योगमाया (राष्ट्रिय जीवनी)
Introduction
Yogmaya (योगमाया) is a national biography (राष्ट्रिय जीवनी) chapter in the Class 11 Nepali course. It tells the life story of Yogmaya, one of Nepal's earliest and boldest social reformers: a woman who fought the evil customs of her feudal age through spiritual power, fearless preaching and, finally, the most extraordinary protest in Nepali history.
Summary
Yogmaya was born in 1924 B.S. Following the social tradition of the time she was married at the tender age of seven, and within two years, before she even knew what a husband was, she became a widow. As a child widow she suffered contempt, physical and mental torture from family and society. Enduring this until about fourteen, she abandoned both her home and her parents' house and went to Assam, where she married again and gave birth to a daughter, Nainakala. There she began taking part in religious and social activities, gradually rising into a leadership role, and after being widowed once more she returned to Nepal, reaching Majhuwabesi in Bhojpur with her daughter and brother in 1973 B.S.
Drawn deeper into spiritual life, she was influenced by the Arya Samaj, took initiation and became a sanyasini. She built hermitages at Majhuwabesi, Uphraulitar and Gaudini, where crowds gathered to hear her fluent religious discourses; she could debate scriptures with learned pandits, and her knowledge and experience impressed everyone. Her austerities were legendary: sometimes fasting entirely, sometimes living on water alone or the barest food, sitting half-immersed in the Arun river for days, and once meditating for twenty-three days on a hilltop in the high hills of Bhojpur.
But Yogmaya's spirituality was inseparable from rebellion. She sought a society free of untouchability, exploitation and corruption, openly opposed sati, slavery, caste and gender discrimination, and insisted that everyone, without discrimination, be allowed equal part in worship and religious life. In 1993 B.S. she met the Rana ruler Juddha Shumsher and placed her demands for justice; when they went unmet, she announced in 1995 B.S. that she and her devotees would take agni-samadhi: burn themselves alive in protest. A large government force surrounded her and banned the fire sacrifice the day before it was to happen. Undefeated, in 1998 B.S. Yogmaya walked into the Arun river and took jal-samadhi, a conscious water burial along with her faithful followers, turning her very death into a revolt against an unjust society. In her honour, the collection Sarvartha Yogbani, research works and a novel titled Yogmaya have since been published, keeping her unforgettable legacy alive.
Theme
The biography celebrates a pioneering woman's conscious rebellion against social evils: child marriage, the abuse of widows, sati, slavery, untouchability and religious hypocrisy. Yogmaya's life shows that true spirituality serves justice, and that one fearless voice can shake an entire feudal order.