Koshi Pravah: Multidisciplinary Peer Reviewed Journal

Editorial Vol.1

Ramji Timalsina — 2022-10-01

No abstract available.

Triumph of Humanity over Communal Violence and the Aesthetics of Trauma in Manto's "Mozel"

Alisa Dahal — 2022-10-01

This article explores the aesthetics of trauma based upon virtue over vice in Saadat Hasan Manto’s story “Mozel”. As one of the renowned writers of partition literature, he has penetrated the limitations of trauma politics that fosters on demonizing the perpetrators to justify the innocence of the victims. Through Mozel’s character - herself a victim of communal violence of the Partition - the writer has portrayed a humanitarian worldview on trauma, its victims and perpetrators; and a constructive, positive and reconciliatory approach to its settlement. A free-spirited Jewish woman, Mozel enacts nobility beyond all communal prejudices and religiosity that her friends Tirlochen and Kirpal Kaur represent. She starkly criticizes Tirlochen’s communal rigidity as a Sikh despite her love for him. Sketched as a disillusioned woman from the sectarianism and identity politics of religious wars, she saves two lives of trauma victims although they belong to Sikh community, a different faith from her own. To argue against trauma politics for the advocacy of universal moral ground as the aesthetic of trauma, the cultural and revisionist theories of trauma mainly of Alexander C. Jeffrey and Gilles Deleuz have been brought into reference respectively. Mozel’s character is discussed as a retrieved human(e) hero for her sacrificial deed of salvaging two victims of religious riots from feminist perspective.

Enhancing Critical Thinking through Questioning: A Case of Teaching Short Stories

Dadhiram Dahal — 2022-10-01

Using questioning techniques in teaching short stories is a tool to enhance understanding and higher order thinking. Questioning is believed to allow students to participate in the teaching learning process and helps to develop critical thinking skills. It is a reflective model that helps students to evaluate a shared experience or an event so that they can identify ways to improve or act. But many English teachers in Nepal do not teach the students how to ask the right questions. Instead, they provide answers only. Also, the classes teaching English as Foreign Language in our context are not equipped with adequate resources for teaching and learning activities. Such low - resourced classes can be made engaging and effective through questioning. On this background, this paper explores the role of questioning in teaching short stories and attempts to implement the questioning technique in a short story included in the English textbook of Grade 12 in Nepal. To implement the questioning technique, Bloom's taxonomy is used as a tool to propose the teaching of the short story “A Devoted Son” written by Anita Desai. This study is based on the empirical evidence of using questioning techniques in the real classes for a week in Koshi St. James School, Itahari, Sunsari. The study was conducted among 60 students of two different sections using diagnostic tests, observation and discussion tools. Result of this study reveals that the students in English classes are more engaged and activated through the questioning technique implemented while teaching short stories and other texts in contrast with the students who are taught without the questioning.

Better English, Better Job Opportunities in Nepal

Kabita Khadka — 2022-10-01

Globalization paved the way for the rapid expansion of the English language and because of this, its horizons are being expanded day by day. This paper is an attempt to highlight and argue on the importance of the English language in higher education in Nepal in one hand and on the other hand, it tries to shed some light on the vocational zones that the English language has created in the country. The study is argumentative (qualitative) in nature and it has collected pieces of evidence of the English language’s popularity and its facilitation in higher education using secondary sources of data. The major findings comprise that the English language has provided an enormous contribution to the vocational zones and because of which all the universities in Nepal have adopted the English language for teaching and learning activities, new and new employment opportunities are facilitated, it is a key component for getting an education in English speaking countries, and an English-speaking person deserves good status in almost all countries in the world.

