Ghantaghar: The first clock tower of Nepal

                                          

History of time keeping in Nepal

Ghantaghar is one of the most noticeable landmarks in all of Kathmandu. Although similar towers have been constructed in other parts of Nepal, the most popular one has been the one behind Rani Pokhari. Before Ghantaghar was made, the residents of Kathmandu valley had no scientific means of knowing the time; they deduced the time by feeling their wrists and watching the sun. The Ghantaghar , literally translated as the "Bell Tower", was constructed during the reign of H.H Maharaj Bir Shumsher JBR. However, it was H.H Maharaj Dev Shumsher JBR who gave him that idea. During the 13- year long reign of Bir Shumsher, various developmental works were completed, including the Bir Dhara, Medical Dispensaries, Bir Library. He constructed magnificient durbars, including the Seto Durbar ( The White Palace ), Fohara Durbar ( The Palace of Fountains ), Lal Durbar ( The Red Palace), etc. Later, H.H. Maharaj Dev Shumsher JBR started the system of notifying people of 12 am by blasting a cannon. Later, the Ghantaghar was used to notify people of the curfew that used to be implemented every night from 9 pm to 5 am. The system of blowing cannons to notify of the time was abolished in 2046 BS.

                                                   H.H. Maharaj Bir Shumsher JBR

The Making of Ghantaghar

Kathmandu, at that time was an abode of artistic palaces. Bir Shumsher himself constructed several palaces. He had ordered four huge wall clocks from Great Britain, to adorn the palace of his four sons. But, the order came to Nepal as four clocks joined as one. This caused much problem to Bir Shumsher. His brother (the then- Jangi Laath) Chandra Shumsher suggested they would return the shipment back to England, but his other brother (the then- Mukhtiyar ) Dev Shumsher suggested to make a clock tower, which would ensure that Bir Shumsher would do an act of social service to the people. So, the 4-in-1 clock was relocated to a tower constructed specially for that purpose.

The Original Ghantaghar

Present Day Ghantaghar

The original bell tower constructed by Bir Shumsher was destroyed during the 1990 BS earthquake. It was rebuilt and one of its largest bells was taken to a temple for its safety. The Ghantaghar was again rebuilt during the reign of His Majesty the King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah . The Ghantaghar still stands today, reminding the Kathmandu residents of their proud history.

Present day Ghantaghar

The Father of Nepali Cricket

Cricket is a sport which has been lately gathering a lot of popularity in Nepal. After the Nepal first played the world Cup, everyone in Nepal is a cricket fan. The credit  bringing this "gentleman's sport" to Nepal goes to HH Madan Shumsher JBR,  the son of Shree Teen Maharaj Chandra Shumsher JBR.  He introduced this game to Nepal for the very first time during the Rana rule in Nepal. Even though there weren't many cricketing competitions during that time and cricket was only limited among royalty, it didn't become popular until the advent of democracy in 1951

Madan Shumsher JBR in full cricket uniform 

FIRST SCIENTIST OF NEPAL " GEHENDRA SHUMSHER JUNG BAHADUR RANA "

Gehendra Shumsher JBR is rightly regarded as the first scientist of Nepal. Born as the son of Shree Teen Maharaj Bir Shumsher JBR, he was interested in mechanics and ammunition since childhood. He was born on Poush 1928 BS in the Indian city of Kolkata (Calcutta)  as his father was the Nepalese Consul to India at that time. Gehendra Shumsher received formal schooling at Durbar High School. 

Original Painting of Gehendra Shumsher posing in front of his newly invented guns. This painting is more than 100 years old.

After the parva of 1942 BS, the Shumshers rose into power and Gehendra Shumsher also became powerful as he became the head of the Police Department. It was then that his gun making skills were bettered. He made various guns like Bir Gun, Dhir Gun, Ge-rifle, etc. The Bir gun had a double barrel system which was probably the first of its kind.

Bir Gun, which is on display in the Military museum at Chhauni

Gun Making Machine of Gehendra Shumsher, which is on display on Chhauni Military Museum

Ge- rifle, which is on display on Military Museum at Chhauni

In 1956, Dev Shumsher imported a Ford car from Great Britain for his father. He dissected its parts and knew a lot about automobiles. Similarly, he used to brings guns and their catalogues, and made guns according to those catalogues.

