Defiant Nepal king staves off 'calamity'

Nepal's embattled King Gyanendra, who had been impassively watching the new government usurp all his powers, finally took a defiant stand when he refused to be kept away from receiving the blessings of a goddess -- regarded as essential for the protection of the royal family.

Despite nationwide protests by Maoists demanding the immediate abolition of his crown, the king, unaccompanied by Queen Komal and without any of the earlier pomp surrounding his forays outside the palace, made a low-key visit Sunday to the abode of Kumari, Nepal's living goddess and the protective deity of the royal family for centuries.

The last day of the Hindu Indrajatra festival, a ritual to appease the rain god, is considered especially important for the royal family as it is the day the king worships Kumari -- who is actually a young girl chosen on the basis of her horoscope and other signs -- and is blessed by the goddess who puts vermilion on his forehead signifying victory.

However, with the new government taking away all the public functions of the king to chastise him for having tried to seize power through an army-backed coup, it was Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala who received the official blessing of the Kumari.

Earlier this year, the prime minister had also performed the king's tasks at a chariot festival while the monarch had stayed away after the government refused to make security arrangements for him.

While people thought the king would do the same thing Sunday, to the spectators' amazement, the 61-year-old walked in, virtually as a commoner, without the usual security cordon to separate him from the milling crowd.

Looking serene, the smiling king performed the worship and left with a tiny motorcade of only three cars.

Staunch supporters turned up at the festival to shout slogans against the prime minister and hail the king.

It was a small but remarkable act of defiance coming at a time Maoists have stepped up a campaign against royalists.

They have begun a drive to publicly humiliate and ostracise ministers and other officials of the 15-month royal regime.

Two former ministers had the window panes in their houses smashed and said the government did not send security personnel despite being informed about the attacks.

The Maoists have also called for a special session of parliament in less than a fortnight where they aim to force the government's hands and ask MPs to decide the king's fate.

If the session is convened and two-thirds of the MPs vote to abolish monarchy, the 238-year-old snake throne of Nepal would become history.

After being revered for over two centuries, the Nepal monarchy's popularity started plummeting with King Gyanendra's ascension in 2001 following a massacre in the royal palace that killed the then King Birendra and his entire family.

Things began unravelling furiously in 2005, when the king tried to impose his absolute rule. But this was resisted fiercely by the people, triggering a peaceful uprising that forced him to surrender power.

(IANS)

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