको बनाएका रहेछन राजामहाराजाहरुको सहयोगमा सोहि अनुसार केदारनाथ, बद्रीनाथ, पशुपतिनाथ, मुक्तिनाथ, हलेसीनाथ, आदि हिन्दुको मुख्य दर्शन केन्द्रहरु बनाएका रहेछन ९ औ शताब्दीमा र तत्पश्च्यत नेपालमा मल्ल र शाहकालिन राज्यकालिनमा |

कुरा भनेको बुझ्नु पर्छ हामीले, किरातकालिन राज्यको सातौ राजाको पालामा सिद्धार्थ गौतम बुद्ध भए पछि काठमाडौँ उपत्यका आएको थियो भन्ने भनाई छ बौद्ध ग्रन्थहरुमा | अनि "किरात" भनेको राई लिम्बु होइनन त्यो त हिमालयमा र उत्तर-पूर्वी हिन्दुस्तानमा बस्ने मंगोल मुलको तिब्बती-बर्मी जातिलाई खिसी ट्युरी स्वरूप "सिंह" जस्तै प्रवृति भएको "सिंह टाउके मान्छे" भनेर दिएको रहेछ भन्ने भनाई हिन्दुस्तानी लेखहरु जस्तै यजुर्वेदमा सबै भन्दा पहिले उल्लेख गरेको रहेछ तत्पश्च्यत अथर्वेद र महाभारतमा जुन लेखेका थिए वेद व्यासले भन्ने विश्वास छ | वेदिककालमा ती किरातीहरुलाई उच्च स्तरको प्राकृतिक शक्ति भएको मानिसहरु भनेर भन्दा रहेछन |

साथै लिम्बु समुदाय जो आफुलाई किरात हौ भन्ने गर्छन त्यस समुदायको लेखक, छवि संग्बांग्फे लिम्बु लेख्नु हुन्छ,

"यलम्बरका सन्तानहरु काठमाडौँको चार भन्ज्यांग वरिपरी नै बसेका छन् | उनीहरु साँखु खोला तरेर पूर्व आएनन | केहि मिथ्या ईतिहास लेख्नेहरुले पूर्वका लिम्बु खम्बु (राई) लगायत जातिहरुसंग यलम्बरको वंशज मिसाई दिएर दिग्भ्रमित कथा राटन गरि आफ्नो पहिचान धुमिल बनाउने कसरत भई रहेको छ | किरात भन्ने शब्द लिम्बु जातिको मुन्धुम र यससंग सम्बन्धित कुनै लिखित वा अलिखित आख्यान परम्परामा भेटिंदैन जो भूमिपुत्र आदिबासीहरुले आफ्नो मौलिक पहिचान खोज्ने ठुलो शास्त्र भनेको परम्परागत मिथकमा आधारित मन्धुमबाट नै हो | अर्काले लेखि दिएको काल्पनिक ईतिहासलाई आफ्नो उद्गम पृष्ठभुमि मानेर अलमलमा पर्यौ भने हामीसंग जे जति पहिचानहरु छन् त्यो पनि गुमाउने छौ | लिम्बुहरुसंग आफ्नो उत्पति, मानव सभ्यताको विकास र सामाजिक संयोजनका पाटाहरु पश्स्त उल्लेख भएको मुन्धुम र ईतिहास छ | यसका साथै उनिहरुसंग आधुनिक नेपाल राज्य बनेपछाडी पनि आफ्नो शासकीय भूगोल लिम्बुवानमा अविच्छिन्न उत्तराधिकारी रहेर आएको दस्तावेज छ |

