Trauma in Selected Post-Conflict Nepali Narratives: Metta and an Appeal for Peace

Trauma in Selected Post-Conflict Nepali Narratives: Metta and an Appeal for Peace
Badri Prasad Pokharel

Abstract

This article attempts to interpret the testimonies of six traumatized people who were directly or indirectly involved in the Maoist insurgency by applying the Buddhist tenet metta as a theoretical parameter. Following a qualitative methodology, this article relies solely on literature reviews, primary tests, and secondary sources for the thematic analysis of the primary texts. The article has three assets: one, the outcome of the decadelong insurgency imposed by the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist); the second, the process of narrativization of the horrible consequences of trauma, and finally, the tenets of Buddhism, metta, the refuge of all mental wounds to eliminate all kinds of sufferings. The findings of this study shows how Ganga Bahadur Lama in Das Barse Janayudh smritika Dobharu (Wound of the Memory of Decade Long People’s War), Ganga Shrestha in Gadidarbar dekhi Singhdarbarsamma (From Gadidarbar to Singhdurbar), Nabin Jirel in Bhishan Dinharu: Chhapamarko Jivanyatra (Fierce Days: Life Journey of a Guerilla), Narayan Subedi in Sayadin Maobadi Kabjama (Hundred Days in the Confinement of Maoists), Tara Rai in Chapamar Yuwatiko Diary (Diary of a Guerilla Woman) by Tara Rai and Sarad in
Jagadish Ghimire’s Sakas (Hardship) became the victims of the decade-long conflict. Their traumatized condition is pacified through the Buddhist tenet of metta. The implication of the study is to show what made them suffer from trauma during the insurgency, which is narrativized in the literary works mentioned above, and how metta would be a pacifying factor as a panacea to help them recover from their agonized life. There are ample research works on insurgency and Buddhist tenets. However, nobody has ever done any research work analyzing two opposite sides: war and peace, consulting the war narratives and the tenets found in various secondary texts. This study attempts to fill the gaps by bringing together the idea of solidarity and reconciliation.