This article aims to explore the foundational and functional phases of the Khuwalung resistance movement. It is based on grey literature documents. To synchronize the significance of an indigenous movement, the first part of this study briefly presents the context of the hegemonic ideology of the ruling elite persisting in Nepal with reference to Khuwalung. The second part covers the phases of the resistance, which look far more constrained as a counter-resistance. The last part presents potential insights related to Khuwalung for transforming this counter-resistance into an organic indigenous movement in Nepal.

This article overviews the resistance of the subaltern and the ongoing debate on seeking the subaltern consciousness within and outside the elitist structure. The first part of this article exposes the notion of subaltern and subaltern resistance consciousness concerning the development of the Nepali film industry. The second part discusses different dimensions of resistance of the subaltern in shifting politico-cultural contexts. It also unfolds the structure of representation of the subaltern transformed within transitions which are observed more vehemently through the different politico-cultural scenarios of filmmaking, particularly before and after the Maoist insurgency. The last part analyses the aspects or efforts of the self-formation of the subaltern in terms of- along with class- caste, ethnicity and gender with references to representative Nepali movies, i.e. Numafung, Batomuniko Phool and Uma flash hope within hopelessness.

The notion of purity of women in Nepali society is practiced as a discourse as qualitative measurement of their existence. However, the discourse in shaped and conditioned by various cultural mores and normativities. This discourse, neutralizing their status without comprehending their aspirations and grievances, subordinates women. In this light, this paper, deploying Foucauldian notion of discourse, Simone de Beauvoir’s concept of the female, analyzes concept of purity of body as depicted in Nabin Subba's movie, Numafung. Moreover, it argues that Numafung challenges the prevailing notion and presents an alternative depiction of a woman’s body from a cultural location, representing the aesthetic of the Limbu people. The protagonist of the movie, Numa, debunks the pervasive social structure, getting married three times in different forms. The movie presents a case that although the dominant group may disseminate discursive truths, minimal affirmation of subordinated groups keeps on jeopardizing the discourse through their cultural practices. Thus, analysis implies that cultural inclusion and the recognition of subordinated groups in the practice of societal values can be an alternative through which women’s liberation is possible.

This article overviews the distress situation of the Nepalese ethnic subaltern concerning Trishna Gurung’s five selected songs- “Sajha Ko Bela”, “Gainey Dajai”, “Khani Ho Yahmu”, “Rail Lai Ma” and “Maya Man Bhari” and explores how the aesthetic expression and the pathetic predicament of the subaltern come to be a subtle form of resistance. Her songs hold the spirit of remoteness and auratic root and counter the western musical hegemonic propensity and the dominant music culture of Nepal. Articulating subaltern sighs as a major concern of her songs in the auditory and visual representation she presents the repressed aesthetics as a constructive and creative space formation for the resistance.

This paper explores Lakhan Thapa’s body in the historical trajectory, especially dealing with antipathy, empathy and apotheosis in the light of the New-historicist perspective. Lakhan Thapa, a military rebellion and the first martyr of Nepal, was executed by the Rana regime in 1877. It took 122 years to recognize his body as “a martyr,” which was declared by the multiparty democratic government in 1999. In the past, the regime created by the Ranas and Panchayats accentuated Lakhan Thapa in different positions, capturing variegated emotional responses from the rulers and the public. Against this backdrop, the paper argues that Lakhan Thapa’s body is a site of antipathy, empathy and apotheosis. For instance, when his body resisted the ruler Jung Bahadur Rana, it was dominantly occupied by antipathy, creating a threat against the ruler. As the democratic movement took place in the country in 1990, empathetic temperaments were discharged from the public, reckoning Lakhan Thapa’s body as a site of emancipation and celebration. Therefore, Lakhan Thapa’s body became ubiquitous and omnipresent when the democratically elected federal republican government of Nepal declared Lakhan Thapa “the first martyr of Nepal” in 2015. To address this issue, the study employs Michel Foucault’s notion of the ‘disciplined body’ and Stephen Greenblatt’s definition of ‘resonance and wonder’ for analysis. The study also exposes Lakhan Thapa’s body as a site of contestation and celebration, which is largely shaped by the political transition. The body is not a static and neutral form of agency with apolitical materiality but rather a fluid and transitory state of representation, profoundly rooted in the nexus of power and politics.