Are Nepal’s royals victims of curse?

Web posted at: 12/31/2007 5:48:57 Source ::: IANS
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Kathmandu • One of the blackest prophecies of Nepal has come true with the two-century old dynasty of the Shah kings finally faltering as parliament proclaimed the Himalayan kingdom a federal democratic republic, removing beleaguered King Gyanendra from the constitution.

Ever since King Gyanendra, who loses his crown in April, decided to revert to the absolutist way of his ancestors and seize power with an army-backed coup in 2005, the tale of the curse of Gorakhnath has been revived in Nepal.

Amazed at the audacious step taken by the king on the advice of his clique of hardcore royalists, the Nepalese began recalling the legend of Gorakhnath, the 11th century yogi with supernatural powers who was believed to be the protector of the ancient kingdom of Gorkha, from where King Gyanendra's forefathers came.

According to the legend, Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of the kingdom of Nepal, who began the conquest of petty kingdoms and brought them under one rule, once came across the holy man in a forest. The king offered some curd to the yogi, who regurgitated it and asked the king to drink it.

A repulsed Prithvi Narayan rejected the offering, allowing it to fall to the ground. As the curd dribbled on the king's 10 toes, the enraged holy man cursed the royal that his dynasty would be obliterated after 10 generations because of his pride.

In 2001, when popular king Birendra was killed in the royal palace in a midnight massacre along with the rest of the family, Nepal remembered the old tale and the fact that the slain king was the ninth descendant. After the king's murder, his eldest son Dipendra, who was then in coma after having reportedly committed the killings, was crowned king but passed away without recovering.

Since Birendra's entire family was wiped out in the massacre, Gyanendra ascended the throne in 2001 amidst fearful prophecies that Gorakhnath's curse had come true and the new successor would not be able to wield the sceptre for long.

After the king alienated his people by first ruling with an iron hand and then refusing to step down in favour of his baby grandson, he sowed the seeds of destruction of the royal dynasty.

There were other indications that fate was deserting the over-ambitious king. This year, he failed to offer worship as the head of state at the temple of the Kumari, who is regarded as the protector of the royal family.

With parliament making the prime minister the head of state, King Gyanendra went to offer worship as a commoner, an unprecedented incident.

Perhaps the most sombre thing about the reign of the king who was not fated to be king was that he was never officially coronated.

Royal astrologers indicated there were no auspicious dates soon after 2005 and first the period of mourning due to Birendra's death and then the fresh political turmoil stoked by the king's power grab resulted in the government never holding a formal coronation ceremony.