Multicultural Ethos in Bisweshwar Prasad Koirala's Sumnima

Abstract

This research paper examines multicultural ethos in BP Koirala’s Sumnima. This novel presents a conflicting worldview of Somdatta, a boy from Brahmin ascetic family and Sumnima, a girl from ethnic Kirat community. Somdatta acts according to his faith that views the quest for knowledge as the supreme form of life, which can be attained through purity of soul. On the other hand, Sumnima has a belief that life is meaningful only if the body is allowed to function in its natural course. In the beginning, the ascetic family enjoys a high respect and power in the society in relation to the people in the Kirat community because the later acted ‘lowly’ against the contemporary Hindu norms of the society. This thesis argues that the novelist deconstructs the existing Brahmin-Kirant hierarchy by trying to dismantle the fabricated gaps between the two communities and showing how their cultures, rituals, and social practices are simply the result of their upbringing and worldviews. The novelists maintains the multicultural ethos by making a liberal representation of Kirant community and showing how Sumnima and her father Bijuwa help Somdatta revive his bodily energy of procreation which the sacred rituals could not ensure. This thesis includes the theoretical discussions on scholars like James Trotman, Terrence Turner, Bhikhu Parekh and Mahendra Lawoti. Trotman specifically views that multiculturalism tries to restore a sense of wholeness “by closing gap” it means, poses two Brahmin and Kirant caste show in equal power/senario and “by raising consciousness about the past” means primordial phase was not conscious about multicultural ethos after continued change paradigm make an self-awareness, it takes to sign of consciousness in particular group.