THE LEGEND OF BHAKTI THAPA’S CHILDHOOD
Mrs. Laxmi Thapa
In studies devoted to Anglo-Nepal War historians have written that the Nepalese officers were without exception semi-literate men. They never got any form of training in military science. They were brave and they acquired knowledge through experience. These characteristics are fully applicable to Bhakti Thapa also. It is most unlikely that Bhakti Thapa ever got a chance to receive formal education when he was young. But within a very short period of just few years after joining the unification campaign in 1789 Bhakti Thapa emerged as the ablest person among all other renowned figures from Nepal’s history of that period to become the supreme leader of the unification campaign in 1794. It is clear that Bhakti Thapa possessed exceptionally marvelous natural leadership quality. One biggest attribute of any of the most successful military leader is the possession of the Sixth Sense. It is said that the Third Reich Field Marshal of the German army Erwin Rommel called it Fingerspitzenfuhl. Bhakti Thapa indeed had that Sixth Sense.
Bhakti Thapa had proved his exceptional natural leadership quality and possession of the Sixth Sense in his first major military operation itself. He demonstrated his exceptionally brilliant skill in launching a very successful operation under the most adverse condition that was sure to astonish anyone. He changed the strategy of the predecessors and led an attack on Jumla from the difficult north route. The result was a swift victory and the life of many people was also saved. A letter sent by the king highly commends Bhakti Thapa for the skill displayed in successful accomplishment of the Jumla operation. Military operation across very high mountains require big courage as well as great skill. A similar military operation but at bigger scale was performed about ten years later in 1799 in Europe for some what different purpose. A.V. Suvorov, commander of the Russo-Austrian army fighting against the French in northern Italy became a legendary figure after he succeeded in leading the army under him across the Alps to strategically important locations in the north .
Bhakti Thapa’s great success in unification of Jumla made him a legendary figure. As a result, just two years after the unification of Jumla he was made the supreme commander of the whole Nepalese army stationed to the west of the capital in a vast region that stretched almost up to the Sutlez river (now India), and also administrator of this vast region. The way Bhakti Thapa laid down his life at the Deothal battle has become a legend in the history. There is also another legend. It is the legend of his childhood.
Childhood Legend
According to recent historians Bhakti Thapa was born in 1741. The name of his father was Amar Singh Thapa. Bhakti Thapa’s family lived in a remote village in Lamjung. Very little is known about the childhood life of Bhakti Thapa. There was, however, an unbelievable incident in the early life of Bhakti Thapa. That incident is virtually like a description from the children’s story book. The full details of that incident had been passed down over the generations. Still many old people in Lamjung are seen telling that incident to their youngsters. That incident is described below.
Bhakti Thapa was still a very young boy. One day he was sleeping on a big boulder not far away from his house in a remote village of Lamjung while his flocks of goats grazed the buckwheat field of the neighbour. The old neighbour woman stormed out of her house into the place where Bhakti Thapa was fast asleep in a rage cursing him for his misdeeds. What she saw at that time chilled her blood. Bhakti Thapa was sleeping on a big serpent coiled up on the boulder raising its wide hood high above casting shed that protected the young Bhakti Thapa against the scorching heat of the midday sun. The serpent slowly uncoiled without waking up the boy and descended from the boulder. It disappeared from the sight after slipping into the bushes nearby.
The parents of the Bhakti Thapa were terribly distressed when they learnt about the whole incident. They thanked the God for saving the life of their beloved son. The old neighbour woman who saw the whole incident had a completely different opinion. She was convinced that Bhakti Thapa was no ordinary man. He possessed some sort of divine power. She was quick to realize that one day Bhakti Thapa would become a very famous person. The news of this incident quickly spread across the Lamjung and beyond.
The big boulder near the native home of Bhakti Thapa in Lamjung is linked up twice with the events in his later life. After some years a grand ritual was performed to solemnize brotherhood relationship ( in Nepali METAIRI) between Bhakti Thapa and that big boulder. The third event that linked Bhakti Thapa with that big boulder near his native home was the last in his life. It is said that at that very moment during the Anglo-Nepal War when Bhakti Thapa fell in the Deothal Battle field on April 16, 1815, the big boulder near his native home also cracked with loud explosion. The cracked boulder is still lying there.
