GODAVARI SCHOOL REVISITED

St. Xavier's Godavari School

"Live for God, Lead for Nepal" was the mantra imparted to us by our Jesuit priests at St. Xavier's Godavari School, my alma mater. Life was simple and straight forward then as illustrated by the sound tagline for an English Medium School opened in 1951 A.D. by a special permission Fr. Marshall Moran, S.J. charmed out of the last Rana Prime Minister of Nepal, Maharajah Mohun Shumsher. Godavari is a pristine locality in the south east corner of the Kathmandu Valley, resting on the lap of the Phulchowki Mountain in the Mahabharat range, at over 9,200 ft. the tallest peak surrounding the valley. The Rana rulers of Nepal had built there for themselves summer palaces to escape the stifling heat of the city during the months of May and June. A road was cleared for horses and carriages and electrical lines stretched.

Starting this school was one of the epochal steps Nepal took to open itself to the outside world: hitherto Nepalese students going to school in India could now get proper education in the English medium in the Kathmandu valley itself. Fr. Moran, S.J. having started a similar Jesuit school in Patna in India, had the wherewithal to convert the Rana buildings and its expansive grounds into a school of high quality. Necessary permissions were granted in 1951 A.D. through the office of General Mrigendra Shumsher, the Director of Public Education, who was very influential as he was the son of Commander-in-Chief Baber Shumsher J. B. Rana. Promptly Fr. Moran chartered a plane and brought from Patna one Land Rover, two tons of supplies and Fr. Frank Murphy and Fr. Ed Saxton in tow. Soon the Rana Regime would end and Nepal would enter a new era of experimentation with democracy.

Faculty in the early sixties

In 1965, when I was first admitted to Godavari School in Class V, there were still buildings extant named after their Rana patrons - there was "Keshar Mahal", a bungalow separated from the main school manor house by a long, dark and cold walk in the wintry night as the building was our dormitory in Class VII. "Nara Mahal" was where some of the fathers lived and where Fr. Bertrand Saubolle experimented with his roses. The main building was the abode of the Rana Prime Minister and this is where we had our dormitory in Class V. I don't recall the original name but it had been re-christened "Xavier Hall". The decorative water fountain in the driveway had been turned into a swimming pool. Fr. Eugene Watrin, S.J. who was our principal then, would take his morning and evening swimming exercises and I remember with three strokes of his powerful arms he would swim across the pond and repeat the same innumerable times to keep fit.

My Class VIII in 1968

"Kaiser Mahal" was our dormitory in Class VII, 1967

Godavari is one of the important holy places in Kathmandu Valley with the local deity feted annually and which culminates every twelve years in a great month-long mela. The local spring is said to have a direct link with the River Godavari of South India as a sage swept by the River Godavari was found floating in the spring at Godavari in Kathmandu Valley. True or false history has forgotten. It can be safely said that the rulers of Nepal had their summer abodes there even earlier but the first confirmation from a reliable source comes from Daniel Wright, the surgeon at the British Residency in Kathmandu of the 1870's, who wrote that Maharajah Jung Bahadur Rana and his brothers had built numerous country houses there for summer retreat and hunting. Wright also mentions that cardamom was profitably grown there.

Godavari School building was built by Maharajah Bir Shumsher in 1891 A.D. and the architect was Joglal Sthapit

Pencil sketch of Jung Bahadur Rana's Godavari Durbar (1872)

The main building which can be described as a manor house that we found back in 1965 was definitely built by Maharajah Bir Shumsher in 1891 A.D. and the architect was Joglal Sthapit.  Maharjah Chandra Shumsher further embellished the building during his time. He also built a few lodges scattering around the manor house for his entourage including his sons. "Kaiser Mahal" was one of them named after his son General Kaiser Shumsher. Whosoever became the maharajah took possession of these premises much like the other famous retreat at Gokarna; so it changed hands from one family to another. During the time of Maharajah Juddha, he further enlarged the buildings and built new lodges including one for his eldest grandson General Nara Shumsher, the building known to us as "Nara Mahal".


"Nara Mahal" is today Godavari Ashram, a chapel adjoins the original building.

A quarter of a mile away was "Bahadur Bhawan" named eponymously after the eldest son of Maharajah Juddha but very few people know that my father General Kiran Shumsher was the owner of this building which was handed over to Fr. Moran. The building further underwent several incarnations. Originally a residence of the lay school masters, the building was handed over by the Jesuits for some time to Dr. Edgar Miller and his wife Dr. Elizabeth Miller to run a clinic before the Shanta Bhawan Missionary Hospital was completed. Later during the early seventies the building went to the forest department after the Jesuits built new buildings to house the school masters and today the building is the Head Office of the neighbouring Botanical Gardens.


"Bahadur Bhawan" which belonged to my father General Kiran

is today the Head Office of the Botanical Gardens

These were the original buildings the school used during the first years of its opening. While the main building, Kaiser Mahal, Bahadur Bhawan and the "dhobi" laundry shed next to it were offered to the Jesuits pro bono, "Nara Mahal" was actually purchased by them in 1952 A.D.

King Mahendra visits the school

Father Moran is decorated by King Mahendra

The last Rana ruler Maharajah Mohun Shumsher was wise to bestow Godavari's Rana era buildings and its expansive grounds to the Jesuits to run a school. He was leaving behind a generous legacy as an antidote to the new political order that would predictably start trashing the 104 years of Rana rule.

School bus to Godavari

It has been 50 years since my Class of 1970 graduated from St. Xavier's Kathmandu by getting our Senior Cambridge "O" Level certification. On this occasion we had planned on several commemorative events but Covid-19 pandemic would not let us. We shall organize them sometime in future. However, I am glad that we managed to publish a Souvenir Book to mark this occasion. I am happy to post a link to a pdf version of this book for your reading pleasure.

 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CbO-FG7ZwTt75rLAkW5VsMmyIm0cZaeL/view?usp=sharing