To celebrate the restoration of multiparty democracy, Nepal is searching for the right note - a new national anthem that would provide the right blend of patriotism and people's sovereignty.
KATHMANDU: To celebrate the restoration of multiparty democracy, Nepal is searching for the right note - a new national anthem that would provide the right blend of patriotism and people's sovereignty.
After remaining without parliament for four years and without a prime minister for 15 months, the country, which has undergone a series of upheavals since last year, now finds itself without a national anthem.
"We are consulting litterateurs, poets and intellectuals for a new national anthem," said Dilendra Prasad Badu, minister of state for information and communications, who is also the spokesman of the Girija Prasad Koirala government.
"We are looking for a song that honours the nation and its people - a song that pays tribute to people as the state's sovereign power."
The national anthem, "Shrimân gambhira Nepâli prachanda pratâpi bhupati", was last sung in public May 17. The next day, Nepal's parliament, reinstated after four years, unanimously approved of a series of dramatic changes to clip the powers of King Gyanendra in retaliation for his having seized absolute power through a coup last year.
The changes included establishing the sovereignty of parliament over the king, who had ruled with an iron hand for 15 months and axing the national anthem that hailed the king as the sovereign.
The history of the national anthem goes back to 1895 when Prime Minister Bir Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana ruled for six years. It was felt that two separate tunes should be composed to salute the king and the prime minister during their public appearances and the army band was asked to produce the music.
Once the two tunes were composed, the rulers wanted songs and a committee was formed to come up with the lyrics. The Nepali Language Publications Committee asked popular poet Chakrapani Chalise to do the needful and he wrote two separate songs.
Chalise's salutation to the king, roughly translated, goes: "Brave sovereign Nepalis, may glory crown you/His majesty, king of kings, our glorious ruler/May he live for ever/May the number of his subjects increase/Let every Nepali sing this with joy."
In the 1950s, the battle for power between the titular kings and the all-powerful Rana prime ministers reached a head. A strong mass movement against the Ranas ended their rule and the salutation sung in their honour was discarded.
The king's salutation became the only anthem and in 1962, three years after Chalise's death, a new constitution was written, making the royal salutation Nepal's national anthem.
It was sung during the king's public appearances, at theatres before films began, school assemblies, army events and on the state-run radio and TV channels.
The national anthem was first challenged by Maoist guerrillas after they began an armed revolt in 1996 to abolish monarchy.
In the course of their decade-old "People's War", the rebels composed their own version of a "national anthem", compelling schools in their stronghold areas to sing the new song.
Finally, their sentiments began to be shared by the major political parties and people last year when King Gyanendra's direct rule began to stir up anti-monarchy feelings like never before.
A spate of protests against the king last month forced him into stepping down and the new government celebrated victory by discarding the national anthem written by Chalise.
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