Background
King Mahendra (Bir Bikram Shah Dev), the ninth Shah (Gorkha) dynasty ruler of Nepal, was born in Kathmandu on June 11, 1920, the eldest son of King Tribhuvan and Queen Kanti.
(Softcover pamphlet 5 1/2" X 8 1/4" 19 pages B/W Illustrat...)
Softcover pamphlet 5 1/2" X 8 1/4" 19 pages B/W Illustrations of Nepal's wildlife + map.
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King Mahendra (Bir Bikram Shah Dev), the ninth Shah (Gorkha) dynasty ruler of Nepal, was born in Kathmandu on June 11, 1920, the eldest son of King Tribhuvan and Queen Kanti.
He studied politics, economics, english language and Nepali language and culture, privately in the Palace. He was a deep admirer of Nepalese literature and composed several poems.
King Tribhuvan died on March 14, 1955, and Mahendra succeeded him on the throne. The period from the overthrow of the Ranas in 1951 until 1955 had been a transitional phase in Nepal's politics with no constitution, no elected parliament, and no responsible cabinet system. The executive, nominally acting under the authority of the monarch, was composed of various political party leaders who were, in fact, responsible to no one but lacked much political clout. King Tribhuvan was reluctant to assert a forceful role for the monarchy, but gradually felt compelled to do so. The government of India, which had "supervised" the replacement of the Rana system in 1951, found it necessary to serve as the power behind the throne in the Nepalese government whenever decisions had to be made.
King Mahendra, in contrast to his father, was not prepared to see such a tenuous political system prolonged and introduced a series of experiments shortly after ascending the gaddi (throne). His first step (1956) was a purge of the bureaucracy with the objective of making it a more efficient body in the implementation of policies—for example, Nepal's first five-year plan. By 1959 he had, on his own initiative, introduced a parliamentary-type constitution that was largely modelled on India's democratic constitution, but with some protection for the institution of the monarchy. In the spring of 1959 Nepal's first free popular election based on universal franchise was held. The Nepali Congress Party swept two-thirds of the seats in the election, and the leader of the party, B. P. Koirala, was appointed prime minister. King Mahendra assumed the largely titular head of state position given the monarchy under the 1959 constitution, did not intervene with the governance of the country, and spent most of his time touring Nepal or travelling abroad.
King Mahendra noted with some apprehension, however, the ways in which the Nepali Congress was concentrating political power in its hands. Presumably because of fear about the future of the monarchy under these circumstances, Mahendra used the emergency powers given the ruler in the 1959 constitution to suspend the constitution, arrest most of the government leaders, conduct a wholesale purge of the bureaucracy, and concentrate political authority in his own hands. He then introduced in 1962 a new constitutional system based—in theory—on the traditional Hindu social/political institution, the Panchayat (Council of Five). The underlying objective of Panchayat Raj (Rule by Panchayats) was to be the decentralization of political power. As it worked out in reality, however, it constituted a centralization of power, with the final voice on almost any decision, no matter how trivial, resting with the palace and the group of high bureaucrats who served as the principal consultants to the king on policy matters.
By the time of King Mahendra's death on January 31, 1972, there were evident strains and deficiencies in the constitutional and political system he had constructed in the 1960s. In his final years Mahendra amended the 1962 constitution and made some efforts to bring talented and experienced officials into the key positions in the administrative process. But this had limited effect on the political system, which remained authoritarian, with the monarch as the fulcrum around which everything moved. It was quite evident by the time of his death that more basic political changes were required to meet the demands of an increasingly complex and developing society.
(Softcover pamphlet 5 1/2" X 8 1/4" 19 pages B/W Illustrat...)
King Mahendra's reign, 1955-1972, was notable for a wide variety of experiments in political systems, ranging from the classically Western democratic parliamentary system to more authoritarian political structures based, in theory at least, on traditional Hindu concepts and institutions. There was a similar openness to different approaches to economic and social development—for example, moderate but pragmatic land reform and legal code liberalization programs. At all times, however, Mahendra maintained a special concern for the viability of the monarchical system.
At the age of twenty he married Indra Rajya Laxmi Devi on May 8, 1940. The Royal couple was blessed with six children (3 daughters - Shanti, Sharada, and Shobha and 3 sons- Birendra, Gyanendra, Dhirendra).
After her death in 1950, the King remarried two years later on December 10, 1952. The new Queen Ratna Rajya Laxmi Devi was the younger sister of the deceased queen.
She was the consort and Crown Princess of Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah, then Crown Prince of Nepal.
She was Queen consort of Nepal from 1955 to 1972 and Queen Mother from 1972 to 2008 when the royal family were stripped of all titles and privileges.
He was the King of Nepal from 1972 until 2001.
