Nepal in Its Struggle to Civilization

Nepal in its Struggle to Civilization

Dr. Prem Singh Basnyat

Nepal is a multi-caste and multi cultural country to exist as such ever since the ancient time. If the inscription of the time of the Malla King Jeetari Malla is any indication, Nepal once stretched as far as Asam, Haridwar and Bodhgaya of India to the south and Mansorabar of China to the north. Over the different periods of history, it integrated and disintegrated where the Kings of different dynasties ruled over those splits and integrated Nepal. Some splits thereafter gained the status of independent counties. And gradually this is how a common knowledge of Nepal as Kathmandu Valley grew and developed in the mass. In connection with the expansion of the territory of the country from Lig Lig Kot in the 17th century, a state called Gorkha came into existence, and henceforward around the beginning of the 19th century the King of Gorkha conquered Nuwakot of the Kantipur state and thereby with the success of expansion of the Gorkha state the campaign of unification of Nepal got momentum. Subsequently after the conquest over Kantipur on the opportune moment of Indrajatra, a local festival of the area, fortunately an environment of amity and consensus built up regardless of Gorkha’s conquest and Kantipur’s defeat.

In the years down the line 1768, Nepal annexed its splintered parts which caused the expansion of its territory as far as Tista River in the east and Kangada (Nagarkot) in the west. In the years in between, Nepal got into wars with Nawab of Bengal, China and the Britons. Following the Nepal-Britain War in 1814-16, Nepal’s territory shrank to the Mechi River in the east and Rapti in the west, and when Nepal sent its troop to quash the Sepoy Mutiny -1857 in India, as a payback in kind, the British granted Nepal the territories such as Banke, Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur to Nepal and its borders expanded to Mahakali (Kali) in the west. The Himalayas, the hills and the plains serve as flesh and bones of Nepal. We Nepalese are always there in the history since antiquity.

Two incidents set the scribe into writing this treatise. First, the scribe as a guest lecturer reached at Nepalese Army Training Center, Kharipati to teach the lesson about the post unification, political and military history to the Officer Cadets there. The material covered during the lecture must have sounded strange to the cadets, I think so. They must have found it totally new and first of its kind. I think so because normally, those who start a rebellion invariably paint a bleak picture of the history, culture, practices and the law. They distort the facts in order to tempt the people into fascinating future dreams. Such is the practice of rebellion so far when it starts in any country in the world. May be this is the reason that confused the cadets who learned the materials the guest lecturer delivered there.

Second, there was a face-book status that read like a fire emitting warning. The ID under whose name the status read was Sudhir Chintan. It read of abuse like this-‘You consider yourselves as the sole claimant to hold on to power gobbling the national coffers yourselves alone. You bag enormous amount of money! What nonsense you preach-when there is Hinduism, there is peace! (You scoundrel ones! You Brahmin/Chhetris! Mind it that Nepal is not your ancestral piece of land and that you can say anything and others just believe/accept it! Listen to learn that all those who now call themselves Nepalis came from India into the land of the Buddha when the Muslims attacked them, and therefore take them back to India because they littered Nepal with all their filth). And you non-Hindus! Listen carefully that German Chancellor Adolf Hitler killed the Israeli Jews in six hundred millions, twice the population of Nepal now, in Gas Chamber Gestapo in the World War II just because they and penetrated into several countries of Europe with intention to reign supreme over the region. In order to protect his country, Adolf Hitler had taken this move by organizing the people into Nazi group. In similar pattern of inflow to save life, the Hindu-Aryans too chased by the Muslims in the 11 and 16th centuries, sneaked into the Buddha land of Nepal. The lineage of the King of Nepal too around 1495 fled from Rajasthan to seek shelter in Reedi, and subsequently the Hindu Aryans now by means of unfair ways indulged into plundering the store of Nepal. Therefore they are akin to the Jews of Nepal. Although Nepal has already embarked upon non secular form of state, attempt is being made to reverse it into Hindu state, India backing it with all its might and means. Therefore, all the non-Hindu indigenous people should collectively finish them off the way Hitler did in Germany’.

There is no blaming the one who wrote it. The real blemish goes to the then Maoists who were prepared as part of the policy to sabotage Nepal. At this hour, such sentiment counter to the racial and regional harmony is growing in the youths of Nepal. This is detrimental to the future of the country. To observe things from the reality ground, one finds that Nepal is passing through the struggle to civilization, something similar to what Samuel P Huntington said in his book ‘The Clashes of Civilization and the Remaking of the World Order’. All so because:

The then Maoist policy contributed to erode and obliterate the very history of the country. Actually history in true sense of the term contributes to integrate the country, glorify its existence and causes the boil of blood to protect its territorial integrity to instill a feeling of ‘me and my country’. The country without its history is no different from someone orphaned and displaced by the death of his/her parents and loss of the country. History includes religion, society, politics, economy, culture, practice, people and geography. Just as a swallow builds its nest by every single addition of earth carried in its beak, so also the countrymen build the history of a country by every single drop of sweat and blood of them. History may have varieties in the way it is built up; it is a matter of glory and pride for any countryman. In fact, it is the history and museum that reflects the culture of a country. It would be fair to say that it binds the country. I prefer to call it unfortunate that the materials used to erode and obliterate Nepal’s history, religion and culture has gained a space as ‘New Nepal’. It is a mere propaganda in my view. Things went too ahead to the extent to change the flag of Nepal! No small attempt is being made to project a picture as of those with pointed nose downplaying those with flat nose, and the hill born class dominating the plain born ones in Nepal.

