Be grateful to Prithvi Narayan Shah: Historian Panta

At a time when some sections of the politicians blame Prithvi Narayan Shah for failing to culturally unite Nepal, historian Professor Dinesh Raj Panta says all Nepalis must be grateful to king Prithvi who gave them the chance to live as proud Nepalis from Mechi in the east to Mahakali in the west. As a human being, king Prithvi could have some good traits and some shortcomings and he should be evaluated on the basis of his good and bad traits, says Panta. Panta has penned 18 books related to King Prithvi as a solo author and over a dozen books as a joint author. When Prithvi was born in 1979 BS, there were 52 states within the current Nepal’s geography. Had the Gorkha king Prithvi not begun the unification by annexing Nuwakot in 1801 BS, Nepal would not have been able to maintain its independent identity in front of the expanding British empire and the falling Mugal empire, says Panta. Dr Panta only those lacking study say that Prithvi Narayan united Nepal’s geography but not the cultures. “Had not he united Nepal culturally as well, why would he receive tika from Shakya Kumari in Kathmandu? Why would he conserve cultures and festivals of other areas? Why would the Pandes, the clan of the king’s Rajguru, would accept as Kathmandu’s Bajrayogini as their clan god? ,” asks Panta. Saying that Nepal was unified with the leadership of Prithvi Narayan and efforts of people from all ethnic groups, Panta says celebrating Prithvi Narayan’s birthday (Poush 27, tomorrow) as the National Unity Day will only raise the dignity of Nepalis and Nepal. Though something must be done to end the gap between different regions and different classes in Nepal, Panta says, light decisions on federalism and other issues without any serious study could push the country back to the stage before the unification. Recalling the relevance of Prithvi Narayan’s saying that the country is like a yam in between two boulders, Panta says timely modification in Prithvi Narayan’s foreign policy would help maintain a good foreign policy of the country. It would also avoid a situation whereby leaders give fiery speeches on foreign policy issues but finally give in to the foreign forces. Currently, Panta is involved in preparing an over-700-page book through compilation and editing of Prithvi Narayan’s letters. However, because of the lack of publishers, the book has not been published yet. Rather than blindly criticizing or hailing Prithvi Narayan Shah, may all start evaluating him rightly, Panta wished on the occasion of the unifier king’s birth anniversary.