Author Seema Abhas' latest work, 'Mahayug', has been discussed as an attempt to present female power, spirituality, and social reality simultaneously.

The debate and curiosity that arose from the book's cover image to the story has brought the work into further discussion.

In the second session of 'Bookhill Bukanja', 'Swoko Mahayug', held in Pokhara on Saturday, organized by Bookhill and co-organized by Random Readers Society, writer Saraswati Pratiksha focused on Mahayug and spoke with the author. At the beginning of the session, the topic of the book's cover image came up, which had recently been discussed among social media, journalists, and book distributors.

Although the cover image of Mahayug, created by Sachin Yoger, was prepared with the intention of reflecting the 'Gate of Mahayug', the author said that after the debate, its shape had become similar to the vagina, she had to give an explanation. 'The gate of Mahayug is like this,' said Seema Abhas, 'The image has the feeling of crossing a river. After crossing a river, one cannot return. Many people get lost there.'

According to her, the picture is placed as the center of creation and a symbol of female power. 'The most powerful posture for a woman is the vagina posture,' she said. 'Since I have written about female power, I have placed a picture that conveys this feeling.' Recalling that she had to explain the word 'woman' in the previous collection of poems, she reiterated that even in the Mahayuga, women's power and existence were placed at the center.

Seema Abhas explains that the main theme of the book is an attempt to find a respectful existence for women based on Eastern philosophy. 'In this work, women's will, consciousness and independent existence have been sought based on Eastern philosophy,' she said.

She also said that special attention was paid to the naming of the characters in the book. 'There is a tradition of giving cheap names to female characters,' she said. 'Names create personality. That is why I have chosen meaningful and respectful names.' She says that she is satisfied with the names of the characters.

Writer Saraswati Pratiksha said that Mahayug is a work of social reality and imagination. This is the reason why the book received mixed reactions. ‘There is a conflict between realism and imagination in Nepali literature,’ she said. ‘The same mixed reaction has been seen even after the release of Seemaji’s book.’

Writer Seema Abhas clarified that the first part of the book covers the suffering of the common people and the second part covers the world created by imagination. She said that she had to resort to imagination to awaken the consciousness of women. This is the reason why, although there were suggestions to bring the two parts in separate books, they were included in one work, she said.

Speaking about the combination of feminism and spirituality, she opined that women should rise up from the tendency to suppress women in the name of religion and spirituality. ‘Women are suppressed from where they are told that they cannot do this or that,’ she said, ‘Now they have to rise up from there.’