Beyul Hidden Lands - The Conundrum of Greater Good

Beyul Hidden Lands is the first novel in a fantasy series by Yoshay Lama Lindblom, who is originally from Kurseong India.

A quick internet search on Beyul prompts that:

“Beyul are hidden valleys where physical and spiritual worlds overlap, and Tantric practice effectiveness increases with multiple perception dimensions”

In this novel, Beyul is a pristine land guarded by ancient spirits somewhere in the Himalayas where no sin is ever committed nor is any blood ever shed. The author brilliantly references the diverse Himalayan spaces, myths, and cultures to take us to a world with its own language, rituals, and culture. The journey through the mountain scape is also an unraveling of folklore and faith in the Himalayas, the imagery feels fantastical yet faintly familiar.

While the story takes place in this allegorical place, the novel itself embodies the idea of Beyul, moving seamlessly between fact and fiction to create a fantasy world that feels nostalgic yet so alien.  

The crux of the story follows Nilza, a feisty young girl living her 21st-century life in a modern-day Kuruso when suddenly she gets reeled into a whirlwind of incredible phenomena. 

Nilza as chosen consort according to an oracle in another faraway land, is taken to Beyul to fulfil her life's mission. Nilza’s only hope that prompts her to travel beyond her will is to reunite with her long-lost Mother. 

Now, the government of Beyul is a monarchy ruled by a descendant of Queens blessed by divine intervention of the great guardian spirit the “Migyum”. 

The present Queen, of calm composure, is another important female character perhaps a foil to the protagonist, Nilza. The Queen and her people (The Zongshen) move by the oracles of the Land and the elders, and her most important mission is to protect Beyul from the threat of an enemy attack and takeover. 

The story proceeds as characters navigate the dichotomy of their own mortal choices and the wheel of immortal prophecies in Beyul.

According to the protocol set by Beyul’s ruling order, Nilza must unite with the beast-prince Wangzin to save the Zongshen people and the Land. 

As we anticipate this fated union, a series of unfortunate events follow.

The Queen’s husband, a sceptic about the oracles in the lookout to secure the throne for his own son joins in a mutiny against Beyul.   

As the threat of the enemy looms, Prince Wangzin takes the liberty to fulfill the prophecy without ceremony, robbing Nilza of her dignity. A bewildered Nilza breaks protocol and is led right into the enemy ground in the false hope that she might reunite with her Mother. 

After a fierce bloodbath that occurs not within but outside the borders of Beyul, the Queen banishes Nilza back to Kuruso. During the same timelines, the death of her revolting husband is marked with a pompous funeral ceremony. 

Although all these are happenings of a fabled land? Are these this far from reality? 

How many instances in history have witnessed where ordinary characters are sacrificed to uphold the order of the land by the world’s elites such as divine monarchs and dictators?

A famous example that comes to mind is the character assassination and accidental death of Lady Diana of the House of Windsor. 

Another thing to note was how in so many instances men’s trespasses are overlooked as well-meaning and even trivial, while women are made to feel the burden of their slightest mistakes with severe punishment often by elders of the same gender, in this case, the Queen. This is despite, Beyul being a place ruled only by female monarchs.

How are some sins greater or lesser than others? Was Prince Wagzin’s defiling of Nilza not worthy of punishment just because he was the re-incarnation of a Great Guardian Spirit?

Does collective good trump over some sins while some digressions become bigger because an individual chooses free will? 

Is the conundrum of the propagated greater good in the denial of an individual’s justice? 

I wonder as I wait for Nilza’s justice in the sequel that is going to be released soon. 

Until then Adiga So-Re to the author for this pioneer fantasy series from the Land and cultures we grew up in.