Prithvi Narayan Shah The Great
Architect Of Modern Nepal

By Guna Dev Bhattarai

GORKHA, at present one of the districts of the Gandaki Zone, was then not famous in the fields of art, literature and industry, but for valour, patriotism, discipline and such other qualities as required for a formidable principality.

Versions

Inspite of having different versions as to the ancestry of the Shahs of Gorkha, it has been generally believed that their ancestors were related to Mewar-Chitorgath Chandravamshi (Lunar Dynasty). It is stated that their ancestors assumed titles such as Bhattaraka, Rana, Rao, Khan and the like. Kulmandan Khan the ruler of Kaski, obtained the title of Shah from the Moghul Emperor of India, and Yasobam Shah, his younger son, became the ruler of Lamjung.

Gorkha then was under a Khadka chief who was ousted by the high caste people who installed Drabya Shah (1559-70 A.D.) on the throne of Gorkha. Of all the successors of Drabya Shah, Ram Shah proved himself an able and farsighted ruler. Ram Shah was succeeded by Dambar Shah (1636-51 A. D), Krishna Shah (1651-63 A. D.) Rudra Shah (1663-74 A.D.), Prithivipati Shah (1614-1716 A.D.), Narabhupal (1716-42 AD.) was the grandson of Prithivipati Shah. After the demise of Narabhupal Shah his son-Prithvi Narayan Shah ascended the throne of Gorkha in 1742 A.D.. He had become a promising youth under the guardianship of Chandraprabhavati, the eldest queen of Narabhupal Shah.

It will not be an exaggeration to admit that the rise of Prithvi Narayan Shah was a historical necessity. After the demise of Yakshyamalla (1482 A.D.) the Nepal valley had lost its stately existence because of its divisions. The Sen Rajas of Vijyapur and Chaudaudi situated on the east of Dudhakoshi were chiefly chieftains. The principality of Makwanpur and the Chaubisi that extended from Gorkha to Piuthan, the Baisi situated between the Mahakali and Piuthan were not likely to be called states in the strict sense. In short there was no power strong enough to unite all the disintegrated forces into a cohesive one. On the other side the British were gradually spreading their suzerainty over the divided India in general and Bengal and Bihar in particular. Thus, Nepal then needed a strong and earnestly determined person to fuse the disintegrated forces into a united and strong state. Fortunately Prithvi Narayan Shah the Raja of Gorkha, the person Nepal needed, built a sizable kingdom called Nepal.

Every year on Poush 27 (January 11 or so according to the Gregorian calendar) we celebrate Prithvi Jayanti in honour of Badamaharajadhiraja Prithvi Narayan Shah, the architect of modern Nepal.

Prithvi Narayan Shah extended his boundaries from the Marsyangdi to the Kankai. During his military campaigns he had adopted every means, fair or foul, to achieve his ends. He fought against the rulers of many principalities. Some of them were subdued while others voluntarily accepted his suzerainty. He made the Gorkhalis so strong that even Kaiser-II of Germany said, "I am not scared to let my troops fight anywhere in the battlefield of the world but my things tremble when I hear the name of the Gorkhas."

The people of the valley breathed a sigh of relief when their new guardian was earnestly eager to have them live a respectful life with all their religious, traditional rites, customs and manners. Thus he convincingly won the hearts of the people in no time. That is why the people found him as the saviour of the country where they had been living for a long time in perpetual internal squabbles.

Prithvi Narayan Shah, though he was fully aware of the Bible and bullet policy of the English overlooked the activities of the Capuchin Fathers because he was busily engaged in his military campaigns in the valley. When Jayaprakash Malla, the last ruler of Kathmandu sought the military assistance of the English who sent Capt. Kinloch to drive out the Gorkhalis, the latter became conscious of the evil designs of the English. The Gorkhalis valiantly fought and drove out of the British from the fort of Sindhuli. In the meantime, Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered the three states of the valley one by one in 1769 A.D. He was fully aware of the strength of the English in India. That is why he tried his level best not to antagonise the British as far as possible. He cautiously adopted such a policy as the British might not directly challenge his newly formed kingdom.

Prithvi Narayan Shah was a true soldier, a commander and, above all, strategist. During his military career he had adopted every possible means to attain success. He was eminent in splitting his opponents camp. He possessed the knack of ruling his men in hours of defeat and, by his dare devil deeds, frequently turned the tables to achieve victory. He was a true nationalist. He would say "My kingdom is like a flower garden having four varnas and thirty six jatis."

He always encouraged the people to lead a life of simplicity but with dignity. He always encouraged the people to put on national dress, follow national dances, songs and the like. His main aim was to make the people self-sufficient in food and clothing.