Weak Form Market Efficiency in Nepalese Stock Market Indices

Khagendra Adhikari — 2022-10-01

This paper analyses the weak-form market efficiency of the Nepalese stock market based on daily observation from Jan 23, 2019 to Jan 20, 2021, regarding returns of NEPSE, the composite index of Nepalese stock market, returns of banking sub-index and returns of manufacturing and processing sub-index. The study is conducted employing five tests of random walk i.e. Normality tests, Runs test, Autocorrelation functional test, Unit root test, and Variance ratio test. All tests produced consistent results except for the banking sub-index and manufacturing and production sub-index under variance ratio test and run test. It is concluded that the Nepalese stock market is not in weak-form market efficiency. The assumptions of an efficient stock market may not be materialized in the Nepalese context being a small and young market. The findings of the study report that investors have a favorable opportunity to predict stock price and generate abnormal gain from the Nepalese stock market.

Expressive Aphasia and Functional Amnesia in Manto’s “Toba Tek Singh”

Madhav Prasad Dahal — 2022-10-01

This article, based on Saadat Hassan Manto’s short story “Toba Tek Singh”, attempts to explore the effect of the decision of diplomatically agreed exchange of lunatics of Lahore asylum from the perspective of war, violence and trauma. The decision was made between the two newly formed nations, India and Pakistan, just after some time of their partition in 1947. The madmen were forcibly brought to the border on the trucks and they were to be exchanged on the basis of their religious faith. The Hindus and the Sikhs were going to be deported to India and the Muslims to Pakistan. This paper investigates how violence, beyond physical injury, hurts one’s psyche pushing the victim to a loss of language and memory. It uses the theory of violence and trauma to study the effect of partition. Reflecting on the meaning disorder, it analyzes the traumatic shock that is conveyed through blurry words that sound insensible according to the rule of semantics. Revisiting the common notions of lunacy, it examines how expressive aphasia and functional amnesia impair the major character of the story. Its finding suggests that the trauma and psychological breakdown caused due to partition violence can lead one to a state of expressive aphasia and functional amnesia.

Apollonian and Dionysian Forces in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies

Man Kumar Rai — 2022-10-01

The objective of this research is to study evil nature of men which is portrayed through the British school children in Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The study further examines how it is important to balance Dionysian and Apollonian drive in order to maintain harmony in the society. Two driving forces of human being are identified by Nietzsche’s terms Apollonian and Dionysian. The two concepts defined by Nietzsche have been used as theoretical tools to analyze the text. Jack ignores Apollonian drive because of his mob mentality. He does not like argument and reason made by Ralph and Piggy. He tries to arouse Dionysian drive in school children in order to collect force against Ralph. Irrational part of Jack’s heart subverts the positive part of British school children’s society. Dionysian drive transforms his heart into emotionless stuff. He kills his own friends. He enjoys gathering boys and misguiding them in the world of illusion. Golding describes the story of a tragic color through the portrayal of the evil in human nature. Two groups of British school going children represent two sides of heart or two parts of the society. The novel argues that proper harmony between two sides or groups leads society to proper direction.

Pathos in the Poetry of COVID-19 Pandemic

Mira Pokhrel — 2022-10-01

Poetry written during global pandemic of COVID-19 display pathos. The present article explores the use of pathos in four of the pandemic time poems. The study aims to unveil the predicament that the earth and humans endured during that time. For the analysis, theory of pathos has been taken as a tool. Pathos is one of the persuasive techniques that evokes the emotion of pity and sympathy to the audience or the readership on the suffering and sadness of the characters and the speakers of the rhetoric. This article also discusses vivid pictures of the pathetic state of the characters in the poems that is similar to the state of the entire humans who underwent it during pandemic. The present inquiry concludes that the poetry written during pandemic evokes the strong positive emotion of joy, excitement and hope, and the negative emotion of fear, sadness, agony and sympathy as well in the mind of the readers. Doing so, it establishes the close connection between the readership and the poets who had the same emotions and feelings of hope and excitement, and pain and sufferings during the composition of the poems.

