Nepali author demolishes king's blue blood claim


http://www.southasiamonitor.org/2008/May/news/28sal2.shtml





By Sudeshna Sarkar

Kathmandu, May 27: On the
verge of being stripped of his crown and evicted from the royal palace,
Nepal's distressed King Gyanendra now faces another blow - the
demolition of the "myth" that his dynasty is descended from India's
Rajputs, a dynasty of warrior kings known for their valour and blue
blood.


Nepali author and researcher Subodh Kumar Singh contends that the Shah
kings of Nepal, once revered as the incarnation of Hindu god Vishnu,
are actually the descendants of the Magars, a Mongoloid people who
inhabited western Nepal and occupied a low position in social
hierarchy. They were dismissively described as 'matwalis' - a people
known for their drinking prowess.



Singh, a political specialist at the American Embassy in Kathmandu, has
been researching for over a decade the history of various communities
who enjoyed a position of power in the past but then lost their glory
and plummetted to the bottom of the social ladder.



In his new book, "The return of the Mauryas", Singh says the Shah kings
began creating the fiction that they were descended from the Rajput
kings of India in order to hide their origin and commend greater
reverence from their subjects.



However, several pieces of evidence belie the claim.



"During his last days, Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of the Shah
dynasty, gathered all his relatives, courtiers and officers around him
and advised them on how to conduct their work and themselves," Singh
told this correspondent.



"The last advice was recorded and still exists as Divya Upadesh (divine advice)."



"On his death bed, the king told the people around him, I am a Magar
king. When you face death, you dispense with pretence and speak the
truth. The king's dying declaration is an indication that the Shah
kings were not of blue blood."



The advice was collected and published by a Catholic missionary who had
come to Nepal in the 1960s, after the mystic land was gradually opened
to foreigners.



Father L.F. Stiller's book, "Prithvi Narayan Shah in the light of divya
upadesh", had to be published from India's Bihar state in 1968 as,
Singh says wryly, it would have been impossible to publish it in Nepal.



Even Singh's book had to await the fall of King Gyanendra's absolute regime and the restoration of democracy.



Singh points out a tradition that still remains in western Nepal as further proof.



"The Shah kings' family deities - Goddess Manokamana and Gorkha Kali -
have Magar priests," he says. "If you are a Rajput, you would not have
a Magar priest."



Matrimonial alliances also indicate the dynasty's humble stocks.



"The Magar kings had the tradition of marrying the daughters of Tharu
kings. Prithvi Narayan Shah himself married a Tharu princess called
Kaushalyavati."



Though the Tharus are the kinsmen of the Buddha, who came from a royal
family, the tides of fate turned them into slaves who are now regarded
as untouchables in Nepal.



Later, the class-conscious Shah kings departed from the tradition and
sought to marry Rajputs from India or the aristocracy in Nepal.



When Nepal holds the historic first meeting of its constituent assembly
Wednesday and formally proclaims the kingdom to be a republic, King
Gyanendra, overnight reduced to a commoner, would have his forefathers'
vanity to blame as much as his own overriding ambition.



"The Shah kings completely forgot their roots," says Singh. "If they
had remained true to their origin and kept themselves allied to the
Magars, Tharus and Kirants, who form the majority, they would not have
come to this pass," Singh said.



"But they created fictitious genealogy and DNA and so, in the end, they had to face the dire consequences."

very interesting post grgdai.

I had heard and rad about it in the boks aswell. And my grandfather used to say that shahs arand magars are brothers.

 

 

I love articles like these. "The Shah kings completely forgot their roots,". Yep, I did too, and now I declare myself Mexican. 

"On his death bed, the king (PNS) told the people around him, I am a Magar
king. When you face death, you dispense with pretence and speak the
truth. The king's dying declaration is an indication that the Shah
kings were not of blue blood."

Is this verifiable? or is it just unanimously accepted that these were his exact words.

"The Shah kings' family deities - Goddess Manokamana and Gorkha Kali -
have Magar priests," he says. "If you are a Rajput, you would not have
a Magar priest."

