Skip to main content

THE CROWNING GLORY

Image
By
Sindoor Jatra of Maharajah Dev Shumsher in 1901 A.D.

Queen Elizabeth I is credited with the lines,"to be a king and wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it." Indeed power and pelf as symbolized by a crown have taken a terrible toll on those who were seemingly blessed with these attributes. The crowning glory is of course the coronation, the state's official celebration of enthronement by means of both secular and religious rites. The last spectacular world event was the Coronation of Shah Reza Pavlavi of Iran who officially celebrated the event in 1967 after 26 years of taking the throne as he had vowed not to have a coronation until Iran was lifted out of poverty and modernized. Sixty royal and non-royal heads of state congregated in the specially created tent city at the ancient capital of Persepolis of Cyrus the Great near modern day Shiraz. The pomp and splendour of the event while breathtaking to behold was also heavily criticized as wasteful aggrandizement by the Shah's regime that perhaps sowed the first seeds of the revolution that was not long in coming.

In Nepal too we had Coronation celebrations of King Mahendra in 1956 A.D. and of King Birendra in 1975 A.D. Representatives of 15 nations Nepal had established diplomatic relations with attended the coronation ceremony of King Mahendra. The international media came to Shangri-La in a frenzy to cover the virtually unknown country. By the time of King Birendra's Coronation Nepal was a truly established nation introduced to the world as a haven for the Hippy culture and backpackers exploring the high Himalaya. Nepal had established diplomatic relations with 60 nations and many of their representatives came to attend the ceremony including Britain's Prince Charles and Earl Mountbatten and the notorious First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos.

What is less known today is the Coronation ceremonies for the Rana prime ministers of Nepal who inherited together with the high post the title of Maharajah of Kaski and Lamjung. Thus, they orchestrated grand "Sindoor Jatra" or Vermilion Festival and went around Kathmandu city in triumphal procession on elaborately caparisoned tusker elephants and accepted tribute from the cheering crowds. Denizens of Kathmandu like a "ramita" or a show and irrespective of political leanings everybody has fun whether cheering a Shah king or a Rana maharajah, an elected politician or a recalcitrant Maoist. Why not indeed as a Jatra is a Jatra and merrymaking is in our genes!

First Rana prime minister Maharajah Jung Bahadur Rana and his 6 brothers

The following collection of photographs show the Rana Maharajahs participating in elaborate coronation ceremonies. I wanted to collect these old photographs and save it in one place for the history buffs. As Shakespeare wrote in King Henry IV, "uneasy lies the head that wears the crown". The Rana regime is history.     

Procession taken out by Maharajah Ranauddip Singh on the occasion of Chinese Emperor
decorating him with medal of valour T’ung-ling-ping-ma-Kuo-Kang-wang, 1882 AD


Coronation of Maharajah Dev Shumsher J. B. Rana


Coronation of Maharajah Chandra Shumsher with King Prithivi Bir Bikram Shah

The first Maharajah of the Shumsher clan Bir Shumsher during investiture ceremony


Maharajah Juddha in Coronation robe

Maharajah Juddha Shumsher sitting on his coronation throne

Maharajah Padma Shumsher with King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah and his sons

Maharajah Mohan's Sindoor Jatra 


Last Rana prime minister Maharajah Mohan Shumsher




  

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2019 at 5:50 PM

    History of Nepal, I am very glad you shared our history.

    Thanks
    https://goldpriceinnepal.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FEATHERS IN THE CROWN

By
As a kid I used to gape in wonderment at the magnificent crown my father possessed not knowing that the jewels were only for show. The dark green emerald drops were made of glass, the sparkling diamonds were probably zirconium and the pearls were not of the best sort. Every Rana general had his personal crown in those days and my father was no exception. I did not recognize the difference between this personal crown of father's and the other more valuable crown of the Nepalese Commander-in-Chief of the Army that my father was seen wearing in many a portrait displayed about the house. Little did I know that my father was the last person to put on his head the army chief's crown from the Rana era, real glittering diamonds, snow white pearls and thumb-sized emerald drops and all. The feather in the crown was the magnificent plumes of the Bird of Paradise that gave it such a majestic look. Nepal had only three crowns that were genuinely the real stuff bedecked with expensive pea
23 comments
Read more

RANI MAHAL, THE STORY OF ITS MAKER

By
PROLOGUE Rani Mahal Palpa The first time I ever saw this historical edifice thirty five years ago, she was in ruins and looked like an old hag during the winter of her life, simply waiting for her eventual demise. I was then on my way further west on a week-long trek from Tansen to Tamghas in Gulmi District. Thirty five years later, I found myself at the same spot once again, this time out there on purpose. I had seen pictures of the building with a coat of new paint before and I wanted to see how much change had been made by the Nepal Government’s Department of Archeology.  Yes, the outer façade still looked brand new with fresh paints, which to me personally was a bit too gaudy. But when I walked through the inside of the building and saw nothing but empty rooms without even a single piece of furniture, my enthusiasm took a nose dive . And when I entered one room where there was a fireplace with the floor in front of the hearth still looking as black as charcoal, I assu
4 comments
Read more

THE GLORIOUS UNCROWNING

By
T he 104 years of Rana Regime of Nepal reviled today as a monolithic juggernaut from without was anything but when viewed closely from within. The struggle for power within the family was as acute as those among the Roman emperors or Mughal rulers. Out of the nine Rana prime ministers only four died while in office, one was assassinated, two were prematurely ousted from office, the last one had to step down to give way to proto-democracy. Only one among the nine actually resigned voluntarily while in office. This is his story. Maharajah Juddha Shumsher So why did Maharajah Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana resign bucking the trend? Was it because he was afraid that he would be ousted like one of his predecessor Maharajah Dev Shumsher? Was he afraid that there was some nefarious plot to assassinate him like his uncle Maharajah Ranauddip Singh? When one makes a decision of such magnitude, there must have been multiple factors influencing him to come to such a decision. Had he not
13 comments
Read more