But, to the dismay of many, it is exactly the opposite: It is a place in which celebrating the day to honor the king who unified us and gave us the Nepali identity is viewed as regressive and feudal. Like Jainendra Jeevan, a columnist for this daily, wrote in his last column Tribute to Prithvi Narayan Shah (Jan 6), to appease some extremist elements, the new Nepali state has done away with the tradition of celebrating the day to honor the king without whose vision, determination, struggle and leadership, there would have been no unified Nepal.
It will be outright silly and nonsensical to dismiss PN Shah as a warrior only. He was, in every sense, a true democratic leader and well-ahead of his time. When viewed in the light of his divyopadesh (teaching), which he delivered orally to his ministers and officials in Nuwakot before his death in 1831 BS, he comes out more democratic and more receptive and respective of diverse ideas and cultures and more knowledgeable about economy, trade and foreign policy than the self-proclaimed democratic leaders we have now who are only motivated by their petty personal interests. Consider this: In divyopadesh he says, he wanted to appoint Biraj Bakehti to the post of Kaji—highest position a civilian could get in those days—but sensing that the people favored Kalu Pande, he went along with the people´s wishes and appointed him to the post.
How different from what happens today: Appointing those as ministers and officials who are corrupt and loathed by the people! Similarly, he never tried to impose his ideas and culture on the people and places he added to his realm; instead, he followed the prevailing traditions of those places, the most famous and oft-cited example being him continuing the tradition of celebrating the local festivals of Kathmandu.
As he was aware of the fact that the country he unified had many ethnic groups with their own local culture and traditions, in divyopadesh he tells his confidants to "make arrangements so that the people can carry on with their traditions and culture." He cherished and emphasized unity in diversity and Nepal’s unification would have been impossible without all ethnic groups supporting him. However, the leaders today seem irked by that unity and want to divide the nation along ethnic lines for their short-term political gains, without realizing the consequences their comments can have on the unity that exists between the Nepalis of various ethnic groups.
If our leaders heed his advise to respect and value talents and do away with nepotism and favoritism, maybe we would be able to stop our educated elites from going abroad in search of opportunities. Similarly, if they follow his advice on promoting local industries, maybe the exodus of Nepali youths to Arab countries and elsewhere for employment would stop.
A neglected statue of PN Shah at Hanuman Dhoka. (Photo: Sunil Dangol/DOA)
PN Shah´s greatness lies in the fact that in divyopadesh he mentions the great kings of the past, including the Malla kings such as Jayasthiti Malla and Mahendra Malla and his desire to come up with legal codes like they did for the smooth functioning of the state and the society. He does not discount their contributions, instead he seems to draw inspirations from them and aspires to become like them by coming up with a system himself. Now contrast that with what is happening today: Our leaders are trying to rewrite history by obliterating the contributions past monarchs made for the people and the country. Just because they were born and happened to rule in old Nepal does not mean that they did not contribute to preserving our identity as an independent nation.
In new Nepal , it’s a blasphemy to talk about the contributions of King Tribhuvan who put his throne at stake to get rid of the Rana oligarchy. Similarly, King Birendra´s patriotism that made him "surrender to Nepali people" rather than prolong his absolute rule in 1990 too goes unappreciated. "King Birendra preferred to stoop to his own citizens than concede to the proposal reportedly brought by the Indian Foreign Secretary SK Singh, which, if consented by Nepal, would have disgracefully compromised her national dignity and pride so fondly cherished by its people for centuries." (See, Madhav P Khanal´s Nepal- US relations: A historical overview, Policy Studies Series 4, IFA, Kathmandu, 2004).
It is indeed disheartening to note that in new Nepal those who claim to have spent x number of months and years in prison for democracy (?) and people (?) are viewed and promoted as heroes while a real hero who fought for 32 years to unify this nation is forgotten, thus making the new Nepal an ungrateful nation, something that goes against our culture that teaches us to express our gratitude even toward animals by setting aside days for their worship in our lunar calendar. Therefore, we, the general public should stand up against this culture of ungratefulness the new Nepali state is forcing upon us.
As Nepalis, it is our duty and right to ask the state to respect the great king. It is our responsibility to let the leaders know that besides a minority of extremists, the majority of us hold PN Shah as a real Nepali hero. And we should ask the government to honor him by restoring the tradition to celebrate his birthday and as it is a tradition in many countries to issue currency bills with their founding father’s image, we too have to demand his image in our Rs 1,000 bill.
Let me end this on a good note: People in Nuwakot with their own resources have rebuilt the statute of PN Shah which was destroyed by the Maoists during the insurgency, and they want to have it inaugurated today. It is indeed news worthy of celebration. With this, the people of Nuwakot have shown that even though the state is ungrateful, we, the people are not. I am hopeful that we will be hearing and reading more such news in the future. Way to go, Nuwakot!
trailokyaa@yahoo.com
Related story
Redraw the boundary
_20240311121839.jpg)