If you are a Rajput you live in FRIGGIN RAJASTAN and jump  out of fires!

"The Magar kings had the tradition of marrying the daughters of Tharu
kings. Prithvi Narayan Shah himself married a Tharu princess called
Kaushalyavati."

I guessing Rajputs were in short supply or almost extinct.

In his new book, "The return of the Mauryas", Singh says the Shah kings
began creating the fiction that they were descended from the Rajput
kings of India in order to hide their origin and commend greater
reverence from their subjects.

Out of the whole article this was the only plausible thing I found. And I agree with the Shahs if thats what they did. Because they knew that lineage was bullcrap, but to the general public it was everything, so they did what any sensible king would do to appease his people. Lie.

well the truth is being slowly coming out.
all these past years nobody ever dares to raise a irk, or ask a question
for fear of beng perscucated.
The Shah kings' family deities - Goddess Manokamana and Gorkha Kali -
have Magar priests," he says. "If you are a Rajput, you would not have
a Magar priest."...,.sin't it strange to have Magar priest at Monokamana and Gorkha Kali temple
if you are rajput.....!!
this contradict rajput believes and practices because if Magar occupied a low  position in social
hierarchy, how on earth are they are Magar priests in these temples.....very interesting fact!!

i also looking for this book "Divya Upadesh" so i can put some limelight into this darkness.


hero

While I agree that there is a very distinct possibility that Shahs have their origin in local "pahadey" tribes rather than the so called Rajputs and being of Rajput lineage probably could be just a myth propounded to showcase racial superiority, I have to Subodh Kumar Singh's arguments are weak at best.

When Prithvi Narayan Shah said, if he said at all, he is Magar king, he could very well have meant that he is the king of Magars.  Magars, who are the inhabitants of Gorkha and Lamjung, were his subjects and made it possible for him to conquer rest of Nepal.  So, although he was of different stalk, he could very well have identified closely with them, having fought battles together.

This is the first time I am hearing that Magar kings married Tharu princesses.  Be that it as may, PNS marrying a Tharu girl does not prove anything conclusively as most of his matrimonials - I believe he had quite a few - were political alliance driven.

 

Shah Dynasty Family Tree‏.

http://www.premsinghbasnyat.com.np/bansawali_eng.php

The author of this research is Dr.Prem Singh Basnyat and has a Ph.D. in Military History.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2199990/HISTORY-OF-THE-KIRAT-PEOPLE

"Yet in the middle of 18th century AD, King Prithvi Narayan Shah was very proud of calling himself the King of Mangrat. He has said in his Divya Updesh, "Mangrat of Raja mai hun", "I am the King of Mangrat". Lt. Col. E. Vansitart has also mentioned in his book called Gurkhas, that "the famous Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa was the descendant of Magar Thapa family, as was also General Amar Singh Thapa". It is a known fact that the late Great King Prithvi Narayan Shan of Gurkha State had extended his Kingdom east and west by the strength of these Magar army."

SO ? SO WHAT !!!

What are you trying to prove ? That you guys are related ? ha ha ha

Haha here comes the retarded asshole who can't mind his own business.

grgDai thanks for inciting the site. i will read the text from ths site when i have the time.

it's interesting to know as i mentioned earlier that kirat's history has never been recorded in Nepal's history.

from what i heard that Pandavas killed the Kirat king and it is recorded at Mahabharat.

at least nepalis are now looking to find to find the TRUE HISTORY of NEPAL ..........and NOT followed

blindly which they have been doing so.

nepalis should realize this and NOT be manipulated by the madhesis group or indianNepali ministers.

 BathroomCoffee dosen't know where he stands?

Bathroomcoffee, can you not spoil this thread? Sajha is for discussing things related to Nepal. You are just trying to spoil discussions in sajha by butting in with your inflated ego. Get a life.

did i tell you that that BathRoomCoffee is already an American. That's why he dosen't need to dig deep into Nepal's history.
BC and other americana nepalis king is washigton, bush, obama which the british did not want to
rule the land...so the british just give to these peasant/prisoners/rapist/murderers/slaves to rule over the land.

also is there any doctroine in nepal about kirat?
right now i really want to study nepal's history and bridge the gap and figure out the truth.

remember we always have been followers.............it's time to take a stand and move onwards.

