Sindoor Jatra of Maharajah Dev Shumsher in 1901 A.D. Q ueen 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 beho...

R ecently Bagh Durbar located near the erstwhile Bhimsen Tower 'Dharahara' at the heart of Kathmandu city was in the news as the Municipality had more or less decided to demolish a historical building adversely affected by the earthquake of 2015 instead of renovating and retrofitting it. Many have raised their voices against such a historical place being leveled to give rise to yet another shopping mall without the valley's soul. It would be another example of a potpourri of architectural styles prevalent in the unimpressive designs adorning Kathmandu's march to modernity. Mrs. Chanda Rana is one of the advocates of preservation of this historic building and kudos to her. Historic Bagh Durbar built by Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa   What is the genesis of this historic building? What cries and whispers pervaded its corridors when the powerful were residing there? What were the historical epoch its bricks and mortars witnessed that would shape the destiny of the mov...

Rani Karma Kumari R ukum is a scenic hill district of western Nepal where one of the Chaubisi Rajyas or 24 small fiefdoms held sway before unification. Ruled by the Thakuris or the heads of the local clans it was finally absorbed into unified Nepal sometime during the rule of Regent Bahadur Shah. Since then it has been a common practice in the Shah and Rana courts bringing the Thakuri girls from faraway places such as Rukum for an upbringing in the royal households, educating them in palace etiquette, teaching them the culinary arts and instilling in them the love of music and poetry for the purpose of eventually marrying them to the young princes of the house. The girls left their homes and their parents early and made a new life among their peers and minders in the Durbars of Kathmandu. This was the tradition of Dola Palne. Thapathai Durbar of Maharajah Jung Bahadur Rana circa 1852 A.D. This young girl of six or seven from Rukum who was brought to Kathmandu was taken to the Tha...

N epalese of my generation associate the end of the 104 years old Rana oligarchy with a garlanded king in Nepalese mayelposh suruwal  dress waving his right hand to acknowledge the multitude that thronged the Kathmandu airport to see him arrive from India after a short exile. He was a powerless, dethroned king returning now as a sovereign Head of State. For most of us the iconic imagery heralded the advent of a new open democratic Nepal and the king - Tribhuvan - instantly became the Shah king most revered and recognizable after the founder of the dynasty and his ancestor King Prithivi Narayan Shah. That day has been marked in the Nepalese calendar and imprinted in our consciousness as Democracy Day, the 7th day of the Nepalese month of Falgun, 2007 B.S. Although I was born 4 years later, I cannot yet erase the memory from my mind. A king at 5 Tribhuvan led a sequestered life in the Royal Palace of Narayanhiti in Kathmandu amidst the trappings of Hindu God-king monarchy far remo...

" L hasa ma soon chha, kaan mero buch-chai ", teased Putali Maharani whenever she had the chance. She was referring to an old adage made famous in Nepal that women folks often chimed with petulant discontent aimed at their husbands,"There is gold in Lhasa but my ears are unadorned". Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana had come out victorious against the Tibetans and abrogated the unfair Treaty of Betrawati signed under duress by the Nepalese under Regent Bahadur Shah as the Chinese army had come to aid the Tibetans and pushed the Gorkhalis all the way from Kerung down along the Trishuli River to Nuwakot. Now Nepal could pursue trade with the Tibetans unhindered and the Chinese monopoly on the lucrative gold trade was broken. Putali Maharani wanted a piece of action of the gold and silver trade for her own clan and was frequently goading her husband to send her sisters to Lhasa on a trade mission to establish a company. From Left sitting, Putali Maharani, Hem Kumari ...