<figure><img width="1138" height="822" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022112916110/63861e9a9c7e80680e0ccdd6jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>A woman in Kathmandu carrying her child infected by small pox in 1964. Photo: WHO</figcaption></figure>The smallpox virus plagued Nepali communities throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. As historian Susan Heydon has written about in a recent essay called ‘Death of the King’, smallpox destroyed families rich and poor alike, with tremendous personal and political consequences. In the late 1790s, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/big-story-of-small-pox-in-nepal/">smallpox erupted in Kathmandu Valley</a>. Little is known about the outbreak, but at the time the Valley's cities were still recovering from Prithvi Narayan Shah's conquest three decades earlier. Kathmandu's population lived and worked on streets that one British visitor described as ‘excessively narrow, and nearly as filthy as those of Benares'.In 1799, King Rana Bahadur's favorite wife, Kantivati, came down with smallpox, igniting a series of events that reshaped court politics. Seeing his wife gravely ill, Rana Bahadur dedicated himself to prayers for her, and even abdicated the throne in favour of his two-year old son, Girvana. His efforts were to no avail: Kantivati succumbed to the disease. Rana Bahadur, distraught and furious, desecrates and destroys the temple of Hariti Ma (known to Hindus as Sitala) at Swayambhu.Rana Bahadur also orders children with the disease removed outside the Valley, all the way across the Tama Kosi in the East or the Marsyandi in the West. Because of the Valley's demographics, these were Newar children. A traditional Newar song recounts what happens. Called 'Sitalamaaju Mye', the song is addressed to 'Mother Sitala,' the smallpox goddess. Part I: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/big-story-of-small-pox-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Big story of smallpox in Nepal</a>Part II: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-smallpox-virus-in-british-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The smallpox virus in British India</a>Part IV: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-nepal-eradicated-the-smallpox-virus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How Nepal eradicated the smallpox virus</a>Part V: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/viruses-past-present-and-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Viruses past, present and future</a>'Oh Mother Sitala,' the first line goes, 'behold the piteous state of your people! The children were driven out of the country, surrounded by soldiers.' The song describes the stages of the disease, which touched most Nepali families at one point or another, through its appeal to three different deities. ‘We pray to Mother Kachala, who brings forth the smallpox blisters, to Mother Sitala, who fills them with water, and to Mother Bachala, who carries off the afflicted.’Parents faced heartbreaking difficulties. 'They led them away, carrying one child on the back, one child under the arm and dragging along a third child.' After a week, the families reach the Tama Kosi. There, a child dies. Unable to say goodbye the proper way, the devastated parents throw the body into the river. One of the legacies of these distant events, the 'Sitalamaaju Mye' song appears to use the tragic expulsion of families to symbolise the mistreatment and dukha Newars faced since the takeover of the Valley by the Shah regime in the 1770s. Observers this month have noted that the song speaks to the hardships faced by many Nepali migrant laborers, displaced from their worksites by Covid-19, trying to return to village homes.Rana Bahadur ends up in exile in India, and takes along with him a young Bhimsen Thapa. He returns to power in 1804, but is killed in 1806, opening the door for Thapa to seize power and go on to become one of the most important rulers in Nepal's early history.Smallpox struck again in 1816, and again shapes the power struggles in Nepal's tumultuous Darbar. Bhimsen Thapa still held power, but King Girvana, now 21, was a clear threat.The disease appeared first in the west of the country but found its way to Kathmandu by July. As historian Vikram Hasrat has documented, ‘Smallpox became so virulent in the country that hundreds and thousands of men, women and children, old and young, were swept away. The rivers, tanks, and canals were crowded with dead and dying; and in the streets a man had scarcely room to walk and the dogs dragged away the neglected and putrefied corpses and vultures died with surfeit of human flesh.’Fear gripped the palace. King Girvana had not contracted the disease as a child. He also had young children. Officials requested vaccinations from the British, who had been trying to spread the new practice in India for over a decade.As historian Heydon has documented, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-smallpox-virus-in-british-india/">British sensed possible political advantage</a>: ‘It would not only be an act of humanity to introduce the Vaccination,’ the British resident Edward Gardner wrote his superiors in India on July 17, ‘but be a desirable object, perhaps to have the Raja and the Officers of the Court inoculated by us.’The British organised vaccinations around the Valley, beginning in Banepa. It is hard to say how many people actually got vaccinated. But one thing we do know: the king was not among them.  <figure><img width="1376" height="980" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022112916110/63861e9d9c7e80680e0ccdd7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The exact reasons why are lost to history, but not the consequences. In late October, both of the king's children showed fever and then rash. One perished on 2 November. Gardner passed along news of the king's family to Calcutta: ‘His youngest son a child under two years of age I am sorry to add died this morning of that distemper and his eldest &amp; only remaining male child has also taken the disease.’ Two weeks later, on 18 November, Gardner learned that 'the Raja had unfortunately taken the smallpox'. He died two days later. The resident reported the event: ‘Alarming symptoms it seems made their appearances during the night which continuing unabated, the Raja was according to the usual custom in this country conveyed early in the morning to the temple at Pusputhnath, where he breathed his last about 11 o’clock am. As was Hindu custom, preparations were underway quickly for his funeral.’ Girvana's senior queen, Siddhi Rajya Laxmi, threw herself on her husband's funeral pyre, as tradition demanded.Gardner regretted the missed chance to prevent the king's death. ‘Many opportunities have unaccountably been neglected for him receiving the vaccination.’ It's hard to know why. There was, however, as historian <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/the-rest-is-history-for-john-whelpton/">John Whelpton</a> notes, 'speculation about foul play'. The young prince Rajendra recovered and was placed under the regency of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/turning-a-shrine-into-a-temple-of-learning/">Tripura Sundari, a longtime ally of Bhimsen Thapa</a>. Girvana's death and Tripura Sundari's installation as the young king's regent helped <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2014/01/05/the-pashmina-war/">Bhimsen Thapa</a> retain his grip on power, a grip he would not yield for another two decades.  Over the next century and a half, as Heydon shows, smallpox showed itself routinely in Nepal. Every spring communities would make prayers to ward off the disease. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-in-the-time-of-cholera/">But periodically epidemics raged</a>. One observer in east Nepal in 1885, for instance, noted that a wave of smallpox had ‘carried off a large number of the inhabitants of Khumbu’.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-is-a-microcosm-of-all-of-the-changes-in-world-health/">“Nepal is a microcosm of all of the changes in world health”,</a> Nepali TimesVaccination use was sporadic, and government efforts weak. At mid-century, the Kathmandu-based <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/pencilling-in-kathmandu-rajman-singh-chitrakar,3379">British doctor Henry Oldfield</a> noted that Jang Bahadur Rana held ‘great faith’ in vaccination and had his children and other royal children inoculated, but did little else. In the 1920s, British journalist <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3351#.XqwdhS8w0Wo">Perceval Landon</a> noted, 'Vaccination is not compulsory but it is free to those who choose to avail themselves.' Several reasons explain why Nepalis did not use vaccination. Some people, particularly some Newars and Tarai groups, disliked the vaccine. But a far greater problem was that the Rana governments did little to make it widely available or to promote it. They never set up a health system to promote sound practices across Nepal. In contrast, in India by the early 20th century, the British campaign to spread vaccination had found its legs. Millions of ordinary Indians in Madras and other parts of the country started getting vaccines. In 1947 alone, the year the British left India, 21.3 million Indians received vaccinations or re-vaccinations.Nepalis who studied or traveled in India and those who served in the British Army noticed how little health service the Rana regime provided their countrymen. Smallpox was one of many diseases and ailments that modern medicine could help with. The Ranas' lack of concern about the people's health and welfare helped fuel the growing movement to drive them from power. After the 1951 revolution, successive Nepal governments tried to set up a modern health care system in the towns and villages. They implemented disease control programs, including <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-mosquito-that-changed-nepals-history/">a nationwide malaria eradication effort</a>, launched in 1959 with the help of the US and the WHO. A smallpox campaign for the Kathmandu Valley was launched in 1961 and became a nationwide eradication program in 1966.  After tormenting Nepalis for centuries and sometimes shaping their politics, smallpox was finally eradicated from Nepal in 1975. It is a tremendous success story -- a story of strong bureaucratic organisation, impressive scientific work, and tenacious implementation. But it is also a story of occasional heavy handedness by a government given unprecedented powers in the effort to maintain public health. This is the third in a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/big-story-of-small-pox-in-nepal/">series of articles</a> about the history of disease in Nepal. The fourth installment will explore the eradication campaign in the 1960s against smallpox. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/how-chitwan-was-opened,4159">Tom Robertson</a>, PhD, is researching the environmental history of Kathmandu Valley.

