Rana, Sagar J B.R(2017). Singha Durbar: Rise and Fall of the RanaRegime of Nepal. New Delhi: Nutech Print ServicesAnnotation by: Gupta Bahadur RanaIn chapter 1 of the book “The Land and Its people” the authorwrites, “Despite the mysteries of unfathomed antiquity, the linkagebetween the present-day Brahmins, and Chhetris-who live mainlyin far western Nepal-with this ancient movement of people, is notwithout basis. In the east, the city of Janakpur is lyrically depicted inthe Ramayana as the home of the virtuous Sita, and the fierce Kirattribe from the mountains formed part of the Pandava army in the battleof Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata. If the Kirat legend is recorded,one can assume that other ethnic groups with similar “Mongoloid”characteristics the Gurung and Magars, probably of Indo-Burmanorigin, and the Tamangs and Sherpas from Tibet, have lived in differentparts of the mountain belt since ancient times. Similarly, the claimsof the Tharus and Danuwars is that, their ancestors were the originalinhabitants of the dense Tarai forests,who through generations ofpersistence gained immunity to malarial mosquitoes and bugs,andresisted the dreaded reptiles and beasts, is well substantiated” (page 4) .In chapter 3, “King Prithvi Narayan Shah”, he stated that, “The king,queen and the crown prince now pushed their respective candidatesto the vacant post of the prime minister. An uneasy compromise wasreached whereby four aspirants for the premiership were appointed”joint Commanders in Chief”: Fateh Jung Shah, a royal relative backby the king; Gagan Singh, the queen’s confidant; Jung Bahadur andAbhiman Singh Rana, an upright officer from the Magar clan. FatehJung was given the title of prime minister but Gagan, backed to the hiltby the queen, wielded the real authority. Such a prominent presenceof the queen’s paramour was intolerable for Rajendra and Surendra.The haughty behavior of this “upstart” also antagonized a whole set ofthe nobility. One cold evening in the month of September, while at hisevening prayers, Gagan was shot dead. The identity of those plannedthe murder or who fired the fatal bullet remains one of many unsolvedmysteries of these times” (page 22).