Gehendra Shumsher JBR producing guns at his laboratory at Jamal

Gehendra Shumsher also had a major role in a plot spearheaded by Chandra Shumsher JBR, which resulted in the banishing of Dev Shumsher JBR from Kathmandu to Dhankuta.

During the Dashain festival during Chandra Shumsher's premiership, Gehendra Shumsher went to receive Tika from his uncle. While bowing down, his gun ,which he had brought to show to his uncle, fell down and his uncle became suspicious ,which resulted in the formation of a plot to eradicate him. One night, as he was drinking with his friends, he ate a boiled egg and started choking and died later. Some say that the egg was poisoned on Chandra Shumsher's orders. This was the end of the first scientist of Nepal.

God of Wind ( वायु देवता )

Nepal is a mystical country in which there exist many religions and, de facto, many Gods. As Hinduism was the state religion until the abolition of monarchy, Hinduism is more popular and revered. There are innumerable Gods and Goddesses in Hinduism, and various sects worship and please each God. Among them, both mystical and mysterious one is the God of Wind ( वायु देवता ) of Gorkha.

History of वायु देवता :

After the separation of Gorkha and Lamjung, there was an unrest in both states. Separated by the Daraudi River ( दरौदी खोला ), the people of Lamjung seemed to advance and were trying to capture Gorkha . In such a crucial time, King Prithvipati Shah ( राजा पृथ्वीपति  शाह ) , thought of renouncing the throne to become an ascetic, which would result in the crowning of Crown Prince Bir Bhadra Shah (युवराज बिरभद्र शाह ). In such a crucial time, Prince Ranashardul Shah (राजकुमार  रणशार्दुल शाह ) created a plot to eliminate and capture Lamjung. According to the plan, all the courtiers except the Crown Prince were banished. Prince Ranashardul Shah went to Liglig, which was then under the control of Lamjung. There, Crown Prince of Lamjung Dawanal Shah ( युवराज दावानल शाह ), the son of King of Lamjung Kehari Narayan Shah (राजा केहरी नारायण शाह ) gave asylum to Ranashardul Shah. During Dashain (दशैं ), Dawanal Shah went to Lamjung Durbar, leaving Ranashardul Shah in charge of Liglig. Then, Gorkhali soldiers, under the command of Ranashardul Shah attacked Nuwakot and became victorious. All the people of Gorkha worshipped Ranashardul Shah while returning and he became the apple of the eye of everyone. The Crown Prince of Gorkha, Birbhadra Shah, was jealous of his brother's popularity and started to plot against him, even though Ranashardul Shah never thought of anything bad against his own brother. The Crown Prince insulted Ranashardul Shah badly, which left him speechless. Then, full of patriotisn and love for his motherland, he committed suicide in his room with a special knife called Katar (कटार). In that very room, a temple of God of Wind ( वायु देवता ) was established. That room , situated in Gorkha Durbar , is always locked. That room has been opened twice, once by Maharaj of Kaski and Lamjung Shree Teen Jung Bahadur Kunwar Ranaji, and another time by Her Majesty the Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah shortly before the Durbar massacre. The room is always closed because it is considered to make extremely bad things happen to people who open the room. It is because of the bad air which fills that room.

Present temple:

After King Prithvi Narayan Shah (महाराजधिराज पृथ्वीनारायण शाह ) defeated Kathmandu, the temple of God of Wind was moved to Hanumandhoka Palace. The palace was destroyed by the infamous earthquake of 1934 AD (1990 BS). After that, that section of palace was destroyed and the temple was relocated to a small room to the west of the palace and its westernmost room. The mysterious temple of God of Wind has not yet been reconstructed. It is worshipped in all Dashains, Poornimas. The Shraddha (श्राद्ध ) of Ranashardul Shah is still being done in Sorha Shraddha (सोह्र  श्राद्ध ).

Playwright Bhimnidhi Tiwari has written a play based on this event entitled माटो को माया  (Love for motherland).

This is the first edition of the printed book, which is in my collections.

EXPLORING THE PAST [ VOL: 1A ]

The history of Nepal after 1850 is completely overshadowed by court intrigues , bloody incidents , parvas etc . A soldier in the rank of colonel reaches to the height of power as a prime minister getting a title of sri 3 maharajas etc . The glorious history made by great unforgettable leaders like bhim sen thapa , amar singh thapa and other was changed to a new era of politics  by leading ranas of nepal . 