Tom Robertson

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Smallpox, politics and power in Kathmandu

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f239c7e80680e056e0ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1500"/><figcaption>Mutton Korma. Photos: MANNSI AGRAWAL</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-rana-reign-a-recap-of-history,3751" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rana dynasty</a> ruled for just over 100 years, building ornate neo-classical palaces with vast manicured gardens copied from Victorian England, while the aristocrats wore magnificent jewellery.What the Ranas are less well known for is a cuisine that is a unique fusion of Nepali and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/yes-mughlai-cuisine-can-be-vegetarian/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mughlai dishes</a> from northern India. The recipes date back to influences of the khansama brought in from Lucknow by Jung Bahadur Rana after the Indian Mutiny in 1857. These Muslim chefs worked with the baje and bajai in the Rana palaces (although strictly not in the same kitchen), perfecting the fusion cuisine that evolved into the unique Rana flavour.The recipes will soon be out in a new cook book by Rohini Rana, who was born in Agra to the Indian royal house of Awagarh and married to Gaurav SJB Rana, who went on to become Nepal’s army chief from 2012 to 2015.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=34079&amp;preview_nonce=2924ca6ef5&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Exploring Nepal’s culinary diversity,</a> Kedar Sharma and Kiran Sharma<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tharu-escargots/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tharu escargots,</a> Sewa Bhattarai<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f259c7e80680e056e0bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1351"><figcaption>Rohini “Dolly“ Rana</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f289c7e80680e056e0cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1351"><figcaption>Finely sliced steamed bandel with timur ko chope</figcaption></figure>“Growing up as the youngest sibling in one of the most beautiful hill stations in northern India I had an idyllic childhood. I was loved and, I admit, slightly pampered,” recalls Rohini Rana, whom friends and relatives all call ‘Dolly’. “Summers in Nainital were endless lunches and dinners with tables piled high with food.”Breakfasts were spent discussing the day’s menu, with each member of the family picking a dish to cook. After coming to Kathmandu, Dolly adjusted quickly to the new Rana household, also bonding with the kitchen staff.Her husband, Gen Gaurav Rana, is the great grandson of Prime Minister Chandra Shumshere Rana and is the seventh generation of the family serving in the Nepal Army. Dolly accompanied her husband on various military postings internationally, and to remote regions of Nepal.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-superfoods-of-the-andes-and-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The superfoods of the Andes and the Himalaya,</a> Sonia Awale<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/satisfying-trekker-appetite-for-adventure/?preview_nonce=d05c21ba9f&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Satisfying trekker appetite for adventure,</a> Sanghamitra SubbaDolly Rana wrote the first draft for her Rana cookbook while her husband was posted in Suparitar Army Base in Hetauda nearly 30 years ago, where they lived in an old Rana house in the middle of the forest. Many of the recipes in her book were perfected by her husbands’ nanny, Chiniya Champa Didi, who started working at age 15 in the Baber Mahal palace, where her father was a retainer. Though her job was to raise the young Gaurav Rana, she was interested in cooking and learnt the dishes from other maids and cooks.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f2a9c7e80680e056e0djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="393" height="377">Rana cuisine incorporates and builds on the basic dal bhat staple of rice, lentil soup, meat and vegetables, adding a unique aroma and taste from the jimbu and timur that differentiate the Nepali rice dish from Indian food. While north Indian cuisine is noted for its rich and thick gravy, Nepali food comes with lighter jhol, dry bhuttan and kawaf.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/much-more-than-dal-bhat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Much more than dal bhat,</a> Anil ChitrakarDolly collected and documented recipes from Rana prime minister families, with each having a slightly different twist and taste to the basic dishes. The book will soon be published by Penguin Random House.“It is very important to preserve the dishes for posterity because the cuisine is part of our heritage, and it is in danger of disappearing with the passing of generations,” says Dolly Rana, refusing to divulge the exact recipes.“You will have to wait for the book,” she smiles.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/could-nepali-cuisine-go-global/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Can Nepali cuisine go global</a>, Thomas Heaton