त्यस दस्तावेजले लाह्साहांगमा, कासीहांगमा र खाम्वोंग्बा भनेर सम्बोधन गरेको छ | जसको अर्थ ऊतर र दक्षिणबाट प्रवेश गरि त्यही माटोमा उत्पति भएका समुहवीच समायोजन भएको हो भन्ने बुझाउछ | यसकारण लिम्बु जातिलाई न त् मुन्धुम, न त लिखित राजनीतिक दस्तावेज कतैबाट पनि किरात नामले सम्बोधन गरेको पाईंदैन | किरात शब्द वर्णभेदी ब्राह्मणहरुले आफुलाई मन नपर्ने जातिहरुलाई उपहास गर्नका लागि भिराई दिएको उपनाम मात्र हो भन्ने गरिन्छ | किन भने यो शब्दको प्रयोग हिन्दु विधि शास्त्रहरुमा मात्र भएको पाईन्छ | अन्य कुनै पनि जनजातीहरुले पनि आफुलाई किरात हु भनेर स्वीकारेका छैन र जसले स्वीकारेका छन् ती लेखकहरुले यस सम्बन्धि उल्लेख गरेका सन्दर्भ सामाग्रीहरु पनि सबै हिन्दु धर्म ग्रन्थ मात्रै छन् | नेपालको ईतिहास अनुसार किरात राज्य चार भन्ज्यांग भित्र मात्र भेट्न सकिन्छ, त्यसकारण त्यसको खोजीको औचित्य काठमाडौँ उपत्यकाको बाहिरी कुनै अर्थ र महत्व रहदैन | त्यसैले जसले आफुलाई यलम्बरको सन्तान वा वंशज दाबि गर्छन उसले आफ्नो पहिचान खोज्न काठमाडौँ जानु पर्छ | किन भने राज्य र पहिचान जहाँबाट हरायो त्यही खोज्दा मात्र भेट्न सकिन्छ | अरुण पूर्वमा हराएको राज्यको नाम लिम्बुवान हो र दूधकोसी पूर्व हराएको भुमि खम्बुवान हो |"

उपलब्ध प्रमाणहरु अनुसार बुढानिलकण्ठ को त्यो मुर्ति पनि बुद्धकै हुनु पर्छ भन्ने लाग्छ किन कि बुद्ध भनेको सत्यको प्रतिक हुन् अनि सत्यको प्रतिक देखि राजा महाराजा डराउथे आफुले गलित गरेकोले गर्दा झुटको सहारा लिएर सत्ता, शक्ति र जनशक्ति हाता पारेकोले गर्दा | त्यसैले पनि मल्ल कालिनमा राजा जयस्थिति मल्लको पाला, १४ औ शताब्दी देखिनै मात्र पो रहेछन त बुढानिलकण्ठ, नारायणथानलाई महत्व दिएको विष्णु भगवान पुज्ने परम्परालाई पुनर्जीवित गर्ने भन्दै जतिबेला हिन्दुस्तानबाट ५ जना ब्राह्मणहरु झिकाई नेपालको पहिलो का

नून "मानव न्याय शास्त्र" लेखेका थिए जसमा मनुस्मृति र नारायणस्मृति कट र पेष्ट गरिएको थियो साथै ४ जात ३६ वर्ण भन्ने उक्ति पनि सृजना गरेका थिए उपत्यकाबासीलाई स्वरूप दिएर "नेवार" समाजको निर्माण गरेको थियो | १२-१३ औ शताब्दीसम्म त शिव जी मात्र बदी पुज्ने प्रचलन रहेछन कुरा बुझ्दा अनि मल्ल राज्य सुरुवात भएकै १३ औ शताब्दीबाट मात्र रहेछ हिन्दुस्तानमा मुस्लिमहरुले आक्रमण गरे पछि नेपाल आएका रहेछन ज्यान बचाउन |

१७ शताब्दीमा मात्र प्रताप मल्लले भनेका रहेछन जो कोहि राजाले बुढानिलकण्ठ, नारायणथानमा गई पुज्ने गर्छन उनको मृत्यु पक्का हुन्छ भनेर | त्यसपछि यो परम्परा निरन्तर भएको रहेछन जब गोर्खाको राजा पी.एन. शाहले सन् १७६९ मा मल्ल राज्यलाई हाता पारे | त्यस पछि आजसम्ममा पनि प्रताप मल्लले भनेको काल्पनिक उक्तिलाई सत्य, तथ्य र यथार्थ हो भनेर कहिल्यै भ्रमण गरेनन शाह वंशीय राजाहरुले त भयो आफै स्वाहा | त्यसैले भनेको हो सत्यको विजय हुन्छ जुन आत्मसात गरेका छन् हिन्दुस्तानको राजनीतिज्ञहरुले त्यसैले उनीहरुको मुख्य राष्ट्र गानको उक्तिनै "सत्यमेव जयते" छ |

अब बुझ्नु पर्ने कुरा के हो भने उपलब्ध प्रमाणहरुको आधारमा तामांगहरु यम्बू बासी हुन् | तामांग भाषमा काठमाडौँलाई यम्बू भन्ने गर्दा रहेछ |

प्रमाण न. १:

