Rana Rule in Nepal

Originating as a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi, India in 1975, the book Rana Rule in Nepal analyses the achievements and failures of the last three Rana Prime Ministers, i.e., Juddha Shumsher, Padma Shumsher and Mohan Shumsher, who together shared responsibility for the collapse of the Rana regime in one way or the other. Covering only the last three Rana rulers, out of 104 years of oppressive Rana rule in Nepal, could have been a decision guided by the marketing aspect, but the original tile of the PhD thesis, ‘The Rana Rule in Nepal: The Last Phase (1939-51)’, should have been used again, for the sake of clarity.

Other books, like Rana Intrigues (1995), and Rana Rule : An Insiders’ View ( 1978), throw light on the Ranas and their despotic rule of Nepal. What makes Rana Rule in Nepal, different from the above is its rich analysis of the socio, economic and political impacts of Rana Rule on the Nepalese, rather than a focus on, for example, the lavish lifestyles, conspiracies and concubines of the Ranas. Though the book has focused on the last chapter of the Rana Regime in Nepal, through its different chapters adds to our understanding of Nepal’s past and how and why Nepal has been isolated from the outside world right from the King Prithivi Narayan Shah to the last Rana Prime Minister. Hence this book is not simply another depiction of Nepal’s Rana history. However, the chapterisation of the book I believe influenced by the dissertation style and all together there are 10 chapters. Also, the reasons for not disclosing the names of people that the author interviewed for his research (conducted during January to July 1973) can be understood from a sensitive and political nature of the data, is certainly a limitation of the book that is published in 2004, during which Nepal is going through a series of transitions and a gripped by a Maoist rebellion. In that sense the publication is timely and an important resource for readers who are interested in the Nepal’s past and its future.

The thick introductory chapter (p1- p43) aims to lay a good foundation for the book by presenting how Nepal as a country has been viewed by outsiders, caste, value and belief system, religion and economic conditions. This chapter also provides a bird eye view of 104 years of Rana rule divided in to three phases. The first phase focused on the appointment of Jang Bahadur Kanwar (later Rana) by Queen Lakshmi Devi on the small hours of dawn of 15 September 1846 as Prime Minister and Commander- in- Chief till the murder of the then Rana Prime Minister Ranoddip Singh in 1885. The Second phase is about the change in the line of succession of Prime Ministership from Jang Ranas to Shamsher Ranas. The last phase describe the authors was the succession of Juddha Shamsher to Prime Ministership in 1931 to 1951, the year Rana regime ended with Mohan Shamsher Rana, as the last Prime Minister of Rana Oligarchy which for 104 years reduced the Monarchy to a figure head of the Nepali state. On 14 December 1951, Mohan Shamsher went into self-imposed exile in India, and died in Bangalore (state of Karnataka) in 1967, aged 81. There was also brief section comparing Ranas with other rulers like the Mughals of India and Shoguns of Japan. The last section of the chapter focused on the main features of the Rana rule and concludes that’ the survival of the Ranas was directly related to the absolute authority they enjoyed within the political system in which power and authority were distributed equally among their own kinsmen’(p39). Later in the chapters, it becomes evident how the same feature of consolidating power within the Rana kinship alone resulted in to inter and intra family rivalries, plots to kill opponents, massacre and feuds resulting in to the very demise of their regime and lost the power to rule.

Developing further interest of the reader, like the first chapter, the second chapter as well offers a rich account of pieces of the past and presents the historical evolution and growth of the Anti Rana Movement (Pp 45-101). Amatya discuses the impacts of global affairs like the World War I and II, Japan’ s victory in 1905, Russian Revolution of 1917 and India’s freedom movement on the Anti Rana Movement in Nepal.

The chapters 3, 4 and 5 were dedicated to describe three last Rana Prime Ministers. Saphalya Amatya, the sought after Historian in Nepal, considers Rana Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher as a realist, who had a sense of timing and knew when to go and when to stop (Chapter 3,p. 129). About Padma Shumsher, Amatya concludes that he was weak as a man and indecisive as a ruler. As a ruler, he had the dreams and visions of a romanticist, but not the determination and courage of a man of action (Chapter 4, p.160). However, the author considers Mohan Shumsher to be largely responsible for the destruction of his own dynastic rule and claims him to be a wrong person at a wrong time (Chapter 5, p. 191).