Food of the royals

Recent outrage in Sikkim over an Indian Army expedition climbing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kangchenjunga">Kangchenjunga</a>, the world’s third-highest peak, has spiked attention to the need to balance mountaineering jobs with indigenous reverence for sacred landmarks. Kangchenjunga (8,586m) is not a peak as much as it is a mountain range with 16 peaks above 7,000m on the border between India and Nepal -- the word itself means ‘five treasures of the snows’ in Tibetan. Some of the highest prominences like Kangchenjunga West and Kangbachen are in Nepal, while the Main, Central and South Peaks are on the border. Climbing the peak from the Indian side has been banned since 2001 because the indigenous Lepcha community there regard the mountain as the abode of Dzoe-nga, the patron deity of Sikkim, which was an independent Himalayan Kingdom until it was annexed by India in 1975.&nbsp; Buddhists in Sikkim say their saint, Padmasambhava, recognised the mountain as a protective spirit. The state has declared the base of the mountain Kangchenjunga National Park, which covers an area one-third of Sikkim. ‘The act of scaling this sacred peak is not only a matter of serious concern but also a violation of both the prevailing legal provisions and the deeply held religious beliefs of the people of Sikkim,’ read a letter from Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) to Amit Shah, India’s Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation.&nbsp; Tamang continued: ‘We further request Your Honour to take up the issue with the Government of Nepal to ensure that no future expeditions are permitted on the sacred mountain, in deference to the deeply held beliefs and cultural values of the people of Sikkim.’ Kangchenjunga was climbed for the first time exactly 70 years ago by a British team who told King Tashi Namgyal, the Choegyal of Sikkim, that they would not set foot on the summit. Since then, there have been about 532 successful climbs of the peaks and 52 have died while trying.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628060616_5c268e08cf49f36b79ef9b31933fc2d9bf9a6f65414e7ca06dd028bf04e7ccc1.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250628060616_5c268e08cf49f36b79ef9b31933fc2d9bf9a6f65414e7ca06dd028bf04e7ccc1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1782" height="1178" loading="lazy" alt="Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb NT"> <figcaption>Indigenous communities in Sikkim held purification ceremonies following the Indian expedition to Kangchenjunga. Photo: THE VOICE OF SIKKIM / FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/peak-climbing-season-2025-s4abrxny">This spring climbing season</a> alone, there were 70 climbing permits for foreigners issued for Kangchenjunga by the Nepal government, and made it to the top while one French climber died.&nbsp; One of the expeditions this year was an Indian Army team led by Col Ranveer Jamwal, who has summited the highest peaks on all seven continents, and Mt Everest thrice. Jamwal’s team was on the final leg of a ‘<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/nimas-summits-mt-kangchenjunga-concludes-historic-har-shikhar-tiranga-mission-successfully/articleshow/121341315.cms?from=mdr">Har Shikhar Tiranga</a>’ (The Tricolour on Every Peak) mission to plant the Indian flag at the highest points of each of India’s 28 states. Kanchenjunga was the last peak they had left, and the hardest, but the expedition put five climbers on the summit. What seems to have incensed the Sikkimese is that while it has banned climbing the mountain from its side, it was an Indian military expedition that went to Nepal to climb the mountain. After news broke of the climb in May, the Sikkim Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association asked people to observe purification ceremonies in temples across the state. Mayalmit Lepcha of the association acknowledged that the Sikkim government was also partly at fault: “I don’t think such an expedition could have gone forward without the state government being informed, so it could have done something to intervene. It shows weakness. What’s done is done, all we can do is carry out these sanctification ceremonies.”&nbsp; In 2000, one year before Sikkim’s ban, the state allowed an Austrian team to attempt Kanchenjunga’s northeast face for a fee of $20,000, on agreement that they would stop 10m before the summit. Despite this, there was outrage over the expedition on the grounds that it violated Indian laws regarding the defiling of religious sites and Sikkim’s rights to maintain its culture after merging with India. The Indian Army expedition was also seen to have circumvented Sikkim’s law and violated religious sensibilities by going through Nepal. While the team may have thought they were respecting Sikkim’s beliefs by finding a way to complete the mission, the people of Sikkim saw it as defilement.&nbsp; The somber mood of the Sikkim people at the ritual contrasts sharply with Jamwal’s sense of accomplishment. “Without a doubt, the most difficult summit of my life,” he told reporters after the climb. “It tested every ounce of our will.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628060616_ccfe079c78dab788d19fe2080ee8a5d5dcb11de4157316f6d94e5964da097157.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250628060616_ccfe079c78dab788d19fe2080ee8a5d5dcb11de4157316f6d94e5964da097157" data-rendition-name="original" width="787" height="377" loading="lazy" alt="Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb NT"> <figcaption>Prayer flags along the Sikkim-Kangchenjunga trekking route. Photo: TREKKINGININDIA.COM</figcaption> </figure>  The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">controversial Nepali-British mountaineer Nirmal Purja</a> was also on Kangchenjunga this spring the mountain, on a mission to summit all 14 8,000m peaks for a third time. He echoed Jamwal about the tough conditions: “The conditions above camp were extremely tough, with deep snow and challenging terrain—more crevasses than usual.” Nepal’s government has not said anything publicly, but it is unlikely that it will ban climbing on Kangchenjunga, since it is becoming popular with expeditions because of its technical challenges, and overcrowding on Mt Everest. Nepal does have bans in place for some of its mountains out of respect for local beliefs. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/to-open-machapuchre-for-mountaineering-or-not">Mt Machapuchre</a> (6,990m) the imposing pyramid that looms over Pokhara, for example, is seen as an icon of purity by the Gurung people and a symbol of Vishnu by the Hindu communities who live at its base. A strict climbing ban has been in place since 1957, when a British expedition led by Col Jimmy Roberts stopped 45m short of the summit – either because the last bit was too difficult or out of deference to local sentiments.&nbsp; Khumbila that stands above Namche Bazar is only 5,761m high, but like Kanchenjunga is considered the protector deity of the Sherpa people. Gauri Shankar on the Nepal-China border, called Chomo Tseringma by the local community, was off-limits between 1965 and 1979 due to its association with Lord Shiva and Gauri, his consort. Although expeditions are now allowed, there are not too many takers. In Tibet, climbing Mount Kailash is prohibited by the Chinese government because it revered by the Hindus, Buddhists and followers of the Bon faith. Even Mt Everest is regarded as sacred, and its Sherpa name is Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the Earth.&nbsp; Economically, climbs on Kanchenjunga bring in decent revenue. This climbing season, the 41 permits, at $1,800 each, brought in $73,800. This is somewhat comparable to Makalu, Lhotse, and Annapurna I, but these numbers are dwarfed by the $4 million in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-everest-industry">Everest permits</a>. Revenue from Kanchenjunga climbing permits is something Nepal could potentially forgo if necessary, but the expeditions also provide jobs to hundreds of high altitude guides, porters, base camp support staff and other logistical costs.&nbsp; As the third highest mountain in the world and the tallest in India, there will always be significant motivation to climb it from the Nepal side, especially as climbers are drawn by the technical climbing at high altitude.

Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb?

The debate about who is less accountable to the public: politicians or bureaucrats is as old as Nepal’s democracy itself.
Some blame politicians for being beholden to the businessmen who finance their electoral campaigns, and are forced to return the favour with contracts and kickbacks when in power.&nbsp;
Others say it is civil servants who are neither civil nor servants, and know the inner workings of the system to exploit loopholes – they then teach ministers, MPs, mayors, or ward chairs which juicy projects can be squeezed. And everyone gets their share.
In reality, it is probably not a case of either, or. Both have their hands deep in the honey pot. Corruption is now such a given that yet another exposé in the mainstream press, like the latest visit-visa scam, does not raise eyebrows anymore.
We may have to edit Lord Acton’s famous quote to say that in Nepal we do not even need absolute power to corrupt absolutely. The ruling cartel has divvied up the spoils, so that no one ever faces charges. The three parties all know about the skeletons rattling in each other’s closets, and they cancel each other out.
Politicians and bureaucrats get all the blame for taking bribes, but what of the givers of bribes? In this crony capitalism, businesses invariably need political patrons in an elaborate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-only-growth-industry-private-sector-corruption" target="_blank">national network of give-and-take</a>.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-only-growth-industry-private-sector-corruption" target="_blank">Politicians and businesses work hand-in-glove</a> so that conflict of interest in contracts, insider trading, cartelling, and non-performing assets of banks become the norm. Our survey after the 2017 local election showed that out of the 753 newly-elected local government chairs, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/elected-contractors" target="_blank">nearly 300 were contractors</a> involved in sand-mining, quarrying, or transportation syndicates.
Nepal’s tycoons have discovered that instead of donating to election war chests of politicians, it is a much surer return on investment to spend the money to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-business-of-politics-in-nepal" target="_blank">become legislators and politicians themselves</a>.
In democracies, there are checks and balances to control corruption when it becomes endemic. The Nepal Police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are supposed to do the detective work without political interference. The courts are required to be independent in dispensing justice and punishing crooks.
But the less said about the judiciary the better. A writ petition in the Supreme Court last week accused our sister magazine <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/" target="_blank">HimalKhabar</a> of contempt of court for two stories: one about how high courts have been overturning a majority of verdicts of district courts in cases of rape, and another about the Biratnagar High Court clearing a self-proclaimed holy man, Krishna Bahadur Giri, of rape despite police presenting physical evidence.
The doctrine of the separation of powers stipulates that it is when the other three pillars in a democracy are compromised that the role of the free press becomes even more vital. The world over, as soon as populist autocrats are elected to the executive, their first order of business is to co-opt the legislature and the judiciary. Then they buy off, intimidate, or neutralise the media with Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP).
Nepal’s officialdom seems to be taking midnight Zoom lessons from other despots on how to gag the media. Last month, popular talk show host Dil Bhushan Pathak was served an arrest warrant by the Kathmandu District Court for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CntsnTrtG8" target="_blank">a YouTube explainer</a> about the alleged involvement of the son of Foreign Minister Arzu Deuba Rana in a reported purchase of Kathmandu’s Hilton Hotel.
The Lalitpur District Court ruled that Pathak could not be arrested without fair trial, but this week the Kathmandu District Court filed another case against the journalist based on a complaint by the Cyber Bureau, and put him on a fugitive list.&nbsp;
Without going into the veracity of Pathak’s explainer, it is deeply problematic that the Electronic Transaction Act has been invoked – proof that politicians are getting the courts and investigating agencies to make an example of a high profile journalist.&nbsp;
The intention is to silence media investigations into the fake refugee scandal in which the main partner in the ruling coalition is implicated, and in which one of its former home ministers was jailed last year.
The Kathmandu High Court has been mysteriously active in targeting journalists these days. <a href="https://bizmandu.com/" target="_blank">Bizmandu</a> and <a href="https://nepalkhabar.com/" target="_blank">Nepalkhabar</a> were served a notice last month <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/no-freedom-after-expression-y4inku06" target="_blank">to withdraw a story they did</a> on the Chair of the <a href="https://www.sebon.gov.np/" target="_blank">Security and Exchange Board of Nepal (SEBON</a>) Santosh Narayan Shrestha allegedly demanding kickbacks from hydropower investors.&nbsp;
Incredibly, the court even asked the two portals not to report on the subject anymore – a ruling so absurd that the Patan High Court overturned it a week later.&nbsp;
The allegations against Shrestha were made in a public meeting of the <a href="https://www.ippan.org.np/members/3060/bungal-hydro-ltd" target="_blank">Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN)</a>, and MPs demanded a <a href="https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/parliament-demands-probe-into-sebon-chairman-over-alleged-commission-demand-40-32.html" target="_blank">Parliament inquiry</a> into the regulator. <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/144523/santosh-narayan-shrestha" target="_blank">HimalKhabar</a> reported this week that while Shrestha was reportedly demanding commissions from private investors for IPOs, he cleared primary share sales in Bajhang’s 10.75MW <a href="https://www.ippan.org.np/members/3060/bungal-hydro-ltd" target="_blank">Bungal Hydro</a> in which his family members have investments, company records show.
And then just on Monday, bureaucrats hoodwinked MPs by deleting references in a bill requiring a two-year ‘cooling off’ period under which retiring civil servants could be barred from holding constitutional positions for two years.
The contest for who is more corrupt: bureauacrats, politicians, or the private sector is on.
Kunda Dixit

