Word: rana
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Show of Hands. Mahendra, 41, revered as a reincarnation of Vishnu and also known as King of Kings, Five Times Godly, Valorous Warrior, Divine Emperor, ascended his throne in 1955. It had been secured for him by his father, who four years earlier toppled the prolific and powerful Rana family, which had ruled Nepal for a century. The young King was filled with democratic good intentions. A poet as well as a pragmatic politician, he personally edited a constitution for his 9,000,000 people (91 % illiterate) and gave his consent to Nepal's first national election...
Prime Minister Nehru righteously castigated Mahendra's behavior as a "setback to democracy." But the leader of the Nepali exiles in Calcutta is not quite as democratic as Nehru might have wished. He is General Subarna Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, a member of Nepal's deposed, autocratic old ruling family. Since last December, under his command, the rebels have mounted dozens of armed attacks on Nepali villages and police posts. Typically, a few score guerrillas will pop out of the jungle, bloodlessly seize a town, run up the Nepali flag with a picture of Subarna, loot the local...
...competition that should lead to war by 1970. The astrologers of Nepal foresee more immediate consequences. Mani Prasad Ti-wari predicts political changes in China, possibly a revolt in Nepal, natural disasters in Russia, and "civil disturbances" somewhere southwest of Washington, D.C. Nepalese Field Marshal Kaiser Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, an amateur astrologer, expects at least an earthquake near by, and foresees another disturbing possibility: "I would not be surprised if this heralds the coming of a new age in which women will have more rights...
...country could get. Underneath its hibiscus and gardenia blossoms, its whitewashed stupas and tinkling bells, its 8,500,000 people were among the most backward in Southeast Asia, beset by malaria, illiteracy and preyed upon by landlords and moneylenders. In 1951 a revolution backed by India toppled the ruling Rana family, who for a hundred years had kept successive Kings virtual prisoners, and King Tribhuvan was restored to power. When the ailing Tribhuvan died in 1955, rule passed to his young (34) son, King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva...