FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Birth Anniversary Of Raja Jai Prithvi Bahadur Singh
Nepal’s National Hero

By Mani Nepali Paneru

IT is a matter of pride for all Nepalese that a national hero like Jai Prithvi was born in such a remote place of far west. This was a sentimental expression by Sher Bahadur Deuba, Prime Minister of Nepal at one of the functions recently. (He was not prime minister then). Although many people don’t seem to be aware that Raja jai Prithvi was really a global personality who was regarded as one of the pioneers of humanist movement many Nepalese scholars have admitted that he was indeed the pride of Nepal. On the death of Jai Prithvi, one of the renowned newspapers of India ‘The Hindu Daily’ had honoured him as Second Buddha. He was a funder of World Fellowship of Faith. His ideas, speeches, writings and activities were good ingredients for the press and media of that time. He criticised the defects of the League of Nations and gave many thoughts and suggestions to establish the United Nations Organisation. The Asian countries are proud of him as he gave many thoughts and suggestions to form the Asian Community.

His Life

His life and activities are clear and give loud messages of humanism and world peace Coincidently his life resembles that of Lord Buddha. He was born on Bhadra 7, 1934 B.S. (August 21,1877) the eldest son to Raja Bikram Bahadur Singh, the fifty fifth Raja of Bajhang state. Jai Prithvi received his primary education in Kathmandu. The Rana Prime Minister Bir Shumsher dethroned Bikram Bahadur Singh in favour of Jai Prithvi, which was rather shocking for Jai Prithvi. He was married in 1894 to Khageswori Devi Rana, the daughter of Chandra Shumsher, probably the most powerful Rana Prime Minister in Nepal. The most praiseworthy aspect of Jai Prithvi’s life was that instead of enjoying the worldly prosperity, power and luxury he chose hardship and rather nomadic life for the welfare of the people and the world. He initiated and inspired some remarkable social reforms in close coordination with Dev Shumsher, the most liberal Rana Prime Minister. Some of the areas of his contributions (direct or indirect) are abolition of Slavery and Sati System, establishing and leading the first Nepali Newspaper Gorkhapatra, opening up schools, industries and dispensaries. Jai Prithvi has played a vital role in initiating land reforms, publishing books, constructing roads and so on. It was hard to get along with his father-in-law. After resigning from the post of Raja in favour of his brother, he chose self-exile in India Raja Jai Prithvi established a Nepalese settlement in Koorga with the help of Maharaja of Mysoore. He wrote three volumes of philosophy on humanism. He founded the Humanistic club in Bangalore and contributed significantly to propogate the idea of world peace and brotherhood. He made a world tour preaching his humanist philosophy and was a cenrtre of attraction among the prevailing communities.

His Philosophy

Jai Prithvi was an ardent humanist. All his thoughts, speech and actions reflect the philosophy of humanism. Humanism is a non-relations philosophy based on liberal human values. He wanted to identify humanism from non-humanism i.e. animalism or divinity. He said a higher man has divine qualities and god is the superman. Jai Prithvi feels that natural human character is benevolance and humanness, sense of cooperation and brotherhood on the other hand animal is self centered and selfish. Fighting and killing is more of their nature. "In fact, individualism of the most extreme type, backed by mutual suspicion and hatred marks the animal character." Jai Prithvi says "Humanism indicates a certainly of his superiority over animals and the possibility of his superiority over his present condition. He believes that by exercising humanism man can attain his ultimate goal and meaning-fullness. He thinks that there are three major duties of main in this regard: to preserve his life in the best manner possible, to attain comfort and happiness, and to avoid slow poisons such as greed and unfair means, which will ultimately lead to destruction."

Jai Prithvi was worried about the human beings going far away from humanism. Man cannot be happy only with physical means. Man can be happier if he keeps his mind purer, more peaceful devoid of passion and fear. He was a severe critic of conservatism and dogmatism. He expressed that if destiny writes on our head then it is indeed a cruel, partial and whimsical divinity. He feels that we are the makers of our own fate. According to Jai Prithvi religions actually mean heaven as a state of happiness and peace but not a material heaven somewhere in the sky as many religious dogmas maintain. According to Buddhism Nirvana is that state where there is nothing mundane, nothing of the falls, failures and faults of the earth. According to science, that is also the end of evolution. He thinks that evolution is an upward progression, the achievement of something not possessed, through struggle, failures and forward march. If Jelly-Fish has become the monkey and the monkey the man, then surely the man can become something higher and nobler which we may denominate as the superman.

Jai Prithvi’s ideas are systematic and convincing. We must conduct studies on his life and philosophy and exalt his importance in the 21st century. We must admit that if we forget our history, our future will forget us so it is high time now to honour our national pride Raja Jai Prithvi Bahadur Singh as one of the national heroes of Nepal. Prime Minister Deubas expression should be now realised.

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