काठमाडौँ उपत्यकाको सबै भन्दा पुरानो बासिन्दा भनेकै तामांग हुन् भन्ने कुरा पनि बौद्ध धर्मको चिनिया ध्यानी ज्ञानी मन्जुश्री विद्वानले चोभारको डाडा काटेर काठमाडौँ उपत्यका जहाँ तलाउ थियो अनि सो तलाउको पानी मन्जुश्रीले चोभारको डाडा काटेर बगाएको कहानी जुन स्वयम्भू पूराण लगायत अन्य टिबेटन बौद्ध ग्रन्थहरुमा उल्लेख छन् |

प्रमाण न. २:

साथै जापानिज भूगर्भविद्को खोजमुलुक अध्धयन अनुसन्धानको नतिजा जुन लेख्नु भएको थियो प्रख्यात पत्रकार कनकमणि दिक्षित ज्युले सन् २०१० मा लेखिएको लेख "The lake that was once Kathmandu" शिर्षकमा | स्रोत:http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17327

प्रमाण न. ३:

नेपाल र सोभियत संघ (रुस) बीच भएको पुरातात्त्विक अध्ययन कार्यक्रमको सम्झौता अन्तर्गत नेपाल आएका सोभियत संघको पुरातत्वविद डा. अनाटोली यकोव्लेव सातेन्कोले बुदनिकण्ठ जहाँ तामांग जातिहरु अहिले पनि ठुलो संख्या बस्ने गर्छन त्यहाँ उनले उपकरण, हतियार मोङ्गोलियाको ढुङ्गे युग (३०,००० वर्ष पहिले) को जस्तै फेला पारेको थियो भन्ने पुरातात्त्विक प्रमाण छन् |

प्रमाण न. ४:

नेपालको प्रख्यात ईतिहासविद जनक लाल शर्माले आफ्नो पुस्तकमा लेख्नु भएको पहिलेको मंगोल जाति जो आए काठमाडौँ उत्तरबाट उनीहरु आजको तामांग जाति हुन् |

उक्त सत्य, तथ्य र वास्तविकता आधारित प्रमाणहरुबाट सतपर्तिशत उनीहरु तामांग जाति हुन् र बुढानिलकण्ठ, नारायणथानको मुर्ति बुद्धको हो भन्ने कुरा पनि प्रष्ट भयो |

WHY there is NO history of Tamang community in Nepal?

"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

"History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies."
- Alexis de Tocqueville  (1805-1859),  French political thinker and historian

“History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books-books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?”
― Dan Brown, a renowned American author

Ex-Gurkha Army, Mr. Tenzing Limbu enquired me asking question, "WHY there is NO history of  Tamang in Nepal ?"

I also wondered WHY there is NO Tamang history in Nepal written by Nepalese historians and I came to realise from the Civil Code "Muluki Ain"  written in 1854 AD by Prime Minister Janga Bahadur Rana Tamang has been classified under the category of  "Enslavable Alcohol Drinkers" (Masinya Matwali). It is said that it codified social codes in practice for several centuries in Nepal that was rooted in Vyavahāra (traditional Hindu legal procedure), Prāyaścitta (avoidance and removal of sin) and Ācāra (the customary law of different castes and communities).

According to renowned historian of Nepal Mr. Janak Lal Sharma (Himal year 5, number 1) says that the Tamangs are ancient people who are living in the surrounding of Kathmandu valley and its neighboring districts.

Earlier Tamangs were known by various terminologies. Among these, Murmi is a popular term. Hamilton in 1802, Hudson in 1847, and Macdonald in 1989 have used the term Murmi for Tamang people. Some scholars are of the opinion that during the regime of King Tribhuvan the then Prime Minister Bhim Shumsher had formally used the term Tamang for the very first time under the request of Sardar Bahadur Jungabir, who was also from the Tamang nationality. In the 13th century, King Boom Degon (1253–1280), who had ruled the present Mustang region of Nepal, has scriptured the word Tamang in his genealogy. This is the oldest written document ever found about the usage of the word Tamang that exclusively refers to the Tamang nationality of Nepal. There still prevails differences about the origin of the word Tamang.

From Nepal's historical evidences it has proven that Tamang community has been attempted to Genocide by Nepal's past rulers because they were very much aggressive towards Gorkha rulers. As mentioned by Neupane, Govinda in his article  titled "Nepalko Jatiya Prashna (Ethnic Question of Nepal)" published in 2000 that "The Tamangs revolted twice against King Rana Bahadur Shah and King Girvan Bikram Shah in 1873, but they could not succeed."

However, Magar, Gurung, Rai and Limbu had agreement and support to Gorkha's king. Thus they became their troops and later sold to the East India Company as a Gorkha Soldier whereas Tamang were forbidden to join to deprived them socio-economically. Thus kept them as a slave of royal families and palace in the Kathmandu valley exploiting their male's physical strength and women as a sex slave of a royal families. It is just a common sense to understand if you have BRAIN to think in our head, heart to feel and hands to do.

