The bizarre massacre of most of Nepal's royal family was followed on Saturday by the bizarre ascension to the throne of Crown Prince Dipendra, a love-struck young man who, by most accounts, murdered his parents and at least seven other relatives during the family's Friday night meal.
Dipendra's suitability to be sovereign is cast in doubt not only by the murderous acts attributed to him but also by the fact that he has fallen into a coma and is being kept breathing by life-support machines. He shot himself in the head, attempting suicide, soon after committing multiple homicide, authorities here say. ''The king is dead!'' the people of Nepal declared as they began to mourn. ''Long live the king!'' was a proclamation harder to summon. Confusion, more than anything else, now reigns in this rugged Himalayan country, a place with many of the world's highest mountains, 23 million of its poorest people and one if its most peculiar political setups.
Nepal is governed by a constitutional monarchy. The king, by legend, is a reincarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu. Parliament, by recent democratic elections, is controlled by Communists. Maoist insurgents, operating in near perfect guerrilla habitat, are creating bloody havoc in the countryside. On Saturday, Nepalese awoke to rumors of the great carnage that had occurred in the grand palace in the center of Katmandu, the capital. They had little more to go on than this hearsay. Foreign news broadcasts were announcing the death of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, 55, a monarch with an Eton and Harvard education and a walrus-like mustache. Queen Aiswarya, 51, was said to be dead as well. But local television and radio played only devotional music while withholding the grim bulletin. Finally, at 1 p.m., about 15 hours after the massacre, a short statement was read over government channels by Keshar Jung Rayamajhi, chairman of the State Council, an advisory body to the monarchy. In a tearful voice, he read a short text, announcing the king's death but saying little else. The council, coping with the aftermath of the slaughter at the royal dinner table, had spent the morning puzzling through the delicate matter of succession. It named Crown Prince Dipendra the new king -- but not really.
The actual power is to pass to the dead king's brother, Gyanendra, who as a little boy had briefly served as king and who now, as an adult, had the good fortune of not being in town during the Friday meal. ''The first son of his majesty, the king and heir to the throne, Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, has been proclaimed the king in accordance with the law, custom and usage relating to the succession to the throne,'' the chairman said, adding an important ''but.'' ''Since the new king is physically unable to exercise his duty and is undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit of the military hospital in Katmandu, his uncle, Prince Gyanendra, has been proclaimed as the regent.'' Nothing was officially reported about the palace slaughter, however, until 7 a.m. today, when Gyanendra issued a condolence to the nation on Radio Nepal. In the imperial style of the royal family, he confirmed the reports of a dinnertime bloodbath, while making no allegations against his comatose nephew. ''According to the information received by us, (members of the royal family) were seriously injured in an accidental firing from an automatic weapon,'' his statement read.
Other accounts belie any suggestion of an accident. What is known about the shooting comes from conflicting accounts that have been pieced together by local journalists who interviewed witnesses of the bloodshed and friends of the royal family. ''It was like a shooting in an American high school,'' wryly said Kunda Dixit, editor of The Nepali Times. By most accounts, the royal family had sat down for its traditional Friday dinner in a banquet hall in the huge palace. More than a dozen people were at the table, including the king and queen and their three adult children.
Crown Prince Dipendra, 29, had been upset by his parents' -- and particularly his mother's -- disapproval of his choice for a bride, though the young woman came from one of the nation's leading families. That evening, Dipendra had been drinking, according to several accounts, and he left the meal in a fit of anger only to return with at least one -- perhaps two -- semiautomatic weapons. ''Dipendra sprayed the room with bullets, and then he went out and got dressed in military fatigues before coming back to finish up,'' Mr. Dixit said. ''He was a gun lover, a hunter and a shooter. He was someone who even tested weapons for the Royal Nepali Army.'' According to other accounts, the prince had changed into the military garb -- becoming dressed to kill -- before he fired any shots. Either way, he had locked the doors to the dining hall, the accounts say. No guards or aides were inside at the time. In one account, the prince, upon returning to the hall, carried a handgun. He then moved among the wounded, firing single shots into their heads. Finally, guards entered the hall. In one version, Dipendra immediately attempted suicide, firing a single shot through his temple. In a second version, he briefly escaped to another room before trying to take his own life.
The precise death count is unknown. Dead, according to government sources, are the king and queen; their son Prince Nirajan, 22, and daughter Princess Shruti, 24; the king's sisters Princess Shanti Singh and Princess Sharada Shah; Princess Sharada's husband Kumar Khadga Bikram Shah; and Princess Jayanti Shah, a cousin of the late king. At least three other family members were reported wounded. The massacre brought a storybook life to an abrupt end.
The Shah lineage dates back to the mid-1700's. In 1951, with most of the family in exile, Gyenendra, then just an infant, was installed as a puppet king, a position he relinquished with the return of his father, Mahendra. With Mahendra's death in 1972, Birendra became king, though his coronation did not take place until 1975, awaiting a time considered more auspicious by the royal astrologers. On that memorable day, Birendra donned the elaborate crown that came with the title. The royal family rode on elegantly decorated elephants. During this ceremony, 3-year-old Crown Prince Dipendra, flanked by generals, bowed before his father and mother and smartly saluted them. This precocious touch by the young prince brought a burst of applause from the solemn crowd. Good things were expected from the young heir -- and he enjoyed a reputation free of any foreshadowing of mass murder.
King Birendra remained a traditional king until 1990, when a democratic uprising forced the change toward a constitutional monarchy. At the time, there were allegations of royal pocket-stuffing. But Birendra, over time, regained his nation's affection. He was popular, and some would say beloved. And he was not feckless. He retained the loyalty of the army. Earlier this year, the royal astrologers again seemed to be playing a central role in palace affairs. According to press reports, unchallenged by the royal family, it was determined by the stars that the Crown Prince should not marry until age 35. If he did, mortal risks were predicted. This prophecy will inevitably play a role in later reconstruction of the deadly events.
On Saturday, as the news finally sunk in, people seemed too stunned to be outwardly grieving, as if they had just emerged from their homes after the tremors of an earthquake. ''The tragedy is beyond words,'' said Ramesh Chandra Adhikary, a professor of political science here in Katmandu. ''We Hindus believe that the king is an incarnation of God. The sorrow we feel is unimaginable.''
Late Saturday afternoon, tens of thousands of mourners began lining the streets to await the eight-mile procession that would bring the murdered king and queen from the hospital to the funeral ghat. ''Journalists are telling us a lot of things about what happened, but we really don't know,'' said Nirendra Sharma, a young man with a shirt that said Nike Air. ''Probably, the murders took place within the royal family. But it's hard to say much more. Nothing like this has happened before in history.''
The king's body, held aloft by bare-chested Brahmin priests, was covered to the neck with a saffron cloth. Behind him came the queen -- dressed in her bridal sari and carried inside an ornate, covered palanquin. And following them was Prince Narajin, Princess Shruti and Princess Jayanti Shah. The corpses were taken to a specially erected canopy near the cremation site on the banks of the holy Bagmati River, near the temple of Lord Pashupatinath. Mourners laid flowers on the bodies. ''The king who saw this country through trying and difficult times is no more,'' said a commentator on state television.
Priests muttered the final prayers as the bodies were lain on pyres of sandalwood. A little known member of the royal family, with a torch in hand, ceremonially circled the king's body three times. Then he set the flame to Birendra's head, starting the fire that would render the royal family to ashes.
Source: New York Times
No comments:
Post a Comment