When the founder of modern Nepal King Prithivi Narayan Shah likened his new Nepali state to the "yam between two boulders" he was referring to the fragile state of his new kingdom lodged perilously between Mughal India and Qing China. Whether those were his actual words or words put later in his mouth by patriotic followers is really irrelevant. The sentiment is clear. During 104 years of the Rana regime such divine revelations from King Prithivi's descendants were firmly muted. The royal revelations started to come thick and fast during the Panchayat Era. The leading newspapers headlined daily Shree Panch ko Mahaan Bani (His Majesty the King's Words of Wisdom) and Radio Nepal did not start its newscast before reading one. King Mahendra was a poet so he probably did not have much difficulty formulating these revelations during his regime. The clarion call to Nepali nationhood "ma mare pani mero desh banchi rahos" struck a chord among many. During King Birendra's time however one can imagine the palace press secretary scratching his head and working overtime! Churning out these pearls of wisdom for the masses on a daily basis, day after day, season after season and year after year must have been a painstaking task. A less patient person would have resigned in frustration!
Mao Zedong actually did one better as his earthly proletarian utterances were compiled into the little Red Book for his masses to read. It was no doubt an instant bestseller in Communist China. People did not leave their houses without one tucked in their pockets to guide them through the onerous chore of state building. Teachers referred to it while teaching Dialectical Materialism to their pupil. Engineers referred to it while building dams. Doctors saw guidance in his utterances during crucial medical interventions to save human lives. China went mad!
One of the oldest revelations I am familiar with from my schooldays is the voice from heaven to Abraham. Moses got his Ten Commandments directly from God and if you want to believe the Hollywood movie it was even inscribed by lightning in a stone tablet, and in English! Muhammad got his revelations directly from Allah. References to some aberrations that crept in the Koran later blamed on Satan for these errant verses got the unsuspecting author into mortal trouble after riots protesting this profanity ignited in Hindu majority India! Not to be outdone, the Iranian Ayatollah put a fatwa on him!
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| Demonstration in Teheran over The Satanic Verses |
Let us take a tongue-in-cheek look at what pearls of wisdom they left behind to the future generations? Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana gave us the Muluki Ain, the Civil Coda, for the first time in the history of Nepal and he got himself elevated to the title of Maharajah for his wisdom. "If you want to earn a good name, you must let go of greed and adopt compassion," he advised his brothers. He continued, "If it will please the masses, don't hesitate to kill even your own son. Forget about jealousy and anger, forget about wealth, and make moves that please the largest section of the population". He had mastered the Machiavellian art of statecraft that was needed at the time to stay in power but his fortitude never wavered. He would often lecture, "If you have to lie in the course of politics, do it by deluding the masses so they remain happy". Our current generation of leaders has at least followed Jung's advice to the letter on this score. Jung was also astute enough to bestow the Roll of Succession to his younger brothers rather than to his sons. Was this the secret of the longevity of the Rana Regime? The brothers were tried and tested while his sons were raw and a wayward son would have destroyed the fruits of Jung's labours! We can find resonance of his wisdom in what happened in the latter Shah period.
His successor Prime Minister Maharajah Ranauddip Singh prayed all the while for the betterment of his people. He did nothing more. His younger brother Commander-in-Chief General Dhir Shumsher handled the affairs of state with strength and foresight. Ranauddip's prayers were answered as long as Dhir lived. After Dhir's passing even the Gods could not save him from his fate! His nephew Bir Shumsher took over the reins of power.
Bir loved music and the arts. He loved beautiful paintings and sculptures. He constructed European neo-classical style buildings in the heart of Kathmandu that were designed by European architects taking after the storied palaces of Europe such as Versailles in Paris and Schonbrunn in Vienna. Bir patronized the theater and dancing. His harem constituted a plethora of dancing girls with theatrical nicknames like Zarina, Nur Jahan, Ishq Bahar, Nasim Pari, Rosa Pari and Sartaj Pari. Bir changed the musical landscape of Kathmandu! "If music be the food of love, let's play on and on," was his motto to paraphrase Shakespeare.
His successor Dev Shumsher was supposed to be the liberal one - perhaps because he did not experience the deprivations suffered by his brothers since, from a young age, he was brought up in the rich household of his childless uncle General Krishna Bahadur Kunwar. It is easier to be a liberal without having to battle for your daily bread. This reminds me of the innocent question a Shah king was known to have asked when he went to behold how the masses fared. "Don't they even get to eat milk and rice?" he exclaimed in wonder to the consternation of his minders.
Dev was ousted within months for his liberal-mindedness. His successor Chandra was the austere one. Stricken with an incurable tuberculosis since an early age, the gaunt Chandra came to represent the implacable face of the Rana Rule of Nepal for some 28 years. People remarked with dread, "Should Chandra smile a dire calamity will befall on us!" With the inevitable trajectory of time, Chandra opened the first institute of higher learning in Nepal - Tri-Chandra College. He is known to have confided to his courtiers that he has hammered the first nail in the Rana Regime's coffin!
It was during Maharajah Juddha's watch that Godly revelations came to the fore. God-men in India today hold vast influence over the hopeful and the hopeless in huge swathes of territory with their divinely ordained missives. Maharajah Juddha also needed them here as Nepal firstly succumbed to the devastating 8.0 magnitude earthquake of 1934 A.D. and secondly to a burgeoning popular movement towards democracy partly fueled by the Indian movement to oust the Raj. Juddha did try to get the support of the masses. There is an apocryphal story that the Maharajah periodically invited hundreds of the destitute and the deprived, mainly from the lower castes, for delectable feasts and asked them to open up their minds. With some imbibing of local spirit the brave among them did so freely and gave the absolute dictator an idea about what the people were thinking. What he heard and what his guru Resunga Mahaprabhu prophesied sealed his own fate. He was the only Rana prime minister to resign from office. After a quick succession of two more prime ministers - Padma and Mohan - the 104 years of Rana Regime of Nepal went into the history books!
Today's Nepal has taken a precarious step towards federalism as enshrined in the newly minted Constitution. There lie many challenges ahead. There will be ever more room for divine revelations to come to the fore to tackle these challenges. Some of our leaders will no doubt get their inspiration from more earthly figures of Marx, Lenin and Mao. There is a danger lurking somewhere that King Prithivi Narayan's fragile "yam" might be crushed now among the seven federated boulders.
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