TORKIN: A REQUIEM FOR THE VANISHING SOUL OF UPPER MUSTANG

 

BOOK NAME: TORKIN

WRITER: KSHITIZ SAMARPAN

PUBLSHER: BOOK HILL

PUBLISH DATE: 2025

The novel is a sociological document of the Himalayan society in Upper Mustang, specifically focusing on the village of Charang. The story follows the life of a common youth named Chewang, who experiences the profound shift from traditional life to the harsh realities of modern migration and loss.

Chewang’s journey begins in a poor but loving family, but after dropping out of school to tend livestock, his life takes a series of dramatic turns. He marries Kunsaing through the local tradition of "abduction" or elopement, a common cultural practice in Mustang where a man brings his chosen partner home with the help of friends. However, their initial happiness is shattered by the tragic death of their first son, a loss that marks the beginning of Chewang's emotional decline.

The novel provides an intimate look at the unique traditions of Upper Mustang, such as the practice of polyandry—where brothers share a single wife to prevent the fragmentation of limited agricultural land . It also describes the "sky burial" ritual, where the deceased's body is offered to vultures, symbolizing the Buddhist philosophy of the impermanence of the physical body . These deep cultural roots are contrasted with the modern struggle for survival, as Chewang and his friend Pemba are forced to travel as far as India and Malaysia for work, only to return empty-handed and broken.

A turning point in the story occurs when Chewang is unjustly imprisoned after being tricked into transporting illegal currency, a situation that stains his reputation and forces him into a spiral of isolation. His despair deepens when his wife, Kunsaing, leaves for America through a "fake marriage" for better prospects, leaving him behind. The term "Torkin" itself translates to "alone" or "helpless," reflecting not only Chewang's state but also the state of the village of Charang, which has become a ghost town of ruins and elderly residents as the youth migrate abroad.

By the end of the novel, Chewang is a man lost in a blur of alcohol and memories, wandering by the Marang River—a site that witnessed his childhood, his father's funeral, and now his own internal collapse. The book concludes with a philosophical question that underscores the tragedy of a disappearing civilization: "Where do I go now—to my home or to the cremation ground?" It serves as a haunting critique of how the pursuit of money and modernity often costs us our roots, our relationships, and our peace.

The characters within the narrative of Torkin serve as poignant symbols of a Himalayan society fracturing under the immense weight of global capitalism and the slow erosion of ancient tradition. At the heart of this tragedy is Chewang, the protagonist who embodies the titular "Torkin"—a man whose life is defined not by choice, but by the crushing momentum of misfortune and systemic injustice. His journey is a mirror for the decline of his village, Charang, illustrating how an individual can be rendered helpless when caught between the rigid structures of legal corruption and the fickle nature of luck. His struggle is amplified by the presence of his friend Pemba, whose shared failures in the migrant labor markets of India and Malaysia shift the narrative focus away from personal inadequacy toward a broader indictment of a system that exploits Himalayan youth for disposable labor.

This breakdown of social and domestic stability is most vividly expressed through Kunsaing, Chewang’s wife. Her character arc represents the transition from traditional life to a desperate, modern survivalism; her path from a bride of a traditional "abduction" marriage to a woman pursuing a "fake marriage" to reach the United States highlights the total disintegration of the family unit. Parallel to this modern desperation is the figure of Chewang’s father, who acts as the ancestral root of the story. His death and subsequent sky burial signify the final severance of Chewang’s connection to his heritage. With his father gone, the last anchor to a grounded, traditional identity is lost, leaving a vacuum that the harsh realities of the modern world are all too quick to fill.

Ultimately, the novel concludes as a funeral dirge for a civilization, suggesting that the "modern dream" of financial prosperity in distant lands is little more than a mirage that demands an unbearable price. For Chewang, the pursuit of this dream results in a totalizing form of death that is social, emotional, and cultural. He loses his reputation to an unjust prison system, his family to the lure of the West, and his village to the physical decay of migration. When he stands by the Marang River at the story's end, the water no longer symbolizes life, but rather reflects the ruins of a home populated only by the elderly and ghosts. His final, haunting question—asking whether he should return home or go to the cremation ground—reveals the devastating truth that for the displaced and the dispossessed, the two locations have become one and the same.