SLAPPing Democracy

The monsoon this year arrived on time, and brought life-giving rain — irrigating paddy terraces, recharging groundwater, reviving springs, and increasing electricity generation.
But Nepal has to deal with either too much water or too little. On a clear April day before the monsoon, the hills of Sindhuli district were parched, and there were wildfires burning out of control. There had been no rain for the past six months.
And that has been the perennial crisis for Nepal’s farmers: that 85% of the rainfall occurs during just four months of the monsoon with little rain for the other eight months.&nbsp;
The water crisis is related to the powerful changes sweeping the mid-hill region of Nepal. With better roads, higher incomes and more exposure, many residents now aspire to have the kind of water supply seen in urban homes. They want hot or cold water at the turn of a tap, showers and flush tank toilets.&nbsp;
To meet this rising demand, many local and provincial governments are investing in large water supply projects often by lifting water from rivers hundreds of metres down the mountain. But these new systems may not be sustainable in the long run.
Many villages in Sindhuli are switching from local springs to piped systems, and even in rural homes, overhead tanks are becoming common.
But this new convenience comes with big challenges. Lifting water from rivers far below requires long pipes, electric pumps, and constant maintenance. These systems are costly, and the streams themselves often shrink to a trickle in the dry months. Big water-lifting schemes look impressive, but there is doubt if they can meet growing water demand.
A much more sustainable solution would be what some communities are doing: restoring old ponds or build new recharge systems. But those villages are exceptions, in most places traditional ponds and wallows are being filled up to be turned into sports fields, or make way for buildings.
Where there are new ponds, they are sometimes in the wrong places or without proper design. Roads and drains are not engineered properly and have increased landslides and erosion. Water management in hilly areas is not just about building things, it is about building in the right way, in the right place.
Traditional water systems were based on nature. They were not perfect, but they used the land wisely. Ponds used to hold rainwater and slowly refill springs which supported families, farms, and forests.&nbsp;
Not everything worked well in the past, but we can learn from traditional water management practices. Across Nepal, some rural municipalities have launched campaigns to store monsoon runoff — either in tanks, ponds or by recharging the aquifers.
But not all efforts have been successful. Some ponds are built without any hydrological study. Some are rushed to meet deadlines rather than real needs.&nbsp;
Now, the Muhan initiative hopes to revive springs to make households more resilient and help farmings. With the financial support of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, research is being done to understand how springs work and how they are affected by changes in rainfall, land use, and development.&nbsp;
Instead of just building pipes and tanks, the project maps the entire springshed so we can understand the root cause of water shortage. In Sindhuli, the problem is not the amount of rain, but the loss of natural systems that store it and the social systems that manage water.&nbsp;
Nepal’s towns and villages now face a major challenge: how to manage water all year round as demand rises with people’s living standards. Depending only on river-lift systems is not a sustainable solution.&nbsp;
We need a mix of approaches that help store water from the rainy season to make it available for the rest of the year, whether by directly harvesting rainwater, restoring ponds, managing springsheds, or smart management of demand.
Rural Nepal is also seeing dramatic depopulation. Much of the outmigration can be stemmed if there is easier water supply for agriculture and household use. Across the mid hills, villages are emptying because springs are going dry. Government policy needs to catch up with the reality on the ground, and support solutions that work for people and nature. Every water supply plan should include recharge structures. Every road or building project should consider water flow and erosion. Local governments need more than budgets: they need training, tools, and data.
Ngamindra Dahal is with the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation, Kathmandu. Hemant Ojha collaborated in this piece and is associated with the Australian National University.

