Love and Death in Kathmandu: A Strange Tale of Royal Murder

by Amy Willesee, Mark Whittaker

On June 1, 2001, the heir to the Nepalese throne, Crown Prince Dipendra, donned military fatigues, armed himself with automatic weapons, walked in on a quiet family gathering, and, without a word, mowed his family down before turning a gun on himself. But Dipendra did not die immediately, and while lying in a coma was declared king. He was now a living god.

Award-winning journalists Amy Willesee and Mark Whittaker set out to understand what could have led to such a devastating tragedy, one that fascinated and appalled the world. Exploring Kathmandu and other parts of the kingdom, they conducted exhaustive interviews with everyone from Maoist guerillas to members and friends of the royal family, gaining insight into the people involved in and the events behind the massacre. At the heart of the story is the love affair between Dipendra and the beautiful aristocrat Devyani Rana, whom he was forbidden to marry. Culminating their portrait of Nepal is a chilling reconstruction of the events of that fatal day.

As conspiracy theories circulate and rebels threaten to topple the monarchy, the future of this small Himalayan kingdom, promises to be as tumultuous as its past. Revealing a country where the twenty-first century mingles uneasily with the fourteenth, Love and Death in Kathmandu is both an enlightening portrait of a place that is a world apart and a riveting investigation of an incredible crime.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Historical, True Crime

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Hazeanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

2001 was a horrible year for Nepal. It was the year of 3 Kings. Unlike the German Empire in 1888; it was a bloody affair. Their beloved Kings*, Queen and 7 other family members had been wiped out from a shooting rampage occurred during a monthly family dinner gathering.
* Crown Prince Dipendra was declared King by the privy council after the death of his father, King Birendra. He reigned in a coma for 3 days before succumbed to his injuries.

This book; Love and Death In Kathmandu by Amy Willesee and Mark Whittaker, offering deeper glimpses of what transpired during the night of royal massacre. It traced movements of Crown Prince Dipendra during his last days on earth and; unfolded events leading up to that fateful Friday evening of June 1st. It also depicted the aftermath of tragedy from several perspectives.

This massacre made various international news headlines. It was the first time; a tragedy of this magnitude happened to a royal family in the 21st century. The last time, a group of army officers mounted a coup d'etat and assassinated the Iraqi Royal Family in 1958.

This book is quite well-crafted. It is a good choice as a starter, if you are interested in this topic. It introduced readers to local context.

The royal massacre was predated by several omens and signs from the universe.
1). The Bhimeshwore idol in Dolakha temple sweated. For all 8 times it sweated before, catastrophes happened in Nepal. Including earthquake in 1934 that killed 8519 people.
2). Mysterious rain occurred during a clear night at the ancestral palace of Gorkar Durbar. Local construed it as a signal directly to the king. Gorkar Durbar is the birth place of Prithwi Narayan Shah, the 1st King of united Nepal from the Shah dynasty.
3) Strange circles of pimples appeared on the cheek of the child Goddess Kumari shortly before the tragedy. As an afterthought, some believed it actually signaled kind of injuries to the Queen. Her Majesty suffered the most horrific injuries in that part. Her head and face was covered with an open eyed china doll mask during the funeral.

Metaphysics might not be for everyone; but it's good to glimpse what it had to say. Especially, comments about the presence of "raj bhanga yoga" in CP Dipendra's birth chart. There's a people saying that components in his birth chart made his parent distant from him.

Authors weaved some religious theme into their presentation. Readers could get a sense of idea, on what roles Goddess Kumari, Goddess Kali, God Hanuman, and the holy man Goraknath had, with the destiny of the Royal Family.
- During the last year of the life of King Tribhuvan, the child Goddess Kumari refused to give him tikka and wept. She gave it to Crown Prince Mahendra instead. His Majesty passed away 6 months later.
- For the last 16 years of Her Majesty's life, she performed a specific 5 days fasting ritual annually to ensure that she would never become a widow.
- A priest performed katto ceremony for the soul of King Dipendra told author that the reign of King Gyanendra will be troubled since the government didn't fulfilled their promise to compensate him enough. According to him, the spirit of the late King will be angered with it.

Authors also explained just enough history behind the intertwined Shah Dynasty and Rana. Of how Rana family occupied the prominent position of being hereditary Prime Minister at the 1st place. Ruler powers had been vested to Rana's premier in perpetuity.
* Rana actually descended from Bal Narsingh Kunwar, a bodyguard of the 3rd King of Nepal, Rana Bahadur Shah,

Rana's dynasty had been elevated to become the Maharajah to the small states of Lamjung and Kaski. They became royal themselves, quite on par with Shah Dynasty. Though the Shah's King had the distinction of Maharajadhiraja. (Emperor/Supreme King).

For more than a century, Kings of Nepal had to endure the state of being inside a gilded cage. His Majesty couldn't venture outside of the palace or received visitors. Unless with permission. Virtually a prisoner but in name. Until during 1950s, when Mohan Shamsher Rana handed back power to King Tribhuvan and Rana's hereditary premiership abolished forever.

