A book talk programme on Seasons Of The Divine organised

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu. June 30: A book talk on Seasons Of The Divine was organised at Nepal Academy on June 28, Friday.

Prof. Dr Arun Gupto, author of the book, scholar Ajay Bhadra Khanal and Alisha Sijapati had a scholarly discussion regarding different aspects of the book.

The book is the textual and visual representation of Kathmandu Valley, weaving discourses on festivals, narratives and performances during August, September and October, which are months of major festivals, said Dr. Gupto.

Speaking in the programme Dr. Gupto said that the energetic potential of myth can be seen as narratives, rituals and history. This makes the cities of the valley modern urban settings, mythically bearing thousands of years of tradition. “To comprehend such potentials and energies, I walk with students. Our walks in the cities, and mingling in the festivals make us understand the archetypes and performances as art and rituals, Jatras and pilgrimages within the cities. Walking has been reading the culture at a calculated slow pace so one has time to observe.”

The book includes photographs by Renuka Khatiwada, a doctoral student at the University of Texas at El Paso, USA, and the book talks about different festivals celebrated in the Kathmandu Valley, especially, the Jatras that are native to Newar culture, their importance and the significance of the mythologies associated with these different festivals and Jatras.

By reading the festivals from Nag Panchami to Chhath, the energetic potential recurs in mythopoetic imagery. “Mythopoetic is the poetry-making ability of the people of the valley to look at people and places from multiple perspectives,” said Dr. Gupto.

Dr. Gupto said, “One of the key ideas in the book is about ritual sacrifice, which has primordial innocence as well as cruelty because pleasing the divinities by sacrificing an animal is the transformation of killing as prasad. This is both the innocence of the ritual and at the same time the political dimension of ritualism.”

Dr. Arun Gupto is a professor of English, and his areas of research are literary theory, postcolonial studies and South Asian Studies. Goddess of Kathmandu Valley: Grace, Rage Knowledge and Theory and Criticism: Recent Writings from South Asia are his most celebrated books.