Water for Life

<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-last-of-the-kusunda">The Kusunda</a> are among the last remaining hunter-gatherer communities left in Nepal, and it has only one fluent speaker left of a language that is not related to any other language group in South Asia.&nbsp; The Kusunda call themselves the King of the Forests ((गेम्येहाक़ in Kusunda,वन राजा in Nepali) and used to have a nomadic lifestyle till recently. But decades of exclusion from mainstream society and modernity have forced the Kusunda to assimilate. &nbsp; Today, most Kusunda live across Nepal’s mid-hills and western plains, choosing to identify themselves as Thakuri and adopting names like Sen, Shahi, and Khan to avoid ostracisation. Over time, inter-ethnic marriages between the Kusunda and other communities became increasingly common.&nbsp; However, the assimilation with other communities also meant that almost no one from the Kusunda community can speak their mother tongue – considered by linguists to be a ‘language isolate’ not related to any other language group in the world, and lacking set rules of grammar that are foundational to other languages. There are no words for ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in Kusunda, nor are there words to signify direction. There are 23 languages with less than 1,000 speakers listed in Nepal's 2021 census, with Kusunda being the language with the least number of speakers. The number of people who identified as Kusunda has decreased with each subsequent census. Only 253 individuals identified themselves as Kusunda in the last National Census of 2021, down from 273 in 2011.&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><iframe src="https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/raithane-bhakha/embed/episodes/Kusundas---the-last-of-the-forest-kings-e23ge6p/a-a9peei1" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div> The government’s decision to provide a social security stipend to the community for the past few years has prompted many from the Kusunda community to reclaim their identity and in the process, explore their culture and language. Kamala Sen Kusunda, who lives in Dang, is the only fluent native Kusunda speaker alive, although there are now other Kusunda and non-Kusunda people learning how to speak the language. By the time Kamala Sen Kusunda was born in 1975, her family had settled in a village in Rolpa. Although she did not experience the nomadic life of her forebears, she still roamed the forests freely as a child and many of the values and socio-cultural practices of her community were instilled in her and her siblings.&nbsp; This meant that Kamala grew up speaking Kusunda with her family. But by then, the Kusunda had increasingly begun to interact with people beyond their community, and inter-ethnic marriages had become a norm.&nbsp; Kamala herself married at 18 to a 52-year-old man from the Chhetri community. She would go on to have four children, but they were brought up with her husband’s culture and community rather than her own, and teaching them her mother tongue seemed impractical.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628030648_afaa298bf8ea3b7086e2ed086b11eab463ef2b20a82a4aad74df3dd2e922a4c3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250628030648_afaa298bf8ea3b7086e2ed086b11eab463ef2b20a82a4aad74df3dd2e922a4c3" data-rendition-name="original" width="855" height="641" loading="lazy" alt="Kusunda NT"> <figcaption>Gyani Maiya Kusunda with Kusunda youth in 2015.</figcaption> </figure>  “If I had spoken my language to them when they were children, they would have learned,” she tells us ruefully. “But they were growing up in a different community, so I never pushed, and they never expressed interest.” At the time, she had other things to worry about, such as earning a livelihood and sustaining her family. To find work, Kamala and her family moved to Shimla in India, where she worked at an apple orchard for six years.&nbsp; Over the next years, Kamala and her family moved back and forth between India and Nepal for work, and Kamala was not actively conversing in the language of her people or being able to connect with members of her community now scattered across Nepal.&nbsp; Had she not forgotten her language after all those years? “How could I forget the language of my ancestors?” she replies. “Not speaking it did not mean that it ceased to be a part of me.”&nbsp; Kamala had been working at a brick kiln in Thimi seven years ago when the National Language Commission tracked her down, offered her a paid position as a Kusunda language consultant and source person for basic language training in Dang.