Born on 18 th june 1807 , second son of bal narsigha kuwar and ganesh kumari devi rana , jung bahdur rana came in power in 1846 with a great high ambition . He established himself as an unchallenged and undefeated personality with a great mischievous background . King rajendra vir vikrama shah , through on the throne in the name , led a lonely life , with all powers vested on his second queen rajya laxmi . jealous of their apparent and supported by the selfish courtiers , the second queen of Rajendra vikram shah became furious and thought of keeping her own son rarendra vikram shah in the throne .many personalities were changed by intrigues were made but her ambition could not be fulfilled . The death of Gagan singh khawas brought an opportinuty to jung bahadur s to come in front and to play the game full of blood , which was later a blessing in disguise to him and the entire rana family . 

The kot massacre  which was followed due to angry mood of second queen was not fully supported by jung bahadur and his brothers , took away most of the lives if great generals and the courtiers . kot massacre is an unforgettable event in the history of nepal and the instigators cannot be pardoned in history . kot massacre paved the way for jung bahadur to become a superior personality and also got a chance to fulfill his ambition , it cannot be forgotten that fulfill his ambition and to reach to the height of power , jung bahadur s hand became blood stained with the murder of his own uncle genral mathabar singh Thapa 

TO BE CONTINUED ...........................

BARDAN SHUMSHERE THAPA , 20 TH APRIL 2015 

International History

Russian revolution:

After centuries of Tsar rule, the Russian people were tired of the absolute monarchy. The last Tsar, Nicholas II, who was also the grandson of  late Queen Victoria and the first cousin of the then- British King George V and German Kaiser Wilhelm II, had implemented various reforms for the people, but they were too late.

Tsar Nicholas II

Russian Revolution is more generally referred to as the October revolution. This revolution was headed by Vladimir Illyrich Ulyanov "Lenin". Lenin led a group of revolutionaries named Bolsheviks. Thus, this revolution is also known as the Bolshevik revolution. There were strikes all over the country and the police and army opened fire on the protestors. Nicholas II was a deeply conservative and dictatorial ruler. Lenin started the revolution on the basis of the ideas of Karl Marx. There was violence all over the country and a civil war had been waged after 1918 AD and Russia withdrew from the World War midway thorugh it. The Bolsheviks executed the imperial family of Russia using a guillotine.

Guillotining a person

Later, Lenin took power of Russia. After the death of Lenin, Josef Stalin took power. The later leaders were :Nikita Khruschev, Leonid Brezhnev, Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin.

RANARCHY

my maternal great grandfather major general jhulendra bikram rana 

My today's post will be about dress and jewelry of the Rana dynasty of Nepal. They ruled the Kingdom of Nepal since 1846 till 1951 and during the time the king was just a formal figure and the real power belonged to the Ranas. They were made the Prime Minister and other government positions became hereditary. 
The Rana clan was  enormous, the first Rana Prime Minister Jung Bahadur had 6 brothers, 14 sons and 30 nephews.There was no male Rana who would limit himself with just one wife, all of them had several wives (Jung Bahadur for example had 40).

During my last visit to historian Pursottam Shumsher JBR , he explained about two valuable diamonds which were present in Nepal .One was of 94 carats, which was later sold by Lila Shumsher JBR . And the 2nd was a yellow coloured diamond, given by Bir Shumsher JBR to his daughter, who was the mother of King  Tribhuvan .  The white diamond was later sold by Lila Shumsher in Bombay on 2008 BS for 24 lakh Indian Rupees . No one knows where they are now .

All those numerous wives, daughters and sisters were dressed and adorned according to status. Women's dress was influenced by European fashion at the Rana court. There are many photos of the late 19th century where Rana women wear Victorian silk dresses covered with pearls, sequins and intricate embroidery  Sari also was worn but in a distinctive Nepalese style different from that of Indian fashion: the sari was pleated in the back and the border was pinned like a stole. 

Jewelry was an essential way to show wealth and success. Each Rana wife and daughter had unique individual tiaras and necklaces designed for them. Tiaras were laden with diamonds and necklaces had nine strands of pearls and gems. Star and moon pins were popular motifs with the Ranas because these were emblems of their royal ancestry.

SRI PECH /CROWN

 Rana men preferred to wear a formal military garb with medals and braids. A unique headgear,Sripech (Crown),  was a distinctive feature of their official outfit. The Sripech had three leaf-shaped ornaments mounted with diamonds and emeralds and a plume made of feathers taken, oddly enough, from the bird of paradise found only in New Zealand.

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