Prithvi Narayan Shah was a strict disciplinarian. He would not hesitate to punish whoever he might be if any one restorted to something detrimental to national interest and norms of life.

He consolidated the occupied territories without heeding to his brother’s undue demand of the spoils of the battles.

His well wishers and the military chiefs in particular were highly honoured and given high posts in keeping with their calibre. The Mishras, the spiritual guardians of the Shahs, were also highly honoured.

Outline

He found little time to bring about sweeping changes in various fields of administration. Nevertheless, he formulated an outline pertaining to state policy for that purpose. At the last state of life he made his courtiers fully acquainted with many teachings which can be found in his "Dibhyopadesh."

The Higher Education In Nepal

By Bhola Lohani

USHERING in a new era of education, Tribhuvan University was granted a charter in 1959 as the first university in Nepal. In the early 1960’s the university registered a few thousand students; while most of the students were of proficiency level, a small number undertook the bachelor level studies in a few disciplines of social and natural sciences. However, it was not able to offer the bachelor level programme in technical subjects except in agriculture till 1975.

The launching of the National Education System Plan (NESP), 1971 was a landmark in the educational development of Nepal. This resulted in the total restructuring of higher education system. The change was accompanied by the takeover of management of all the higher education campuses by the university, the upgrading of the existing academic programme and the improvement of service conditions of teaching staffs and other employees. The NESP also emphasised on the technical higher education and on the linking of the education programme with the manpower need of the country as envisaged by the National Development Plan. All these had profound effects on the educational expansion.

The Tribhuvan University (TU) has now grown into a complex body of higher education institutions that offer a wide ranges of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in a host of technical areas and in social sciences and management. Indeed, the university conducts the academic programme for over ninety per cent students of higher learning in the country. Currently the students pursuing in the bachelor level and above number about 60-70 thousand (statistics 2055/56). With the present policy of multi-university system in operation, one expects to minimise T.U.’s share of burden in the coming years.

At present, Nepal has four other universities. Mahendra Sanskrit University established in 1986 offers academic programme, particularly, for studies of Sanskrit language, literature and Vedic sciences. While Kathmandu University may claim to be the first private university set up in 1991 with focus on technical subjects, Purwanchal University and Pokhara University were charted in the recent past only. The latter two regional universities were primarily intended to oversee the existing higher education campuses in the region and develop their own programmes in an environment of competitiveness in the higher education system. Under this scheme, Mahendra Morang multiple campus (Biratnagar) and Prithvi Narayan multiple campus (Pokhara), presently the constituent campuses of T.U., were to have been transferred and developed as the central campuses for Purwanchal University and Pokhara University respectively. The scheme still remains unimplemented.

Today, the academic programmes of the new universities appear to have been orchestrated mainly by the private sector. These universities do not have their own constituent campuses for conducting innovations in education. Instead, they appear to take the track that rather fits well only to open education institutions whish rely their education standards mostly on designing the academic programme, preparing educational materials and conducting test examinations.This need not be objectionable if the university, private campuses and industrial or business houses or service agencies jointly work to make the programme a competitive one and address the market needs as well. The universities do not necessarily limit their scope of studies in any particular field of knowledge or restrict their areas of operation to certain geographical locations. Yet, such institutions often find themselves in a position where they have to address or prioritise certain areas of study because they have to tackle problems or face challenges posed by their surroundings. Our universities cannot be exception to this general mode of higher education development.

Presently, policy trend is to facilitate the private sector participation in education. It serves well to fulfil the increasing social demand. Also, it relieves pressure on the government exchequer that finances the public education system. On the other hand, there is public discontent about commercialisation and higher cost of private education. This will require a strong and well-designed mechanism for monitoring of the programme a run by the private campuses and for overseeing whether their fees arereasonable Genuine concerns are expressed for relaxed procedure for affiliation and apparently no monitoring of student’s exercises except that these institutions follow the programme of study prescribed by the university. No doubt, for accreditation, students will have to take on tests that university conducts for them annually. It is also essential to moderate the standardised tests conducted for accreditation. Particularly, for the latter, the University Grant Commission needs to be energised.

In recent years, there has been a significant growth in the number of private education campuses that presently number about two hundred. A large number of them are run in rented houses, employ part time teachers and conduct classes without adequate teaching learning facilities. These are more like coaching institutions where students are subjected to a little or no standardised academic exercises and are provided little scope for innovative or creative activities. We often hear criticism that mentions about university graduates lacking in quality of creativity and employable skills. Not only university education needs to strive to seek to promote theoretical knowledge, but also it is important to incorporate practical or hands-on activities as a rightful weightage in the curriculum. In other words, the graduates should be equipped with working skills and knowledge that promotes enterprises and social well being and that meets the challenges of new milliennium. For this, country’s socio-economic or technological development should be appropriately linked to the education programme which needs to be designed and executed in cooperation or consultation with industrial or business houses, policy makers, professional bodies and above all, education experts.

