Gautam Banerjee

On the eve of the Nepalese year 1990 BS, which roughly corresponds to 16 April 1933 to 15 April 1934, astrologers and soothsayers started forecasting a bad year ahead. Things however looked normal and peaceful in the Kathmandu Valley.
It was only seven months that Juddha Sumshere had taken over as prime minister from his deceased brother Bhim Sumshere and the tussle between the A and B Class Ranas, which was at its zenith during Bhim's time, had unusually gone quiet. On 19 April 1933, Juddha Sumshere celebrated his 59th Birthday.

The Great Fire
A few days after Juddha’s birthday, Seto Durbar went up in flames. Built by Maharaj Bir Sumshere, Seto Durbar was a palace unique in not only Asia but the world. The main door was of ivory and its state hall had quartz pillars and the most expensive Belgian mirrors and chandeliers that money could buy. According to some reports, Rs 5 million ( Rs 50 lakhs) was spent by Bir Sumshere for the state hall alone.
Apart from its quartz furnishings, the hall contained priceless artefacts. Rare paintings of Jung Bahadur by Bhaju Macha, the famous artist of Jung’s days, statues gifted by Napoleon III to Jung Bahadur during his visit to France, were all there in this hall.
Chandra Sumshere used this hall to host the banquet in honour of Baron Rothschild in the earlier part of the 20th century. Although Bir Sumshere’s son Gehendra Sumshere for whom the palace was built had passed away, his two sons, Leela and Sur Sumshere, were the co-owners of the Palace.
Sur Sumshere was known for his unique collection of silent films of those days and regularly hosted film shows for his brothers and relatives in his wing in the palace. He also had the most expensive collection of perfumes. These perfumes known as ittars (Oil of flowers without any alcohol base which made the smell linger for months) were mostly from Bir Sumshere and Jung Bahadur’s collection.
Jung Bahadur had brought in a sizeable collection from Lucknow during the mutiny and all these precious ittar bottles landed up in Sur Sumshere’s collection.
The fire had started from Sur Sumshere’s wing. Earlier, the night before milk was heated on a coal oven for Sur's infant daughter by one of the maids and some burning coals had spilt on the floor. The coals were doused but one burning coal had slipped under the furniture and was overlooked. It was this solitary coal that set the building on fire. People in the palace discovered this about 1 AM when the fire started raging full blast.
There was no fire brigade in Nepal those days and trying to contain a fire of this magnitude with buckets of water by army personnel untrained in fire fighting proved futile. A team led by Keshar Sumshere and Dilli Jung Thapa tried to salvage at least one rare portrait of Jung Bahadur by cutting the canvas around the frame. They did cut it out but the smoke had already blackened the portrait to such an extent that the painting was valueless. The team could not do more as the fire had already started to engulf the State hall.
The cracking explosions of chandeliers, mirrors and quartz pillars could be heard all over Kathmandu town. The main Chandelier of the state hall weighing tons crashed through the floor landed on the ground floor with an explosive sound with shards of glasses flying all over.
The priceless paintings and artefacts went up in flames along with the silent film and ittar collection of Sur Sumshere. A dishevelled and weeping Sur Sumshere would ask anyone that if they could smell his ittars in the cinders. In no time, this magnificent palace was reduced to a hollowed-out skeleton of its former self. After some time, the fire stopped by itself before it reached the west wing.
It was only after two months of this incidence that the first fire brigade arrived in the valley. The name-Juddha Barun Yantra- was given to it by Guruju Hem Raj Pandey and was approved by the prime minister.

The Great Earthquake
On 15 January 1934 at exactly 22 minutes past 02 PM and 24 seconds, an earthquake of 8 Richter Scale shook the country including Kathmandu valley for 2 minutes. Earlier, the valley had witnessed 41 inches of rain from 3 days before the earthquake had rattled and a thick fog had engulfed the valley on that fateful day. The previous day was Maghe Sankranti, which is a major festival in Nepal and people were still celebrating it when the earthquake struck.
This disaster displayed the Rana Administration's capacity at its finest. About 1500 soldiers were immediately deputed by then Jangi Lat Padma Sumshere for rescue works. The water and electricity supply system was brought back to its working condition by the fourth day. The homeless were sheltered in Tundikhel and Pratap Sumshere's land in Jamal. A curfew was placed at night and any thief found prowling was ordered to be shot dead.
King Tribhuvan was at that time residing in Nagarjun and Prime Minister Juddha Sumshere was away in Western Terai on his annual winter hunt. No Prime Minister in the history of Nepal had ventured so far away from the Kathmandu valley. The news of this devastation of the capital reached him only after a few days. With the railway system in India damaged, he had to wait for its repair. He finally reached Kathmandu on 4 Feb 1934.
A total of 4,293 people lost their lives and 12,297 houses were reduced to rubble in the valley alone. Scores of monuments including Dharahara and Ghantaghar collapsed and lots of temples suffered damage. King Tribhuvan lost two of his daughters when a part of Narayan Hiti Palace collapsed. Juddha Sumshere lost his granddaughter ( Col. Bikram Sumshere's daughter) in this earthquake.
As said earlier that this disaster displayed The Rana administration at its finest. A monumental task of rebuilding the country, caring for the wounded, settlement of the homeless, food distribution and relief operation was carried out without any foreign help. It was not that the offer was there, but Juddha Sumshere refused to accept them politely. He wanted to show the world that Nepal was capable of handling her problem. Which he did.

