For me, Shambhala is not merely the ‘Himalayan story of polyandry”. It is about the protagonist Pema’s pursuit of acceptance and the process of liberation that leads her to the symbolic Shambhala– a place of peace and happiness. Filmed with an ethnographic approach, Shambhala has gendered sociocultural elements woven into its fabric.

I will discuss this movie from the feminist perspective. This article is my subjective analysis which does not denounce that movies as such are open to multiple interpretations.

In a polyandrous setting, Tashi is the only breadwinner in a house amongst the three brothers Pema is married to. One of them, Karma, is on his way to becoming a monk, so he goes to live with Rimpoche (priest) in a Gumba. The youngest Dawa, an adorable playful groom is still a kid. For obvious reasons, Tashi is the one who consummates marriage with Pema.

Pema does the chores, prepares food, and takes care of Dawa- conventional gender roles. Tashi works in the field and plans to go to Lhasa for work- again, quite normative. But, and I want to stress this, nowhere amidst their household interactions and chores did the movie evoke savior syndrome in me. There is an absence of an oppressive male—oppressed female dichotomy. Bham’s treatment of Pema, in this sense, is that of a woman who is situated in a gendered social context but stands unapologetically firm, and equally compassionate. This way Bham refrains from essentializing Pema into gender stereotypes — the mistake that could have occurred even in confines of a polyandrous setup.

Things aren’t so smooth in an otherwise picturesque ethnographic tale after Tashi leaves for Lhasa for work. Now, Pema is left alone with Dawa’ responsibilities. Dawa’s teacher helps Pema with his studies by home-tutoring him. One night, Ram gets drunk and sleeps outside Pema’s door.

The movie shows there is a definite rapport between Pema and Ram, but no two-way romance. So, when Pema discovers she is pregnant, it’s Tashi’s. Dawa, who found a mother in Pema and revered her, accused her of having an affair with Ram as rumors had already spread. “Don’t treat me like a son, you are my wife and I am your rightful husband”, he says as he feels the need to establish authority. It is interesting to see at this point how hidden gender politics surfaces during the intra-familial conflict. Little Dawa is conditioned to think that a woman’s loyalty should be questioned upon her rendezvous with any strange man.

Pema finds Tashi had heard the rumor on his way home and decided not to return out of anger, shame, and heartbreak. She decides to find Tashi to get his trust back and raise the child together. It’s also her attempt to clear her name through Tashi’s acceptance.

Pema’s decision to embark on an arduous journey is a very important event in the film. When she receives the token of love returned by once doting Tashi, her distressed and confused state marks what constituted love for her at that point. It’s the validated loyalty and Tashi’s acceptance. Right before her marriage, her mother had told her to be a loving, good wife to her grooms. Because it’s her world now- she has to nurture it.

Karma leaves Gumba to accompany Pema- as a guardian husband upon Rimpoche’s insistence. But he is not cut out to be a husband, he is a to-be-monk. So, Pema plays the assertive and protective one when needed. One’s performance of gender roles, in reality too, is contextual Versus the widely constructed and believed dominant narratives about masculinity and femininity.

Speaking of which, it’s intriguing how Bham juxtaposes two masculinities in the movie- the one displayed by Tashi and another by Karma. Tashi displays aggressive ‘hegemonic masculinity’, the term coined by sociologist and gender scholar R.W. Connell. This form of masculinity is dominant and more mobile across cultural groups, hence hegemonic in effect. It is widely internalized as the only form of masculinity- exhibited through aggression, bravery, and protectiveness. Historically produced patriarchal values reinforce this tendency as most men become more aware of their authoritative status and many women are conditioned into believing it.

Karma, on the other hand, displays a thoughtful, secure masculinity. Deeper engagement with his spirituality and Rimpoche’s teachings away from the normative way of life informs his conscience. He says, “It doesn’t matter whose child is in your womb. Creation of life is a far greater process”.

As the movie progresses, it’s evident that Pema’s journey is intrinsic to her self-discovery. First, through Karma, she witnesses the kind of acceptance, that is more accepting and honoring of her being. Here, Bham is careful not to portray Karma as Pema’s savior. It’s the otherwise, as she persuades him to go back to Gumba and follow his calling.

Second, she encounters an incident where a woman is being tested to prove her loyalty towards her husband through a ritual. She fails and is deemed the culprit of cheating on her husband. Ostracised by her community, she kills herself. This particular event depicts the patriarchal gender dynamics of that community. Pema witnessing this adds to the ways her internal sense of love and acceptance was being reshaped. Thus, Bham says without telling how along this journey, Pema is gradually finding herself, liberating from her past beliefs shaped by the gender expectations and masculinities around her.