Socio-Economic Impact of Joint Land Ownership on Women Empowerment: A Study of Sunsari, Nepal

Puspa Raj Ghimire — 2022-10-01

This study tests the socio-economic impact of joint land ownership (JLO) on women empowerment of Sunsari, Nepal using two period panel data before and after JLO of the same respondents since 2015 to 2020 AD. As the nature of data properties, logistic regression model is employed. The research includes the standard indicators to quantify the status of JLO and its socio-economic impact on women empowerment. In this study, status of women empowerment before and after JLO is indicated by JLO land location as dependent variables and land size, income, occupation, ethnicity, household size, housing condition, household decision, cooperative member, property ownership as independent variables measured in percentage. Logistic regression result shows statistically significant impact of JLO on land size, occupation, ethnicity, household decision and cooperative membership having p-value less than 5 percent. The estimated results from the econometric estimation suggests appropriate policy correction to participate women in JLO program for their socioeconomic empowerment through JLO in Nepal.

'बिभाजित समय' उपन्यासका पात्रहरूको शैलीबैज्ञानिक आधारमा चरित्र चित्रण {Stylistically based characterization of the characters in the novel 'Bibhagit Samaya}

मदनराज Madanraj बराल Baral — 2022-10-01

प्रस्तुत लेख कृष्णविनोद लम्सालद्वारा लिखित विभाजित समय उपन्यासमा रहेका पात्रहरूको शैलीवैज्ञानिक आधारमा गरिएको चरित्रचित्रणमा केन्द्रित छ । शैलीवैज्ञानिक अध्ययनले कृतिमा निहित घटना तथा पात्रहरूको मानसिकता र व्यवहारको सूक्ष्म अध्ययन गर्दछ । विवेच्य उपन्यासमा रहेका प्रमुख पात्रहरूको शैलीवैज्ञानिक आधारमा विश्लेषण गर्नु यस आलेखको मुख्य उद्देश्य रहेको हुनाले विषयलाई त्यहीँ केन्द्रित गरिएको छ । यस लेखको प्राथमिक सामग्रीका रूपमा उपन्यासलाई लिइएको छ र विषयको सैद्धान्तिक आधार निर्माणका लागि पुस्तकालयबाट द्वितीयक प्रकारका सामग्री लिइएको छ । पात्रहरूको शैलीवैज्ञानिक रूपबाट विश्लेषण गर्दा पात्र वर्गीकरणका सामान्यीकृत सिद्धान्तमा आधारित भएर गरिएको छ । विवेच्य उपन्यासका पात्रहरूलाई पात्र वर्गीकरणका मूलभूत मान्यताका आधारमा शैलीवैज्ञानिक रूपबाट चरित्रचित्रण गर्नु यस अध्ययनको उद्देश्य रहेकाले लेखका रूपमा प्रस्तुतीकरण गर्दा वर्णनात्मक विधि प्रयुक्त छ । पुलिङ्ग र स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रमुख, सहायक रगौण, अनुकूल र प्रतिकूल, गतिशील र गतिहीन , वर्गगत र व्यक्तिगत, नेपथ्य र मञ्चीय साथै बद्ध र मुक्त भन्ने आधारमा पात्रहरूको वर्गीकरणस हितको विश्लेषण गरी चरित्रचित्रणलाई तार्किक पुष्टि गरिएको छ । उपन्यासले अघि सारेको केन्द्रीय भाव प्रस्तुत गर्न यहाँका पात्रहरूको भूमिका उपयुक्त छ । यो बहुपात्रीय उपन्यास हो । यहाँ सबभन्दा बढी गौण, त्यसपछि क्रमशः सहायक र प्रमुख पात्र छन् । यस उपन्यासमा मञ्चीय, स्थिर, बद्ध, वर्गीय, अनुकूल र सहायक पात्रको बहुलता छ । यहाँ विश्लेषण गरिएका पात्रहरूमध्ये गौण र मुक्त पात्रको सङ्ख्या कमछ । निष्कर्षतः पात्र प्रयोगका दृष्टिले उपन्यास अब्बल ठहरिएको छ ।

