''Modiaain'' () is a 1980

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...

Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala ( ne, विश्वेश्वरप्रसाद कोइराला; 8 September 1914 – 21 July 1982), (Nepali: 1971 B.S. Bhadra 24 - 2039 B.S Shrawan 6)better known as B. P. Koirala ( ne, बीपी ...

. Koirala was the first elected

prime minister of Nepal The Prime Minister of Nepal ( ne, नेपालको प्रधानमन्त्री) is the head of government of Nepal. The Prime Minister is the head of the Council of Ministers of Nepal and the chief adviser to the President of N ...

. He was prisoned multiple time during his political life and used to write in the prison. He wrote this book in three days (28–30 January 1964) while he was imprisoned in Sundarijal jail. It was published in 1980 (2036 BS) by

Sajha Prakashan Sajha Publications ( ne, साझा प्रकाशन, lit=Common Publication, translit=Sajha Prakashan) is the oldest publishing house of Nepal. It was established in 1913 and is funded by the Government of Nepal. Headquartered in Lalitpur ...

. It is a retelling of the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...

epic from the point of view of a grocer's wife. While most retelling uses a primary or secondary character's viewpoint, Koirala told the story of how a war can affect an ordinary person too. It is one of his shortest novels.

Synopsis

The novella is set in the aftermath of the

Kurukshetra War The Kurukshetra War ( sa, कुरुक्षेत्र युद्ध ), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the ''Mahabharata ( sa, महाभारत )''. The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle be ...

. The death and destruction caused by the war was of astronomical amount. Many women lost their male relatives in the war. ''Modiaain'' is the story of such a woman who lost her husband in the war. Within the book, emotions like war, love, sexuality, beauty, longing, anger, morality, honesty, fear, bravery, deceit, renunciation, emptiness and indomitable aspirations are shown in Koirala's smooth prose. The story begins with a boy travelling from Nepal to India with a guy called Misirji. The boy is very keen to explore the city of

Darbhanga Darbhanga is the fifth-largest city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Bihar situated centrally in Mithila region. Darbhanga is the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. It was the seat of the erst ...

. There the two stay in a house of Modiaain. They bathe in the Hadaha Pokhari (Hadaha lake) near the house and have lunch then the boy explores the city during the day with Misirji. The boy wishes to visit the Hadaha Pokhari but Modiaain stops him since it is night-time. Modiaain tells him that the lake has been there since the Mahabharata time. She then narrates the story of the Mahabharata to the boy.

References

{{Nepali literature 20th-century Nepalese books 20th-century Nepalese novels Nepalese novels 1980 Nepalese novels Novels based on the Mahabharata Works by Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala Nepali-language novels Novels set in Bihar

Synopsis

See also

References