Explain Nepal’s historical background, emergence, and fall of Ranacracy

Historical Background

The history of the region which comprises Nepal is quite ancient and its early political history can be traced back to 7th and 8th century BC when Kiratis arrived from the east.

It is as during the Kiratis that Buddhism first come into the valley. Towards the end of 200 AD, Hinduism came into the country along with the Licchavis who invaded Nepal, Bhutan from north India. The decline of the Licchavi power in the 9th century resulted in the rise of numerous principalities.

In the mid 18th century the Gorkha king, Prithvinarayan Shah, unified these principalities through conquest and established the Kingdom of Nepal. Further expansion of the Gorkha kingdom, however, was checked by the Chinese empire in the 1790s and by the British East India Company in the 1814-16. Nepal was squeezed into the boundaries that it has today.

The Shah rulers established an absolute political system in which the monarch was the centre of power. The words and commands of the king constituted the rules and regulations of the country and these took the shape of laws. In the highly segmented pyramidal structure of the political system that evolved, the king was advised by a number of prominent Brahmin families such as the Chautaria, the Pandey and the Thapa families which came to occupy dominant position in quick succession between 1785 and 1837.

The operation of administration did not differ much from family to family as the overriding consideration of these families was the enhancement of their respective material and political fortunes. The administration and army were likewise staffed along familial lines. The number of regiments assigned to a family came to be the most reliable index to its relative power and influence.

Emergence of Ranacracy

After the death of Prithivinarayan Shah, the internal struggle for power within the ruling family weakened the position of the monarch. Except for a brief chaotic interlude in the last decade of the 18th century, the throne was occupied by minors.

This provided opportunity to the regents and ministers (mukhtiyars) to concentrate authority in their own hands, virtually isolating the king from the political process. King Rajendra, the last in the line of ruling Shahs, engaged himself too much in intriguing politics-playing one political faction against the other. As a result, the country came to the urge of a civil war and total disintegration.

This situation was exploited by a remarkable man in the history of Nepal, Jang Bahadur Kunwar, better known as Jang Bahadur Rana. In 1846, when a fight broke out at a gathering of the members of the military and administrative establishment of Kathmandu in the court yard of the palace armoury (kot), Jang Bahadur suppressed the fighting. Many leading nobles were killed in the process. Following the Kot massacre, Jang Bahadur became the prime minister.

He soon eliminated or overawed all of his major rivals, imprisoned the king and elevated Rajendra’s son to the throne as Surendra Bikram Shah. Jang Bahadur institutionalized the position of his family within the political structure by the Royal Sansad (decree) of 1856.

This sansad which was wrested from the reluctant but hapless monarch, granted Jang Bahadur and his successors absolute authority in civil and military administration, justice and foreign relations, including the right to ignore the commands of the king if these were found to be inappropriate or contrary to national interest.

The king later bestowed on Jang Bahadur the honorific title of Rana which was used by successive prime ministers. In return, the Shah Kings were addressed by the more exalted, if somewhat ironic, title of Maharajadhiraja (King of the Kings).

In other words, monarchy was retained in form, but the powers of the king were usurped by the Rana prime minister. The royal family henceforth became a captive in the roya palace.

Thus began a century long period of ‘Ranaism’ or ‘Ranacracy’. The Rana rulers retained the despotic character of the politico-administrative system wherein the Rana prime minister became the source of power. The old nobilities which had enjoyed political and administrative positions during the Shah rule were replaced by members of the Rana family.

The office of the Rana prime minister moved from one brother to another in succession. The Rana rulers codified the Nepalese law through Muluki Ain (Civil Code) which in principle assured equality before law. They also abolished the practice of sati (1920) and slavery (1929) and set up several high schools. But overall, Rana regime was Political Structures and oppressive. Since their power was ultimately illegitimate, resting on the abdication of responsibilities by the king and his virtual incarceration, the Ranas ruled ruthlessly and suppressed political consciousness that challenged their authority.

Almost the entire population remained illiterate and uninformed about any part of the world outside their villages or, at best, their valleys.

As the people had no say in the governance, politics of the kingdom were nothing more than the rivalry and interplay among the personalities of the Rana family for power and position.

Family feuds and intrigues came to characterize the political process as ambitious members of the family were dissatisfied with the succession system. Right from the beginning every Rana prime minister had tampered with the roll of succession keeping in mind the interests of his nearest and the security of his own political position.

In spite of this, the Rana system was sustained owing to the weakness of the king and the support of the British authority in India which found in the Ranas a reliable protege and surrogate in promoting their interests in India and the Himalayan kingdom.

Fall of Ranacracy

Beginning in the second quarter of the 20th century democratic ideas began to take roots among Nepalese. Nepalese soldiers who participated in the First World War became exposed to new ideas. Some of the elite and middle classes, particularly those living in India and studying in Indian universities also got influenced by the Indian national movement.

They soon organised themselves to bring democracy in the kingdom. They set up weekly newspapers in Kumaon and Benaras which became the forums where Nepalese exiles could criticize the backwardness and repression of the Rana regime. By 1935, the first Nepalese political party, the Praja Parishad (Peoples Council) came into being among Nepalese exiles.

It began advocating multi-caste, democratic government and the overthrow of the Ranacracy. In 1946, the Nepali Congress came into being on the India soil. The British withdrawal from India weakened the Rana regime which drew support from the British in times of crisis. It also encouraged the Nepali nationals for freedom in their own country.

The rise of communists to power in China also made the ruling class panicky. The liberal section of the ruling Ranas led by the then prime minister Padma Shamsher tried to contain the Nepalese movement by granting a constitution, but the die­hard elements were not prepared to concede even this and they forced the prime minister to resign. Confrontation between the people and the rulers on the question of changing the Rana system, thus, became inevitable.

In this confrontation, the leaders of the democratic movement in Nepal got support from the monarch, who was being kept in virtual captivity by the Ranas and the disgruntled Ranas (known as C category of Ranas on the basis of their inferior lineage) who were deprived of their share of ruling positions and some of whom had made substantial fortunes in India.

The anti-Rana democratic upsurge in Nepal was viewed with sympathy by the independent government of India. The pro-Western linkages of the Ranas and their refusal to accommodate democratic aspirations of people were not to the liking of the nationalist Indian leadership.

The Nepalese popular movement launched from India overthrew the Rana regime in 1951. The three segments of the Nepali politics at that time, the Ranas, the popular leaders and the monarch worked out a settlement in Delhi under the guidance of Indian Prime Minister, Nehru. King Tribhuvan who had fled the country in 1950 and taken shelter in India, was restored to his position as a monarch free from the control of the Ranas.

In February 1951, a coalition cabinet headed by Mohan Shamsher was formed with five Ranas and five Nepali Congress party members. This was to be an interim arrangement until the formation and installation in office of a democratically elected government. It was agreed to have a constituent assembly for framing of the constitution and holding the general election within a period of two years hence.