साहित्यिक समाजशास्त्रीय अध्अययन पद्धति: सैद्धान्तिक परिचर्चा {Methodology of Literary Sociological Studies: A Theoretical Discussion}

मुकुन्द Mukunda घिमिरे Ghimire — 2022-10-01

यस लेखमा रचनाको समाजशास्त्रीय आयतन र समाजशास्त्रको वस्तुगत आयतन खोज्ने उद्देश्यले कृतिको वस्तुता र समाजशास्त्रको वस्तुताको समवेत र अलग सिंहावलोकन गरिएको छ । समाज र जीवनको विविधता नै साहित्यको कच्चा पदार्थ हो । व्यक्ति सामाजिक हुनको नाताले उसका स्रष्टा र द्रष्टा दुबै व्यक्तिtव पनि यसैबाट निर्माण हुन्छन् । स्रष्टाले र्जना गरेको कृतिभित्र प्रत्यक्ष रूपमा समाजशास्त्र हुन्छ । जसरी तोरी प्रत्यक्ष हो तर तोरी तोरीमात्र होइन त्यसले आफूभरि तेल बोकेको हुन्छ जो पेलेपछिमात्र हामी पाउँछौँ यसै गरी यस लेखमा साहित्यमा सन्निहित समाजशास्त्रको खोज गर्ने विधि वा पद्धति प्रस्तुत छ । यसमा ऐतिहासिक, तुलनात्मक एवम् प्रकार्यात्मक पद्धतिको परिचय र चर्चा गरिएको छ । समाजशास्त्रीय अध्ययनका मापदण्ड र मूल्यहरूको चर्चा गर्ने सन्दर्भमा समाज, जीवन र मनोविज्ञान कृतिमा खोज्न सकिने र कृतिबाट फेरि समाजशास्त्र खोज्न सकिने सैद्धान्तिक धरातलको चर्चा गरिएको छ । रचनाकारले साहित्यका विभिन्न विधामा आफ्ना अनुभूतिको प्रकटीकरण गर्छ । यस सन्दर्भमा उसले आफू बाँचेको युग, भोगेको जीवन र उसका अनुभूति समाजका आर्थिक, सामाजिक, सांस्कृतिक, राजनीतिक, धार्मिक, यथार्थ र मनोविज्ञान उसका रचनामा सुषुप्त वा प्रकट रूपमा पनि रहन्छ । कृतिबाट समाजको यही अन्तर्सम्बन्धको खोजी नै साहित्यको समाजशास्त्र हो । अझ स्पष्ट शब्दमा भन्दा साहित्यिक कृतिभित्रबाट समाजशास्त्रको खोजी गर्नु नै साहित्यको समाजशास्त्र हो । साहित्यको समाजशास्त्र खोज्ने क्रममा साहित्यभित्र रहेको प्रजाति, युग र पर्यावरण, संस्कृति, संरचना र भाषिक शृङ्खला, विश्वदृष्टि, स्रष्टा र द्रष्टाबीचको अनुभूतिको संरचना र भाषिक अवस्थाको खोज अनुसन्धान साहित्यमा गरिन्छ । यो खोज र अनुसन्धान नै साहित्यको समाजशास्त्रीय अध्ययन हो । साहित्यको समाजशास्त्रीय अध्ययनका लागि ऐतिहासिक, तुलनात्मक र प्रकार्यात्मक पद्धतिको प्रयोग मूलभूत रूपमा गर्न सकिन्छ । साहित्यको समाजशास्त्रीय अध्ययनका लागि ‘साहित्य समाजको ऐना हो’ भन्ने दपर्ण सिद्धान्त र ‘साहित्य समाजको समीक्षा हो’ भन्ने समीक्षा सिद्धान्तका पक्षपाती दुई शाखा छन् । यसका मूल अभियन्ता मेडम डे स्टेल, इपिली तेन, रबर्ट स्कार्पिट, लियो लावेन्थल, लुसिए गोल्डम्यान र रेमन्ड विलियम्स हुन् ।