The Shah-Rana family chart was provided on the front section; but it was difficult to comprehend. They had intermarried so many times since 1857. So, as the topic flow by, I took notes and drew my own tree, bit by bit as it came up in the book.

I had to mention; comprehending the history of Rana's dynasty is very important. In order to understand rivals existed between different Rana's branches. With it, readers will get the historical reason behind Queen's refusal to accept CP Dipendra's bride of choice, Devyani Rana. This refusal was stated as the "main reason" why CP Dipendra allegedly committed regicide.

Doubled up as a travelogue, authors brought us to Nepal in midst of various strikes and riots, taken place in less than a year after the tragedy. They even been in close promixity when an explosion occurred on their way to buy fruits. They had to stockpile their food rations in view of uncertainty. Authors described their journey to Gorkha Durbar amidst tighten security. There's a trip to Shiva Ratri festival held in the Pashupatinath temple. Its one of the Hindu holy site in the country. Its ghat was where all the royal victims cremated 9 months earlier. Not in depth depiction though. Since the main focus is to unveil the massacre; and those places related to the subject.

Nevertheless, authors made it up with enough political, social and cultural backdrop. They interviewed wide assortment of people from various backgrounds. Ranging from former Maoist leaders; a police officer who fought a continuous 9 hours battle with Maoist; an army officer. There's an interview with the journalist Padam Thakurathi who was critical to the royalty, especially to Queen Aishwarya and the former Prince Dhirendra*. Authors even managed to talk to Pashupati Shamsher Rana**. He was a member of the last cabinet under the Panchayat system. The cabinet recommended to King Birendra for the system abolishment and for Nepal to become a constitutional monarchy. He survived 8 attempts on his life before the interview.
* Youngest brother of King Birendra. Lost his royal title after divorcing his wife to marry an English woman.
** Father of Devyani Rana, CP Dipendra's love interest.

On the social and cultural front, authors explored the attitudes of Nepalese toward certain things. For example, regarding marriage. To be single at the age of 30 in 2001 as CP Dipendra was, will be regarded with suspicion and stigma. Its a society whose marriage taken place much earlier.

There's juicy stories, opinions, hearsays, rumours and gossips from the Kathmandu society and the royal inner circle as well. Flavourful.

Inevitably, author's came to CP Dipendra's part. They described his upbringing, relationship with his parents, his characteristics. Most importantly, his love life.

Reading this made me realized reasons he was very popular among ordinary public. He earned that respect. He has affinity with the public; with distaste for overt formality or protocol. He mixed easily with them. That's why people refused to believe he was the culprit and disputed the official findings. Even after Nepal had become a republic, this case still gauged lots of interest by locals.

He envisioned the constitutional monarchy with less power but with more influence. He no longer saw any point of being Autocrat because he knew the palace official was not very honest, according to this book.

I gathered certain biasness toward Devyani Rana from authors and those inner circle. Well, I don't the same sentiment. I have compassion for her. She's a victim as well.

As I stated earlier, authors reconstructed detailed movements inside the billiard room during the massacre. It based from those survivors. Authors also gathered opinions from them and relatives of those deceased, for reflection about why it happened.

Since the tragedy, I had read various articles about it. There's a lot of theories and books coming up about it. One of the most popular was, the man doing the shooting was a Dipendra's lookalike/double body/man in a realistic Dipendra's mask.

While mentally replayed moments depicted during the massacre in this book, I realized this double body theory has a possibility. It didn't contradicted with survivors' statement except the identity of man behind that military fatigue. He didn't speak at all. He wore gloves.

It's interesting that this book noted that some of the street lights on the palace compound was not working that night. It was noticed by King Birendra at 8.25 pm. Less than an hour before the tragedy.

Nevertheless, this book and all those theories agreed about this point. The movement and behaviour of security personnel especially ADCs during the shooting were questionable.

Now, my complaint about this book. As much as it was well written, authors didn't give much room for readers to make their own conclusions. It's akin to, "This is our presentation, we give you facts, how and why. Accept it".

They should trust the intelligence of their readers to draw own's conclusions.

Afterall, there's no forencis testing to trace bullet residue from the military fatigue last worn by CP Dipendra. That's very important to establish how many shots were actually fired by him. Probably just one (To himself). Probably none. Probably so many. That's crucial because it will establish beyond doubt he did it or did not. If he did, it will bury the theory of double body/ lookalike forever. It should be noted there's no autopsy, blood test or toxicology performed.

What I wish is, with the absence of scientific evidence on the government side and, unless authors could unearthed a new one; they should presented their writing in more neutral way.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book probably has a very very tiny interested audience, and if you weren't familiar with Nepal at all (especially first and surnames), it would probably be nearly impossible to read. However, for the very very tiny interested audience, this book is phenomenal. There is so much rich detail about the long history of the monarchy and that helps set the stage for the recent events. My husband (a Nepali) was suspicious of the book at first because he felt wary, as he very well should, about a non-Nepali writing a book about Nepal. However, this allowed the authors to have a fair bit of objectivity that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. The authors were extremely thorough and never seemed ethnocentric or to have a particular belief about "what really happened" in mind. Just a beautifully written, extremely well-researched story of the events.