Pema finds Tashi has already returned home. She too returns and confronts Tashi. But she has to go through the same ritual of proving her loyalty. She does perform the ritual because the barren land is not just a scenic marvel. It’s a confined society, situated far from alternate prospects. There is no clear indication of whether Pema passed the test. But there is a symbolic insinuation at the end that she reached her Shambhala- through liberation from her relentless pursuit of what she thought was love and acceptance. The post-credit scene shows Pema’s child being cared for by Karma, not Tashi. We don’t know if Pema died during childbirth or is alive.

Quite rarely one gets to immerse into the world created through great conviction in telling a woman’s story of self-exploration. Pema is Bham’s muse in Shambhala. After watching it, I couldn’t agree more with the Indian movie critique SucharitaTyagi’s observation– “For Min Bahadur Bham, Pema is goddess-like, a bringer of life, the giver of birth in a barren landscape, but above all a woman.”

Worldwide, in films, writers and directors express themselves through the characters they are obsessed with. The way Pema as a woman and her journey is represented in Bham’s directorial is indicative of his sensibilities as a creator and something Nepali society needs to see more of.

Her story is one of four in the film which talks about the impacts of climate change on human lives. Currently being premiered in London, the film is available on YouTube for public access. This article refers to Kamala’s story, not to discuss the evident burden of water on her life, but to shed light on the intersection of gender norms, climate change, and her poor health condition.

The nearest and only source of water, the natural spring is about two hours down from where Kamala lives. The tap water available in the localities are just about enough for washing and cleaning purposes. The Nepali government, since 1975, has been trying to supply drinking water there. The film explains, “there are unresolved problems”. One of the factors entailing “unresolved” is the failed priority-setting by the government in terms of infrastructural development in difficult terrain. Most important, global warming has caused the drying up of the springs in Salyantar.

Climate change combined with unfair gender norms shape poor health conditions for women. The impacts are going to exacerbate in the days to come.

A senior climate change specialist of ICIMOD explains the noticeable changes in precipitation and rainfall patterns in Nepal. “The onset of the monsoon is changing, and so is the precipitation level. The warming is 0.6 degrees per year, which is quite intensive by global standards,” he says in the film.

The mental turmoil and physical pain caused by her disease are vivid in Kamala’s facial expressions, as she walks past the visually captivating landscape of Salyantar with her heavily-loaded gaagri. It takes her painful three hours to reach home, after fetching water. The more water she can fetch at a thread, the more chances of long-lasting water storage at home to consume for a longer period of time. She instantly engages in cooking for her family after fetching water. There is no time and opportunity for rest. She sighs, “There are men in the house but they never help. There are no other women, that leave me for all the housework.”

A study conducted in Melamchi in 2019 revealed (sampled) women worked for eighteen hours a day and got to rest for six hours while their male counterparts worked for sixteen hours and rested for nine hours. The same study revealed that the women spent four hours a day fetching water apart from other household work.

Such gendered labor of fetching water is informed by gender normative roles whereby women are expected to perform all the household chores irrespective of their unfavorable health conditions. For women (like Kamala) who carry a heavy load almost daily, the risk of suffering from uterine prolapse increases exponentially. Also, the painful consequences for those already suffering from it are exacerbated significantly. Generally non-life-threatening, uterine prolapse leads to severe bodily pain and discomforts, depression, and severe infection that could lead to death if not treated in time.

The gendered division of labor affects men too, as they perform “breadwinning” roles and often engage in strenuous work outdoors. However, in patriarchal structures, the rigid gender roles leave little scope for women to negotiate and take decisions as per their health needs. Further, social practices such as early marriage increase the risk of reproductive diseases. “I got married when I was 17,” Kamala shares in despair. “I had my first child within the first year of my marriage,” now a mother of three children, sighs. “Fetching heavy load of water four times a week during pregnancy and soon after each delivery led to uterine prolapse.”

Climate change combined with unfair gender norms shape poor health conditions for Kamala and other women alike. Further, evidence shows that the impacts are going to exacerbate in the days to come. As Nepal’s former Minister of Water Resources, Deepak Gyawali confirms, “there are places in Nepal where entire villages in the hills are being abandoned because the springs have dried. There is no way you can get water there as the next water source maybe 500 meters down from residential areas”.

Issues and concerns about climate change exacerbating women’s vulnerabilities are extensively discussed around the world. Through Kamala’s story, the film affirms that the gender and environmental determinants influencing women’s health are intertwined. Simultaneously, it reminds its viewers to be mindful of context-specific intersections while situating women in the global discourse of climate change.  There is a direct call for policy actions to incorporate strategies for mitigating risks associated with climate change and its impacts on women’s health in Nepal. Additionally, there is an implicit suggestion that policymakers need to be informed of the unequal gender dynamics underpinning poor health outcomes for women.   

Bibhu Thapaliya is a qualitative researcher with a major focus on the areas of gender and development. She is currently working at Herd International as a Qualitative Research Fellow.