Gyanendra Shah, former King of Nepal, is celebrates his 77th birthday on July 7, 2024. Twenty years ago, his birthday would have been a Nepali national holiday. When I first travelled to Nepal in 2001, the country was proud to have a good time the “the last Hindu kingdom in the world.” The king’s face was on every rupee note. The national anthem sang his praises.
But between 2006 and 2008 Transition from a Hindu monarchy to a secular democracy. It completely dissolved its monarchy, and Shah left the palace in June 2008. He has lived since then as a personal individual.
When I submitted my doctoral thesis on the transition in 2012, it seemed that Nepal had finally abolished its monarchy and Nepalese were looking forward to their secular future. But today many Nepalese disillusioned with their democratic multi-party system. After a big pro-monarchy rally in November 2023Nepal’s capital has witnessed a series of modest but Vocal follow-up demonstrations advocates a return to the Hindu monarchy.
What did religious kingship seem like in Nepal? Why was it abolished and why do some want it back?
Hindu monarchy
Unlike European monarchies, which were closely related to Christianity, Nepal's monarchy was rooted in Hinduism. This meant that the King of Nepal needed to be born right into a Hindu family and marry a Hindu woman. He had to watch the rituals of the family lineage and pray at his ancestral shrine. He also had to take care of close relationships with Brahmin priests.
The modern palace employed a priesthood of Brahmins – everlasting employees who appeared every day in a palace office to perform rituals. The king needed to honor a very powerful Hindu holidays by public appearances and the performance of ritualsHe inspected the military on Shiva Ratri, a festival in honour of Lord Shiva, and blessed government leaders through the Hindu festival of Vijaya Dasami. He received a Blessings of his patron goddess Kumaria young girl, believed to be the incarnation of the Hindu goddess Taleju, through the festival of Indra Jatra.
These roles made the king the patriarch, protector and archetype of the nation. Although the king did indirectly run the federal government for many of Nepal's history, he was, because the royalists put it, Nepal's “ekta ka pratek”: the symbol of unity.
Consolidation of the monarchy
Modern Nepal has only existed for about 250 years. For centuries, present-day Nepal was divided amongst many small principalities. In the 1760s, nevertheless, a small local king conquered all his neighbors, moved his capital to Kathmandu and placed his dynasty on the throne. But after this ambitious and successful king, the descendants who followed him were mostly weak and ineffective rulers. In 1800, the country was ruled by regents within the name of the king and self-proclaimed Prime Minister.
In 1950, nevertheless, King Tribhuvan Shah, who had held a purely ceremonial role since 1922, formed an alliance with a burgeoning democracy movement to realize more direct political power. From King Tribhuvan onwards, Nepal's kings actively led the federal government.
The modern monarchy was further centralized and consolidated by Tribhuvan's son, King Mahendra, who ruled from 1955 to 1972. Urban and cosmopolitan, he worked on the modernization of the country and his role as king. In the meantime, he has expanded the thought of Hindu kingshipHe also dissolved the country's first democratically elected government to place himself on the helm the Panchayata supposedly grassroots democratic system that was in point of fact tightly controlled by the palace.
He also issued a nationalist program that may transform a various Nepal right into a single identity, with itself because the symbol of national unity. This program was summed up by the slogan:a king, an elephant, a language“: “One king, one country, one national costume.”
Nepal's dozens of Minority languages And ethnic identities were suppressed in favor of a national culture centered across the religious, ethnic and linguistic background of the king. When the youngsters went to highschool, they learned a fastidiously compiled curriculumthat are taught only in Nepali language, from books that specify Hinduism and the central importance of the Royal familyby teachers wearing the newly codified Nepalese national costume for men, the “Daura Suruwal”.
Modern nationalism subsequently meant a united Nepal, which erased ethnic, regional and spiritual differences for the unity of the monarchy.
The monarchy collapses
King Mahendra handed over the throne to his eldest son Birendra. But in June 2001, King Birendra murdered within the palaceallegedly by his own son, along along with his wife and youngsters and half a dozen other members of the royal family. This event had a catastrophic Blow against the monarchy.
In the turbulent aftermath of the regicides, Gyanendra Shah – Mahendra’s second son and brother of the murdered king – ascended the throne.
The nation was in mourning and traumatized, and folks perceived the brand new King Gyanendra as an uncharismatic monarch. An armed Maoist insurgency threatened rural Nepal and tried to capitalize on the tragedy while the multi-party parliament was arguing within the capital. To bring the situation under control, King Gyanendra declared a state of emergency and took direct control of the federal government in 2005.
The country has united against him.
In spring 2006 went on the road This brought Nepal to a standstill for 3 weeks. King Gyanendra capitulated to the rebellion.
At that point he was so unpopular that the Transitional government decided to completely dissolve the monarchy. They stripped the king of all ceremonial roles and spiritual activities. They removed the king from the national anthem and removed his portrait from the national currency. They officially declared the country a secular democracy and turned the palace right into a museum. The king moved out of the palace in June 2008.
The transition from monarchy was intended to free Nepal from its history of forced unity. The first post-monarchy parliament consisted of members wearing all manner of clothing, taking their oaths in many alternative languages and tasked with Writing a brand new, inclusive Constitution. A pluralistic National anthem announced: “We are a Nepalese wreath made of hundreds of different flowers.”
Challenges today
AP Photo/Binod Joshi
Unfortunately, Nepal's post-monarchical government has problems to meet the hopes that had brought them to power. The latest structure got here out years late, while vital leaders have been accused of corruption. The political Parties fight coalitions together, and the constantly tipping over The government has experienced 12 governments in 16 years.
This instability has led some Nepalese to develop into nostalgic for the thought of unity through monarchy.
Today, when people take to the streets to demand a return to Hindu monarchy, a lot of them don’t express love for Gyanendra Shah. The former king was not loved; he ruled under a cloud of grief and was dismissed before many had develop into accustomed to his presence.
The ex-king has lived in Nepal for 16 years. He rarely appears in public, but occasionally attends religious events and once appeared in a nightclub. He makes regular public statements calls for political peace and unity. While he support the recent rallieshe has not explicitly expressed his intention to return to power.
But while the present government is arguing and the Nepalese have gotten increasingly disillusioned with their government, I argue that the previous king a useful gizmo for protests.
image credit : theconversation.com