JUNG BAHADUR: THE MAKING OF A LEGEND

It was during those hunts when Jung Bahadur would reminisce about his life and times and how it had all unfolded in those days of his struggle. It was in those very jungles he had caught wild elephants and tamed them and sold them and earned his keep after his family fortunes had taken the slide with the eclipse of his maternal grand uncle Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa, much before Jung re-entered the Nepalese court again. Those were difficult times. In his frustration he had severely beaten his only son for not applying himself diligently to the study of Sanskrit and Persian, the only route to the top of the pyramid in Kathmandu, he knew. Unfortunately the blow had caught the lad at the back of his head from which he would never recover. The tragedy had also killed his first wife from grief. He never raised his hands against his children again, Jung brooded.

Mukhtiyar Mathbar Singh Thapa

Jung Bahadur was in his element there in the jungles. He would match his wits with leopards and tigers and get the better of them. The jungle was a perfect training ground for his ascendancy in the political jungle of Kathmandu. Providence had smiled once again on the Thapa clan and on Jung Bahadur in particular after his exiled maternal uncle Mathbar Singh Thapa had been recalled from the court of Maharajah Ranjit Singh of the Punjab to head the government in Nepal as the prime minister. Jung Bahadur found himself in the retinue of the Crown Prince Surendra Bikram Shah. He knew he had to bide his time there and tolerate every whim and fancy of the wayward prince until the right moment presented itself.

Jung reflected upon the many tests he had to undergo to keep his post. His aging and aching body bore testament to the wild fancies of the prince. He had a limp, his joints hurt and his bowel movement was erratic. He had to wear his right shoe bigger than the left due to a swelling ankle, specially now during winter. He remembered how he had jumped into a deep well at the command of the prince; only the night before his aids had thrown enough bales of cotton into the well to make his landing soft. The prince was fooled. This was only just one of the smaller travails the prince had put him through, a mere appetizer before the main course!

The year was 1877 A.D. and peace had prevailed in Nepal since the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. For twenty years Jung had consolidated his position and made Nepal strong: the only sovereign country remaining in the entire Indian subcontinent and Burma too! The British considered him a strong ally. He had organized many shoots in the Nepal Terai for dignitaries including the Prince of Wales, the very prince who had entertained Jung Bahadur during his visit to Britain back in 1850 A.D. Jung had built the civil service, the justice system and an excellent military. Jung had also gone on a drive to transform Kathmandu into a nineteenth century city boasting of splendid palaces, public parks, paved roads, well-endowed Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries. Jung had forsaken the old Malla period architecture for more grandiose European ones. Old Thapathali Durbar was renovated and Narayan Hiti Palace was constructed for his family members. He had seen first hand how the European renaissance transformed those countries from medieval darkness into modernity based on science and technology and Jung was intent on building his own version of it for Nepal.

He was now in one of his periodic hunts with a retinue of five of his wives including the Maharani, his military and civilian aides-de-camp and a herd of two hundred elephants beating the jungle to bring out the wild animals for his shooting pleasure. The soporific gait of his magnificent male tusker Jung Prasad he was mounting made him daydream. One day Crown Prince Surendra asked him to jump from the suspension bridge into the ferocious torrent that was the Trishuli River. He could not deny the prince his sadistic pleasure but Jung quickly requested that he be allowed to jump with his horse, a request that was granted. Jung knew his horse to be a better swimmer than himself! Jung smiled and reflected on how those dare devil acts were quickly making him a legend. He had to cook up one for the ages to remember.

Jung Bahadur and his maharani in hunting camp

Old Dharahara (before 1934 A.D.)

This opportunity was not long in coming. Crown Prince Surendra one morning dared Jung Bahadur to jump off the 250 feet tall Dharahara, the so-called Bhimsen Tower, the one of two built after the Anglo-Nepal War to mark Nepal's Pyrrhic victory over the British Raj. The other named after the Regent Queen Lalit Tripura Sundari had broken in pieces during the earthquake of 1833 A.D. Jung asked the prince's permission to fabricate himself two umbrellas to act as parachute for his jump. Permission granted the dare was quickly forgotten by the prince but not by Jung Bahadur. Rumors of his death defying stunt started circulating far and wide and there was nobody in the kingdom who would not believe that Jung had jumped from the top of Dharahara and had survived unscathed. Eye witnesses suddenly appeared who swore by this feat. Grandmothers told the story to their grand children. Jung's courage came to the notice of the Junior Queen Rajya Luxmi. Jung Bahadur had scored big.