[Lam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having previously spent time living in Nepal this is a story with such mystery and intrigue around this historic incident in Nepal's history. There are of course numerous conspiracy theories to accompany this but a good start at learning about this event.

[Subin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Nepalese people, the Royal Massacre of 2001 is equivalent to the 9/11 attack for the US. It has drastically altered the course of Nepales politics. I was a teenager when the incident occurred and I've never been more shocked by any other news. This is the first book I have read about the incident although it was published a while ago (Probably this book wasn't allowed to be sold in Nepal back then). The authors did a great job of describing the background that led to the incident. The history of the Saha and the Rana family is also quite relevant -- coups and massacres were regular occurrences in the ruling families of Nepal. The book also goes into detail about prince Dependra's upbringing, his characters, and his life before the incident, which helps readers understand what might have triggered his action. Although, I already know many details of the massacre it was still shocking to read the description in the book. The final chapters describing the aftermath and how the survivors were coping were sad.
Like most people in Nepal, I had a hard time believing that Prince Dependra could commit such senseless brutality. But, having read so much about gun violence in the recent decades, now it isn't very surprising at all.

[Marco Santana]

Very interesting book! Kathmandu is a city full of magic, faith and present in the imagination of people from all continents. The capital of Nepal holds a precious cultural, historical and religious treasure. There are temples, sacred images, historic palaces, a very peculiar gastronomy and a diverse population in terms of customs, beliefs and physiognomies.
Kathmandu , the largest city in Nepal, is the country’s political and cultural capital, where Nepalese arrived from all corners of the country and were assimilated.
I would like to recommend this article, about this amazing city:
https://marcozero.blog.br/kathmandu-a...

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and intriguing. I was aware of the incident but knew little of what actually happened. The background to the event focussing on the Crown Prince’s love for a woman deemed unsuitable by the then queen seems to be at the seat of what happened. The great deal of intermarriage over the centuries was an eye opener. The reverence held by the general populace for the royal family is evident and must be due to centuries of traditional beliefs.
An insight into a country with so many living in poverty while the upper echelon continue to live in luxury

[Amber Haumschild · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amy Willesee and her husband Mark Whittaker do an amazing amount of research. Beautifully exploring Napelese history. Providing clear context for which this tragedy occured in.
The only thing I feel lacking is for other theories other than the prospective marriage not being able to work.

[Norman Styers · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story by writers who do a good job conveying a sense of place and culture.

[OvercommuniKate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great investigative journalism.

[Astha Kattel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating to read and really well written. Felt like a history lesson on Nepal-weaving culture and royal family blood lines, all culminating to the details of the horrific mass murder.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit of a different choice for me, but a colleague recommended this to me and what a recommendation! Absolutely mind blowing how recent these events were and I kept having to remind myself it was a true story. Wonderfully written; I really liked how the way it was written changed once we reached that night.

[Rjyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story, good pacing, seems like they put a lot of work into talking to many people about the royal family at the center of this story. One thing that really confused me though was how much shit the authors talked about astrology in the first half of the book. Especially when they go to visit an old dude whose family has been studying astrology for generations and advising the country's monarchs, they basically infantilize the dude, mock his beliefs, and drop all kinds of lines like "but of course no star could predict ___". Totally unnecessary personal commentary, imo, that lends their whole book with an ethnocentric, 1st-world-arm's-length distance from the people whose story they are trying to tell. It gets even weirder, though, as they keep bringing up instances of omens and fore-tellings of an esoteric or paranormal nature that appear to be right on the money! It didn't seem like a trick where they assumed anyone who reads their book despises astrology and then wanted to make us question that by the end-- I'm guessing they kept bringing up the Nepalese stories of omens and prophecies and whathaveyou to give their narrative a Mystical-Primitve-Oriental-Foreign atmosphere.

[Rey · Rating 4 out of 5]

About halfway through this book it became clear to me that it's essentially a grand collection of gossip. However, I still found it entertaining and informative. Im headed to Nepal in a week and this book helped me to have a basic (understandably brief & shallow) understanding of its political past.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of the book dragged, but as I pushed through to the second portion my effort paid off. The two authors did a very thorough job of interviewing and reporting on the events of the devastating tragedy involving Nepal's royal family on June 1, 2001.

[Goldenwattle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read about half of this book. I found the characters confusing; particularly as the names are unfamiliar. I put the book down for a couple of weeks and when I went back to it I had no interest to continue where I left off. Okay for what I read.

[Shah Saguna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me nostalgic and left me bitter..... a tragic ending of the royal family. i need to talk a lot about this book so please read my notes about it...

[Khushi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloody brilliant.