It is unfortunate that our education institutions, even the cosntituent campuses of TU have not yet attained the stage where the academic programme is conducted as a well-established school of thoughts and practices in various branches of knowledge. As a result, the average graduates coming from them do not seem to have earned a distinct trait or personality that confers well with high quality learning. The realisation of the need to promote the standard of higher education has recently led to the launching of the Higher Education Project with the World Bank assistance. The components of the project are the revamping of undergraduate and post graduate courses, the development of physical and teaching-learning facilities, staff development and the phase-out of the proficiency level programme from the university. While the phase-out of the proficiency level remains largely unsettled, some progress has been made in the other areas.

Today, the higher education is in a mess. There is a need to undertake disciplinary measures to restrain students and teachers from excessive indulgence in politics and to create conducive teaching-learning environment in the campuses. Also, the university needs to employ especially, a team of subject experts and experienced professionals for programme monitoring and for promoting high learning standards. The teachers will have to devote more time in planning and designing academic lessons and innovative educational projects, and to conduct students exercise sessions for academic excellence and practical skills. It is essential to ensure that the quality of individuals graduating from these institutions is comparable to those from the academic institutions of development countries. Besides, the university management will have to take care to maintain appropriate time schedule for completion of academic courses. This will probably check the outflow of a large number of Nepali students who are tempted to go to foreign countries for their education.

The Messy Management

By BT

KUDOS to our city planners, but not because they have set some record of excellence and merit but in a rare acknowledgement of the fact that the ad hoc mode of their performance is still working without a major disaster. That’s a great relief indeed.

This is a pious metro with an international fame as a City of Temples or City of Gods. So we seem to have bestowed with a fair share of the mercy of Gods so we keep sailing smoothly with no big disastrous upshots despite so hapahazard and heedless care- taking of the city infrastructure. May it be the gods or the nature, some kind-hearted force must have extended the protective hands towards us.

Roads with guaranteed potholes, rivers that equates with open sewers, rusty pipelines that keep bursting in regular intervals (and that have seen no replacements), thoroughfares roamed by stray cattle, narrow streets furthered shrunken by unbridled encroachments, busy interactions taken in control of by footpath vendors and constructions that stand as eyesore— the list of things of this sort can go perpetual. This is the situation that is virtually impossible to put up with. But you have to live with it, believing in god’s mercy and being vanquished under the indomitable power of something we call compulsion.

Slackness and adhocism is everybody’s bete noire but those with roles to perform for public seem to be more than happy to embrace these condemned qualities. When the sense of responsibility fades and all in authority keep the consensus to enjoy liberty of a rare kind, the rod to measure your mastery over the subject you are taking up and to lash you upon negligence, goes missing. Nothing exemplary was ever created under cosseting liberty that overlooked duty obligation aspect. They say a sense of sacrifice is a self made pill to do away with such ill. And sacrifice is not about enjoying things.

We compete, it seems, to do less and to do inferior. Not to be undone, others even take pride to undo or not to do things. It is this attitude that drags us backward, degrades our spirit and makes us look for leeway to be lackadaisical. As a consequence, things turn sordid from sacred and square demotes to squalid. Not convinced? Look at the state of the holy rivers Bagmati and Bishnumati that meander through this lovely valley.

What gave conscience and courage to our learned city planners to empty sewer pipes into this rivers is a riddle. The pious people could do nothing but see the ugly sight in disgust. Another example of plan-less planning can be seen on streets with an unending chain of digging, filling, black-topping and digging again. Digging is necessary as the pipelines from Bir Shumshere’s time keep bursting. Road Department is there to patch up the dismantled section. Much to your chagrin, next excavation takes place within a week of the patchwork. Not that the concept of planning is at its nascent stage—we are decades old in planned development. The problem is that unsystematic way itself has gained ground as a system here.

Clean and tidy are the traits that make city a city. But our ‘arduous’ clean up endeavours end up in the uncollected heaps of garbage and the ‘mission’ to be tidy is mired in the messy mode of management.

City managers and city fathers often grudge about non-cooperation of the citizens. But they need to get rid of the habit to try to make everybody happy. Only efficiency and bold steps can clear the metro mess. When one tries to make everybody happy, ipso facto, he will end up making nobody happy.