The Coup
The month of March arrived, bringing the flavour of spring to the valley. But for some, this would be the harshest spring. The valley suddenly was abuzz with rumours that the B Grade Ranas would be thrown out of their role.
The conflict between the A and B Ranas touched its zenith during Bhim Sumshere’s time. The main commander of the B group Tej Sumshere was down with paralysis and the B group had no effective leader to lead them, nor did they have the support of the Prime Minister like during Bhim Sumshere’s time.
Seeing the gravity of the situation, Mukhtyar and second in command, Rudra Sumshere called his sons Iswar, Shyam, Gopal and Dhairya to warn them to behave. He told them that in the event of a coup it would be wise to leave gracefully. "It would at least save our lives."
At the festival of Ghore Jatra, the army held their traditional equestrian show at Tundikhel. During this event, Juddha Sumshere, who was present at the Khari ko Bot, ordered Rudra Sumshere to have all the Ranas assemble at Singha Durbar on Sunday, 18th March at noon for a meeting to discuss the issue of the provisional fund.
Juddha's second instruction of assembling a battalion of the army at Tundikhel on the same day sent a shiver through the spines of the B Class Ranas.
On the fateful day of 18 March 1934 by 12, all the Ranas had assembled at Singha Durbar under a tent pitched in the compound. At 1230 PM a staff came running and informed all working Ranas has been ordered to go to the state hall and the others in a smaller hall on the ground floor.
Before entering the State hall, Surya Sumshere had body searched Pratap Sumshere, Mahabir Sumshere and Gopal Sumshere. All the Ranas sat on two rows as per seniority facing each other on both sides of the fountain, which were closed. The doors and windows, leading to the portico at the backside of Rudra Sumshere, were all shut.
About 30 minutes later, Agni Sumshere entered the hall and opened one of the doors leading to the portico. King Tribhuvan, attired in white, entered the room and sat on a sofa. Everyone stood up and sat down after the King.
King Tribhuvan was silent. He lit a cigarette and looked at the faces of those Ranas who were to be deposed in an hour. Rudra Sumshere's elder sister, Kirti Rajyalaxmi, loved him more than his mother. Many of them were his childhood playmates. Mahabir Sumshere and Hiranya Sumshere were his good friends. He wanted to cry but his role as a King did not allow tears in public. He did not want this. Many buildings had collapsed just two months ago and he did not want people to collapse now.
But he was powerless to do anything. His sensitive and expressive eyes said it all. He finished the second cigarette and abruptly got up, looked at the faces for one last time, and bid a silent farewell and walked out followed by his ADC Agni Sumshere.
At 02: 25 PM, Juddha entered from the open portico door, two revolvers in hand, followed by Bahadur, Hari and Narayan Sumshsere, with drawn guns. The windows on top of the hall displayed women with revolvers pointing to the Ranas below. Without any fanfare, Juddha pointed the gun at Rudra Sumshere and said, “Commander-in-Chief, you are hereby deposed and exiled to Palpa. Pratap is to be exiled to Ilam. Ram Sumshsere is out of the valley and we will do something upon his return. I had to take this step as the A and the B Ranas could never get along and I don’t want a fate like Ranauddip."
Rudra replied, “Maharaj, I don't think I have done anything wrong to earn your disfavour.
But as ordered, I will happily go anywhere you send me." To which Juddha replied, “You have done your job extremely well, and I have nothing against you. However, some of your sons behaved the way they should not have.”
Rudra bowed and touched the revolver Juddha was holding with his forehead as a traditional mark of respect. He was later escorted out of a side door from Singha Durbar to Babar Mahal. He reached Thankot at 4 PM the same day accompanied by a truckload of soldiers.
This incident was one of the last nails in the Rana coffin, which made King Tribhuvan more determined for gaining freedom. He would see the results of his efforts only after 16 years.
The deposed Ranas would be later the main financier for the famous 1950 uprising. Without the help of the deposed Ranas, the anti-Rana uprising in 1950 would have never succeeded.
The Devil's year, 1990 BS, was complete. And after a few weeks, BS 1991 arrived.

(A travel trade entrepreneur, Banerjee has a keen interest in Nepal's history)