Janakraj Sapkota's novel Magani Marik puts Madhesh's Dom community at its centre

Magani Marik, published by Fineprint, was launched on Thursday, 15 October, at the Nepal Academy's Pragya Bhawan in Kamaladi, Kathmandu. It was unveiled jointly by the author; Dr Ramji Ram, a physician from the Dom community; and Anju Kumari Marik, a Dom student studying in Grade 12 on a scholarship.

The novel follows its title character, a member of the Dom community, which sits among the most marginalised groups in Nepal's caste hierarchy. Alongside caste discrimination, poverty and poor access to health and education, it takes in foreign employment, human trafficking and official indifference. The writer Shyam Sah said that, short as it is, the book has the power to unsettle its readers.

Double standards

At the launch, Anju Kumari Marik spoke about the struggle to stay in school in a society shaped by caste. She said she was the only Dom girl across 12 districts studying in Grade 12 on a scholarship and credited her father for much of her progress. She pointed to the contradiction of communities whose blessings and water are welcomed at births and weddings but treated as impure the rest of the time.

Dr Ram said Nepal had become a republic yet caste hierarchy endured, and asked whether the republic had really dismantled it. He praised the novel for bringing to readers lives that politicians and the media tend to overlook.

Sapkota said the book grew out of material he gathered over roughly 20 years of reporting from Madhesh but could not use in news stories, which he kept in his diary. He finished it after visiting the people behind the characters in their homes, and remarked that although Madhesh lies only 150 to 200 kilometres from Kathmandu, its hardships take a long time to reach the capital.

Sources

The Kathmandu Post (external link); Onlinekhabar English (external link)