To everyone’s dismay, those propagating New Nepal doled out the dreams of giving each a state of self determination. The naïve people were brainwashed into believing that the history so far is the history of feudal and the elite class of people. The campaigner of unification of Nepal Prithvi Narayan Shah was projected as the worst of the worst thief and King Mahendra was pictured in similar dub. The Indian, the British and the Norwegian ambassadors and the Pope of Vatican were featured far better than the Kings of Nepal. The New Nepal campaign made every effort to prepare anti Nepal force to topple the power politics of the time. The agenda pleased the Pope (see the internet to confirm if any doubt). India and the European world rejoiced at the triumph. Dollar and Euro overflowed in Nepal as an investment to buckle off the system of politics. Some seasonal historians taking pride in the history of Nepal, some civil society members, some experts and even some academicians who chanted ‘My Nepal’ also changed their tone once dollars (foreign investment) visited them. Subsequently, they sounded like the spokesperson of the propaganda of New Nepal as designed by the Maoists. The foreign diplomats endeared to the architects of the propaganda. The architects of the agenda received tips of money and blessing of prescription.

Thus and then they announced the beginning of New Nepal. It includes the flurry of events of the post 1996 time period. Then, the wave of New Nepal interpreted the history and civilization prior to 1996 as a history of the autocrats and the uncivilized. Apparently, Nepal is wriggling with the pains of twin pressures by one intending to obliterate its age old history and civilization and the other striving to preserve it intact. The struggle to civilization going on now in Nepal has widened the gap between the people of different communities, say for example between the Janajati and the Chhetri-Brahmin, between the hill born and the plain born (now ranted as Madhesh) and between male and female. It has instilled a sense of hatred among the people who lived in good terms for centuries. The people of one community, race, sex and region now tend to see the other as their enemy. As a result, space is being created for fight and clash between the people of different region, religion and language. Just look at the social media, you will find hatred and fury spilled all over. Go to the plains and the Himalayas, you will find similar kind of enmity and contention. Likewise even the pen holders/ a bunch of scholars from home and abroad have teamed up to spread false information ‘Prithvi Narayan Shah had split the nose of the locals of Kirtipur in his frenzy of victory, by projecting nationalism as Nationalism of King Mahendra’s cult, all in order to split Nepal. It is known to one and all that Christians constantly chasse Prithvi Narayan Shah and India seeks to find fault of King Mahendra.

Clear enough, the continual assault on Nepal by the foreign sponsored scholars have weakened the country, and the very people are campaigning to make the Terai a separate state. Those intending to split Nepal are akin to those who rape their own kinsfolk. The scribe finds CK Raut bold because he publicly announces to splinter Nepal. I hate the pseudo writers disguised in here as scholars who clandestinely back up CK Raut by their speech and writing. One such campaigner is Carter.

Every debate and misunderstanding has its positive settlement. Understandably, a movement was waged in Nepal under cover of the Maoists’ ‘People’s War’. A bunch of those from home and abroad used their whole life energy to make the movement a grand success by projecting the anti Nepal feelings as its history. The propaganda was doled out as sweet dreams to the people. In a way the movement has achieved its end by all means. Now the need of the hour is to teach the history and culture as such to the students from grade 8 up to the masters level by all means. The government must necessarily make a provision of teaching of the pristine history and culture to the students from lower classes to the advanced levels. The former Prime ministers such as Pushpa Kamal Dahal, K. P Sharma Oli, Jhala Nath Khanal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Kritinidhi Bista and the incumbent PM Sher Bahadur Deuba must take a collective initiative in this regard. Similarly, the scholars of the likes of the poet laureate Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Culture expert Satya Mohan Joshi History experts Prof. Dr. Tualsi Ram Vaidya, Prof. Dr. Triratna Manandhar, Prof Jagaman Gurung, Pragya Bairagi Kahila, Prof. Dr Veena Poudyal and Chaitanya Mishra must collectively and seriously strive to write fair history for the future generation to read and feel proud of it. It is already time the government of Nepal included over hundred experts from different walks of life to write the history which must read just and true. This will prove as a real dividend/bonus to the people. We cannot afford to leave Nepal in the lurch of struggles to civilization lest we will get into war like that of Eastern Europe’s Balkan War for another hundred years. The writers basking in the propaganda of ‘Prithvi Narayan Shah Cutting off the Nose of the Locals of Kirtipur and King Mahendra Model of Nationalism’ may reap some measure of benefits but in the long run this sort of Nepal’s struggles to civilization will ultimately land the country into the 17th century situation of princely and principal states. We cannot do otherwise to the history; we cannot obliterate it. It serves one and all. Let us all collectively do our share of contribution; let us not falter from it.

Dr Basnyat is Guest Professor at the Leshan Normal University , China and Ex Brigadier General of the Nepalese army)