Volume 11, Issue – 1, March 2026

  Gorkhali Birta and the Narratives of Masculinity and Femininity in Madhu Gurung’s The Keeper of Memories

Dr. Jemima Sakum Phipon

Assistant Professor

Department of English

M.U.C Women's College

Burdwan

Abstract: The discourse of the ‘bir’ (brave) Gorkha reifies the Gorkha as a brave soldier armed with a khukuri (traditional machete)who decapitated the heads of enemies in the battlefield with unflinching ‘birta’ (bravery). This popular narrative of the Gorkha jati conflates the colonial formulation of the ‘Gorkha’ as a single, simplistic identity and the colonial narrative of the ‘Gorkha’ as a martial race. Ironically, this discourse which has also caught the popular imagination of the Nepalis/Gorkhas is essentially narrow, androcentric, and martial. It disregards domesticity and the quotidian, the other Nepali/Gorkha masculinities, and the female and the feminine. This paper looks at Gorkha women and their quiet, quotidian and enduring birta in Madhu Gurung’s The Keeper of Memories (2016) and few select lyrics. For generations, Gorkha women have glorified and validated the martial identity of the Gorkhas. Nepali mothers play a significant role in conditioning young men to join the Indian military service. Though Indian Nepali society boasts of being more liberal and considerate towards their women in comparison to many other Indian communities, the Nepali society is essentially patriarchal. Nepali women have been pushed to the margins and rendered silent and invisible. Madhu Gurung holds up a mirror to the realities of Gorkha/Nepali women across time and place. Indian Nepali women writings chronicle (her)stories of suffering, injustice, and oppression which have been silenced, and overshadowed by the dominant discourse of the masculine and martial Gurkha. These narratives portray that birta is not always about brandishing a khukuri but quiet endurance, waiting and ‘keeping’ familial and jatiya memories, tradition and culture.

Keywords: Birta, dominant discourse, martial identity, margins, quotidian.

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