Nepal's Power Elites

To the ambitious Shah Rajah like Prithvi Narayan, foreign was Muglan—the abode of non-believers. Foreign was Bhot- the Nepali term for Tibet. Foreign was Firangi- the British colonizers. To the Rana ruler like Jung Bahadur, foreign was a little broader:  crossing the sea, reaching Europe, meeting Queen Victoria, consuming foods prohibited by the then Nepali State, stucco palaces, English language, ballroom, and many more. Even those Shah Rajahs, susceptible to the prowess of both-- the regent queens and Rana rulers-- were thrilled by the domain of foreign, either by seeing the British Residents in Durbar, or by gazing at the menus of the European departmental stores. Following the Indian independence, however, King Tribhuvan had the pleasure and privilege of swotting up more about the realm of foreign, be it during the ball dance with Erica or in Boris’s Club 300 or during his stay in Hyderabad House. His son, Mahendra, dared and darted Nepal’s foreign across the post-war international system through his visits and interlocutors. At the height of the Cold War, to Eton-educated Birendra, the sphere of foreign had to be dealt with the know-how of negotiation and conciliation. As the experiences, exposure, and escapade of ruling groups steadily descended and spread to the larger public domain, the leaders and ministers from the political parties brazenly branded elites’ ploys, in dealing with the external world, as foreign policy, and the elites’ interests as the national interests.