मातृत्व
Introduction
Maatritwo (मातृत्व, "Motherhood") is a celebrated story by Bhagirathi Shrestha (भागिरथी श्रेष्ठ, born 2005 B.S.), a Nepali storyteller known for realistic portraits of Nepali society written in simple language with few characters. The story proves that before the power of a woman's motherhood, mere physical love is worthless: a mother is greater even than heaven.
Summary
Mamata is a widow who lost her husband in a tragic plane crash and lives alone with her young son and daughter. One Saturday, as usual, she sits at the window waiting for Subodh: her late husband's friend, who came first to console her in her grief. Slowly the two have grown close and begun to love each other. When her son grumbles that Subodh comes every day, Mamata gently answers that Subodh loves them all.
Mamata's desire is not romance for its own sake. Left without support, she feels the need of a guardian who can give her and her children security, fill the tunnel-like emptiness of her house, and complete her unfinished life. What she wants from Subodh is a pure, spiritual, unattached love: mental rather than physical. She even feels a quiet rebellion against the religious and social tradition that demands a widow live forever in her dead husband's memory; life, she believes, should be made green again, not left a desert.
In the early days the two adjust to each other's wishes: though she dislikes his smoking, and he dislikes her habit of wearing white and yellow clothes. But once Subodh feels Mamata is his own, his true nature emerges: a lustful man who loves only her body, he begins to scold and snap at her children and treats them with cold neglect. The turning point comes when Mamata's daughter is injured in an accident and lies in hospital: Subodh's indifferent behaviour there fills Mamata with disgust. Wounded as a mother, she sees clearly that with Subodh there can be no beautiful, happy family and no future for her children.
Motherhood triumphs. Declaring in her heart that her children are her moon and her sun, the very basis of her life and the support of her future, Mamata abandons Subodh. With the relationship broken, she feels a great burden lift from her: her mind grows light, free of tension, and she devotes herself wholly to her children.
Theme
The story exalts motherhood above romantic and physical love. A mother may long for support and companionship, but when her children's happiness is at stake, true maternal love sacrifices everything else, for to a mother, her children are all in all.
Main Characters
Mamata (the central character: a widowed mother torn between the need for a life partner and
her love for her children, in whom motherhood finally prevails.
Subodh) her late husband's friend: outwardly consoling but selfish and sensual, who loves
Mamata's body while neglecting her children.