Jai Greater New Nepal

the reason that manakamna has a magar priest is because

manakamana and ram shah were husband and wife. And manakamana is aid to be close with the gods. And manakamana's closest maid was a magar. And since then and also after her death magars have been  in her service.

herealone don't tell me your grandfather story dood.

grandfather story have already been told. we been hearing many grandfather story for long

time now. now the kids have grown up, access to education, and because the grandfather have no more

grandfather story to tell, or because the kids are now all grown up and have formal education, these kinds of baseless accusations and story dosen't serve any purposes.

at least show me the text, source of where you get this info....

 

learn to be flexible herealone........

look from 3 dimensions and not just follow your usual path.

it could be that your usual path was wrong!!

not only his story ...alirtie.....its n the book

what book? who's the author?

how relevant is the research and to what extend?

Herealone show me the link of the book/text?

if there is book written but to no sustanial evident to prove it, then it baseless too.

but at least i can show you the link about kirat which have been researched and compiled and still been going through the process of finding out the truth of nepal's deepest history which have been kept in the darkest.

here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirant

i doubt this documents or books of kirat,magars have ever been recorded in Nepal's history till today.

it is up to the nepalese to find out because we been missing very important page in nepal's history and

we been manipulated so many times already. But now nepalese are educated and have access to internet and

books from around the world. So the Truth will come out one day.

i will continue to update if i have more INFO.

 

Hero

 

 

Interesting!, but unreliable & weak arguement by Mr. Singh.

"the famous Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa was the descendant of Magar Thapa family, as was also General Amar Singh Thapa"." I grew up knowing the similar information, but later I heard something different, which is: Chettri Thapa, and not Magar Thapa.

This information is perhaps of great significance to those who would like to stay true to their history, tribes, groups, for the purpose of recording the truth ... but, at the same time, what difference is it making knowing the fact regarding what type of Thapa's were they? Or for that matter, what blood the Shah dynasty had?

I thought everyone's blood colour is same: which is red! All of us chose to create our own set of elite groups in our tiny little heads!

All in all, interesting to read, but difficult to digest! Sabaiko ramro hoss.

Sajhakohero,

I know where I stand. Not close to people who cannot put their past behind. Monarchy is done, But these idiots are not done talking about it. Yeah I am whoever you want me to be, HERO rey ajjha ha ha ha. Ur nick shows ur mentality ha ha ha Afu ley afai lai hero bhanney manchey ha ha ha Mr. Mapai Sajha ko wanna be Hero. ha ha ha I AM DONE WITH YOUR LAME ASS.

GRG

what we as a Nepali society are going to gain by discussing this except wasting time in your case passing time. Kina bhaney rajtantra is done no use talking what were and what were not.

I also heard that Prithibi Narayan Shah married to Magar and were rooted from Magar families. So, heard that until Tribhuvan's time, Indian monarchs would not give their daughters to Shah princes, but after Shah started marrying to Rana families, who are chhetry, Indian monarch who were very weak/powerless in India also agreed to establish relationship with Nepali monarchy who had still some future as they were the head of the state.

BC it dosen't matter if you do not want to hear the truth. just leave from this thread.

don't come poking your nose!!!

 

sigh the revolution started from Gorkha and Lamjung, the home of Magar. Therefore no doubt

"the famous Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa was the descendant of Magar Thapa family, as was also General Amar Singh Thapa"." 

If you are NOT happy why don;t  you ask the author Singh who have after doing extensive report and research penned down this article.

who are you?

Just because the Nepal's history said that they were chettris thapa dosen't make any sense.........

because nepal's history is EDITED and contains many false info.

Many facts have been omiited.

That's why the research is being done and  make sure that this is not from ONE point if View but

from every angle possible.

also sigh tell me who wrote the history of Nepal? and which period?

i can vaguely tell the people who wrote history of Nepal was the same people who create Caste

system, the panchayat system, and so on!

 

heroOFsajha