&nbsp; It was there that Kamala met her cousin Gyani Maiya Sen Kusunda, the only other person able to speak Kusunda fluently, who had been working with the Commission to conserve Kusunda language and culture. It was also where Kamala met language researcher and lexicographer Uday Raj Ale. Ale had been in the middle of his research into the Tharu language and community 15 years ago when he met Gyani Maiya Kusunda’s son, who told him that his mother was one of the few people who spoke Kusunda, but that no one had shown an interest in studying and preserving the language and culture. Ale met Gyani Maiya, spending time with her learning and researching Kusunda. By 2017, Ale had collected enough words to put together a Kusunda dictionary. The Kusunda vocabulary currently comprises 2,000 words. His research into the Kusunda language and culture has taken him to every known Kusunda household in Nepal. Although the census puts the number of Kusunda at 253, Ale reckons there are only 158.&nbsp; “Kusunda language is endangered due to its lack of use in everyday life, literature, and religious and socio-cultural practices, as well as the prevalence of inter-ethnic marriages,” explains Ale. In 2019 the Language Commission began its language transfer programs for youth from indigenous communities. Since then, the Commission has completed multiple phases of Kusunda language classes in Dang facilitated by Uday Raj Ale. The classes have 20 students, not just from the Kusunda community, but also interested non-native students.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250626120632_c6c378bc00af450f2b7f0cf17af1c3b2b6f7b7226927c458c3e01ec389869d33.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250626120632_c6c378bc00af450f2b7f0cf17af1c3b2b6f7b7226927c458c3e01ec389869d33" data-rendition-name="original" width="1485" height="1535" loading="lazy" alt="Kusunda NT"> <figcaption>Students learning Kusunda with instructor Uday Raj Ale (second row, left)</figcaption> </figure>  Khamba Rokaya, who worked as a caretaker for young Kusunda children in Dang, became interested in learning the language as she sat in with the children during their lessons, and for the last few years has been among the few non-native Kusunda language learners in Dang. “I am not from the Kusunda community, but now that I have learned the language, I hope to do my part to carry on the work and share my knowledge with as many people as possible,” she says. “One way to ensure that we preserve this language is to extend its speaker base, both within the Kusunda and non-native communities.” Ale and Kamala have continued to work together since Gyani Maya’s passing in 2020, expanding the Kusunda vocabulary and creating appropriate curricula to fit the needs of the students as their knowledge of Kusunda expands.&nbsp; But without any documentation of Kusunda history, the community’s traditions, stories, values and language were at risk of being lost to time. “The loss of an ethnicity, language or culture in a country is akin to losing a vital organ, and a unique perspective of looking at the world,” says Ale. Which is why Archive Nepal in collaboration with the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund and the UK’s Department of Culture, Media, and Sport in February launched a book of creative writings in the Kusunda language titled पिन्डा (meaning ‘The First’ in Kusunda): A Compilation of Kusunda Literature. The book is a collection of informative essays about the Kusunda language and culture, short stories that explore themes from nomadic life to universal Nepali experiences of poverty and migration, letters to loved ones, as well as conversational pieces by five Kusunda students ranging from ages 16 to 30. The works in the Kusunda language are also translated into Nepali and English.&nbsp; “Language is an important part of ethnic identity, and our indigenous languages cannot evolve or be conserved unless they are spoken or taught,” said Ale during the launch of the book earlier this year. “But most importantly, language exists as long as there exists literature in that language.” Kamala was in Kathmandu for the launch of the book, and smiled proudly as she looked at the young writers who had contributed to the collection. She said: “I’m glad the young people have chosen to learn and preserve Kusunda. Otherwise, our language would have died with me.” &nbsp;

rana-family

Smallpox, politics and power in Kathmandu

Food of the royals

Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb?

SLAPPing Democracy

Water for Life

Saving the Kusunda language from extinction