As I said Tamang community was attempted to GENOCIDE here the Genocide Convention adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 defined Genocide and considered Crime of Genocide in international law in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

In the Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:

(a) Genocide;

(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;

(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;

(d) Attempt to commit genocide;

(e) Complicity in genocide.

Therefore, to expect writing of history about Tamang by Nepalese rulers is almost impossible because those community which has been attempted to Genocide by rulers how they can think of writing about them.

Anyway, I love reading history to understand the root cause and reason of WHY some people and communities are so much deprived, marginalised, discriminated, dominated, and disadvantaged and others are very much advantages and feel so much proud of being belong to such groups of advantage. Besides, I love studying history because

“If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. ”
― Michael Crichton, an American best-selling author, physician, producer, director, and screenwriter

"Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft."
- Winston Churchill

"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."
- Edmund Burke (1729-1797), an Irish statesman, political theorist, and philosopher

“Study the past if you would define the future.”
― Confucius

I am an energy

I strongly realised that I am an energy in human form. In fact, we all Energy since we are all made of scientific component called atoms. Atoms are the basic building blocks of ordinary matter. Atoms can join together to form molecules, which in turn form most of the objects around you. 

Atoms are composed of particles called protons, electrons and neutrons. Protons carry a positive electrical charge, electrons carry a negative electrical charge and neutrons carry no electrical charge at all. The protons and neutrons cluster together in the central part of the atom, called the nucleus, and the electrons 'orbit' the nucleus. A particular atom will have the same number of protons and electrons and most atoms have at least as many neutrons as protons.

"An energy, or soul, is separate from matter, and that the universe is made of energy – pure energy which was there before man and other material things like the earth came along."
- Socrates

'Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.'
- Albert Einstein

"We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff."
- Carl Sagan, an American astronomer, astrophysicist and cosmologist

Religion: A root cause of sexism and genderism

Women are suppressed, disregarded and abused by every religion in the world. They are considered inferior to men by these organizations and are therefore condemned to be a second class type of person. A great many women have no rights at all. As a consequence, the men, especially through their religious faiths, threaten and strictly prohibit the utilization of an unlimited amount of talent and abilities within women. These forms of discrimination occur within all major religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and others. BUT I hardly find in Buddhism since Buddhism is not a religion. It is the path to spiritualism based on personal practice embracing truth, fact and reality to awaken self from within rather than following blind belief for the sake of humanity and prosperity of every human kind on this earth.

My tribute to a great lady, Hypatia of Alexandria who was murdered by religious mind brutally in 5th century in Greece. I suppose she was the first lady in the world who has been murdered by dogmatic mindset people who was against intellect of women.

I have studied the root cause of sexism and genderism then I realised that the root cause of all fruits such as sexism, genderism, racism and casteism is the religion across the globe but we hardly understand because we lack understanding due to our own ignorance. Therefore, we tend to ignore religion as the root cause of all socio-cultural and political fruits that have been grown our mother earth governed by handful of greedy mindset people who are after POWER POLITICS rather than Human Politics to preserve and sustain humanity on this earth.

Hypatia of Alexandria was literally torn to pieces by a "Christian" mob who loved her so much that they wanted to save her from Hell. Beware of Christians who say they love you. Remember, Hypatia died for your sins.

"Men are above the women, because Allah has given the one part a superiority above the other."

- Islam/Koran – Sure 4

"One hundred girls are not worth as much as one boy."

- Confucius, an ancient Chinese philosopher

"A woman must never enjoy independence."

- Manusmriti, the law of Hindu

"The women shall be servants to their men who are their masters."

- Christian Bible: Paul to the Ephesians in the New Testament

These above quotes clearly demonstrate the value of women based upon a religious viewpoint and one upheld by many men. Still, these discriminatory words against women, though spoken in the past, nevertheless prevail even today. Such attitudes also guarantee the abuse of women as being mere birthing machines without being provided the necessary means with which to fight back for their human rights. In fact, Religions, which are man-made, have all established evil mechanisms to control and exploit women. 

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."

 - Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE-65 AD), a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero

"Religion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand." 

- Karl Marx

These are the reasons WHY I detest religious mind and urge each and every girl and women who are thinkable and love their intellectual property  should say NO to religious minded people because they are against women's intelligent and love to produce dumb and dull women only to be their slave through their life working as their servant rather than partner.