The author then turns to King Tribhuwan and his role in Anti-Rana Politics in chapter six. Successive chapters i.e. 7, 8 and 9 are focused on The Armed Revolution, India and Nepalese Revolution of 1950-51 and Causes of the Downfall of the Rana Rule and ends with chapter ten as a conclusion. I see this section (from chapter 6 to 9) as a second part of the book, though the authors did not visualize in the same way. Here comes the repetition in a lot of instances what the author described in the chapter one to five. For example, the entire sixth chapter on King Tribhuwan reiterates how he dealt with prime ministers Chandra, Juddha, Padama and Mohan Shamshers right from an young prince to a King. Despite of the repetition, this chapter throws light on the crucial role that King Tribhwan played (with his open dissatisfaction for Rana Rule) in ending the Rana Regime in Nepal, by his final act of taking asylum in his own country on 6th November 1950 at the Indian Embassy. The air link between Kathmandu and Delhi was disrupted to prevent the royal family to leave the country. Nevertheless two Indian military planes managed to bring them to the Indian capital on 11 November 1950. These incidents provide the reader with rich insights in to the critical incidents of power and political transition from the Ranas autocratic rule to the Shah Kings after a gap of 104 years.

Chapter seven focuses on the Armed Revolution of 1950-51 and highlights the organizing capacity of the Nepali Congress and its evolution as a strong political party. This chapter is well written with historical facts but seems bit favored to the Nepali Congress compared to the Communist parties of that time as I do not find any references to the contribution of non Congress Parties. The seed of 1950-51 revolution was sowed with the formation of Nepal Praja Parishad followed by the execution of Dharma Bhakta Mathema, Sukraraj Shastri, Dasharath Chand and Ganga Lal Shrestha in January 1941. After the 1950-51 revolution, the management of conflict was not a big challenge as NC’s Mukti Sena (liberation army) was simply turned in to the Nepal Police as Nepal did not have a proper police force at the that time. However, it was not the same case when it comes to integration of the Maoist Combatants in 2007. The restoration of democracy in April 2006 after a ten year long Maoist rebellion can be seen as parallel to the Mukti Sena of 1950-51. The chapter fails to provide these historical comparisons though there was an opportunity to revise the chapter as the book was published in 2004 during which the Maoist war is going on. But no references were made to these contemporary Nepali politics. This to me is a short coming of the book and an loss of an good opportunity.

Chapter eight is to me inappropriately titled as India and Nepalese Revolution of 1950-51. In fact what author Amatya did was a detailed portrayal of India’s role in the Nepal’s first democracy experiment which is popularly known the ‘Delhi Compromise’. India’s mediation ( may have its own political interests) with key political actors of that time, the Ranas, the King and the NC brought to an end to the Rana’s direct rule and also the popular revolution of that time. Amatya highlights how the Anglo- Nepalese relations and the ways in which India became the breeding ground of Anti-Rana activities (pp 274-75) and the role of the Socialist party of India. The next chapter presents the causes of the downfall of the Rana Rule. Together with this chapter the book presents a picture of how the Rana Rule (1846-1951) was a history of social injustices, economic exploitation and political oppression of the disadvantages common people of Nepal. This chapter once again presents the social injustices (pp.324-27), economic injustices ( Pp 328-34) and political injustices (pp334-36) to people of Nepal. In the concluding chapter Amatya concludes that ‘indeed, no period in Nepal’s history had ever faced a change and challenge of such a magnitude at the time of the end of Rana rule’ (p.354).

Written by a native historian, based on PhD work, Rana Rule in Nepal is a good source for any reader / scholar who is interested in the Nepalese politics and current transition problems that the country is going though. The democratic struggles that the Nepal is going through since its unification in 1769 offers valuable lessons for democracy and nation building in 21st century.