'Protect historical papers in Narayanhiti Palace'

The Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya has expressed its concern about the security of the historical materials and papers contained in the Narayanhiti Palace in the process of transfer of ownership of the premises when the country is declared a republic by the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly on May 28.

"The Pustakalaya appeals to the Government of Nepal and related government agencies to actively seek the protection of those papers and materials. These rare documents are the common property of the citizens of Nepal, and should be a matter of grave interest to the government, the intelligentsia as well as researchers," a press release issued by the Pustakalaya stated.

The Pustakalaya quoted its advisor and historian Dr. Ramesh Kumar Dhungel of the Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) as saying: "We know from the reports of Brian Houghton Hodson, the British Resident from 150 years ago, that the material of national and international cultural importance contained in the palace predates the unification of Nepal, and goes back to the Malla period."

According to Dhungel, these objects are included in containers known as 'bad a dhadda', 'lal dhadda', 'lal bakas', 'choto dhadda' and in a room known as the 'bhitri khopi'. "The material has not been made available to Nepali researchers till now, other than partially to historian-laureate Baburam Acharya. These papers are of the kind which will help in the understanding the course of national history going as far back as back 2000 years, and they must be catalogued and preserved."

Likewise, Member-Secretary of the Pustakalaya, Kanak Mani Dixit, said: "There is a danger of the papers in Narayanhiti being transferred or lost during the process of transition, and we ask the present government, the forthcoming government, the Constituent Assembly members, political leaders and the alert citizenry be aware of the dangers. We believe that the historical documentation contained in Narayanhiti must be accessioned, catalogued, preserved and protected before being made available to the public in all transparency."

The Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya is an archive of five decades' standing, based in Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur, which seeks to catalogue and preserve historical and contemporary materials for the sake of current use and for posterity. nepalnews.com May 24 08