Sexism and Genderism: Hegemonic masculinity Nepalese society

Nepalese society is one of the most sexism and genderism hegemonic masculinity societies in the world that hates female and favour male. Due to this there are many popular sayings and proverbs related to such societal mindset and practices have been coined that make girls and women feel humiliation and discourage to speak openly which proves how much male dominated and penis rule prevalent in our society. Such proverbs and sayings  focus particularly on those ones portraying a woman/female as inferior, secondary and even dispensable in our hegemonic masculinity society. Most of the Nepalese  proverbs, some subtle and others too direct, help to de-humanize a woman from her birth right till the death; and help to reinforce the idea of her sexual-utility and breeding roles in the society.

Sayings and proverbs reflect our societal mindset, our ideology and our culture and our attitude. Proverbs reflect the family we live in, and the values we transfer to the new generation. Through these proverbs prevailing in the Nepali societies, the article shows how the seed of discrimination and bias against a girl is sowed and nurtured in our culture, values and attitude. And, in our subconscious.

Here are some popular sayings and proverbs related to women and men.

· “If the hen starts crowing, it should be slaughtered and thrown over the hill.” (Women must be submissive. If they speak up, they should be discarded.)

‘Never mind the delay as long as it is a son.’ Alternatively, ‘Birth of a daughter is a doomed fate’.

"Beget a son, and dine on mutton; beget a daughter, get pumpkin."

"A daughter is the nest of shame."

"The daughter is for managing the household; the son is for the world."

"The riches in the fist and the wife within sight."

"A manly man has ten wives."

"If no sons are born, families die."

“Without son, family will be un-balanced”

"Sons are the support of old age”

"To raise and care for a girl is like taking care of someone else’s garden."

“When a girl is born, the earth sinks by a foot, but when a boy is born, it rises on foot to greet him.”

· “If you look after her well – good. If you kill her, you are cursed.” (Reference to bidding the bride farewell after the wedding ceremony. The bride’s mother ties a knot in cloth containing money, nuts, holy thread etc and gives it to the groom with this message.)

· “Even a beggar does not take alms from a barren woman.”

· “If there is a son, you are safe. If it is a daughter, you have dismay.”

· “A daughter from a family of good background will be good… like pure water.” (Equates ‘good’ to being disciplined, respectful, obedient)

· “A husband with two wives goes to the corner and cries.”

· “The in-law who is very weak has eaten soybean so is weaker now. What do we do with her?”
(Refers to the devaluation of daughter-in-law and sister-in-law; their malnourishment in some homes; and the traditional rejection of soybean as a good food)

· “Women don’t have Adam’s apples because they can’t keep secrets.” (Suggests women are chattering gossips and do not have the discretion of men)

· “Women are excluded from the maternal house once married and suffer the battering of their husbands, so what is their status?”

· “If a daughter dies, she goes to a big house.” (No worry, no loss when a girl or woman dies)

· “Daughters of widows are like bulls.” (Without a man around, they must be wild and uncontrollable)

· “Who has sons has property, who owns a cow has the forest.”

· “We should listen to our male elders and go near their fire for heat.” (Men are the source of strength, protection, warmth etc….)

· “A son’s relation is a bone relation. A daughter’s relation is like leaves.” (A son’s relations are lasting and valuable while a daughter’s fall like leaves and become worthless.)

· “An uncle’s property is invested in auntie’s ritual.” (Translates similar to ‘easy come-easy go’ and has underpinnings that relate to the low value put on in-laws and their property)

· “If late, let it be a son.”

· “If a boy is born, cut a goat. If a girl is born, cut a pumpkin.”

· “Where women are respected, God enjoys.” - Manusmriti

“Drum, savage, sudra, animal and women- these are to be beaten” –Indian Poet Tulsi Das

· “In childhood a female must be subject to her father…in youth to her husband…and when her lord is dead to her sons - women must never be independent” - Manusmriti

· “It is not good if women give opinions”

· “The daughter is a thing to give away, for someone else she is kept”

· “What a relief to send her away today, I am light as a feather and free from debt” – Indian Poet Kali Das

“In childhood a female must be subject to her father; in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons. A woman must never be independent. -Manusmirit V, 145

Source/Courtesy:
1. Umesh Shrestha's blog
2. Gender Awareness Training Module  Canada Nepal Gender in Organizations Project with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency
3. Manumriti
4. GoN/GoF 2005. GENDER & SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION STUDY: A Comprehensive Assessment on Gender & Caste Based Discrimination in the Hill Districts of Mid and Far Western Development Regions