Under the Sleepless Mountain – Parijat

Running through this emotive book are the common themes of love, life, death and politics; of women’s struggle for liberation, the people’s demands for multiparty democracy, and relief from human suffering. Gori Maya, Lal Bahadur, M.R., Suwani and Pradeep are the main players in this epic tale of the struggle for political freedom in Nepal around 1979.
But Parijat’s is no common story. Her writings, replete with symbolism and metaphor, bring a colourful dimension to a tragic tale, taking the reader into the depths of the forest, to the village, and into the changing city of Kathmandu.
Foreign dress, language, custom, food, and music were having a gradual, though massive, effect on Kathmandu, the capital city… In truth, the very identity of Kathmandu City was on the brink of extinction…
The translator writes, “Her writings depict a bitter conflict, a class struggle, and vividly sketch images of widespread inconsistencies and perversions existing in Nepalese society. She shows the miserable plight of the poor, exploited and downtrodden…
It is hoped that this novel will offer a remarkable insight into the social and political condition of Nepal.”
This moving story by the distinguished female Nepalese writer Parijat does indeed offer a remarkable insight into one of several previous struggles for true democracy in this beautiful Himalayan kingdom, a ‘Zone of Peace’.
Under the Sleepless Mountain – Parijat