Preserving King Birendra’s family home
When Narayanhiti Palace was opened to the public in 2009 soon after Nepal was declared a republic, Nepalis flocked in to see what daily life of the royals looked like. They were not impressed.
Many thought they would also see Tribhuvan Sadan, the building where the 2001 family massacre took place in which ten members of the royal family were killed, and which was later demolished.
The pink pagoda shaped building with a tower designed by American architect Benjamin Polk was a ceremonial structure for official functions, and there was not much to see there about the private life of royals.
Now, the Narayanhiti Palace Museum is set to open Shree Sadan, King Birendra’s private family residence, which has been kept intact since the massacre at 8:45 PM on Friday, 1 June 2001.
Nepali Times got an exclusive sneak preview of Shree Sadan this week, and it is like a time capsule – Prince Nirajan’s room still has his class timetable stuck to the wall, the alcove bar has King Birendra’s favourite brandy, and in the bedroom is a small cot where the king’s beloved German Shepherd, Jit, used to sleep.
“Everything is the same as it was 20 years ago, we wanted it to be as it was, a place where our king, queen, princes and princesses walked, this place holds attachment, and tampering with the memories would be a disservice to Nepal’s history,” says Buddhi Bahadur Gurung as he walks through the dark and slightly musty-smelling rooms.
This is an emotional project for 54-year-old Gurung, who worked closely with King Birendra ever since he was employed at the royal palace at the age of 21. He is now entrusted with sprucing up Shree Sadan so it can be added to the Narayanhiti Museum once the COVID-19 lockdown is fully lifted.
Despite the coronavirus restrictions, workers have used the past four months preserving the artefacts in Shree Sadan, while taking care not to disturb anything in the rooms. The building lies between the current museum and the Republic Memorial to the east.
At Chhauni, 1-4 June 2001, Dr Upendra Devkota
Entering the lush driveway, visitors will be reminded that this was the route King Birendra took every day as he went to and from his office with Jit. There is a deep stillness in the air, and Shree Sadan has a raw and foreboding look.
Gurung remembers King Birendra as a simple man with plain tastes, and did not want an ostentatious building: “He preferred it this way, he loved the natural charm of the brick and tiles.”
Crown Prince Dipendra did not live in Shree Sadan because royal tradition demanded that he stay separately from his parents once he turned 18. He had moved to Tribhuvan Sadan, where the shooting of the royal family took place in 2001 during a regular royal family dinner gathering.
Birendra had also moved out of the home of his father, King Mahendra, when he turned 18. That is when he built the 3-storey and 12-room Shree Sadan for himself.
The main door leads to a red carpeted hallway and a double staircase with a portrait of the extended royal family on the left. The shelf centres a painting of King Birendra’s mother, Queen Indra – her immaculate beauty captured on a crystal frame. In contrast, the hallway also has some grisly taxidermy heads of bears, deer and mountain goats along the wall, a life-size mirror reflecting them.
Cut and cleanly, Kunda Dixit
The ground floor has the study of King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, which was Crown Prince Dipendra’s bedroom before he moved out in 1988.
The living room has portraits of Dipendra, Princess Shruti and Prince Nirajan, and the dining hall has a large brown marble table under a blue ceiling where only the family was allowed.
Off the dining area is a small alcove bar where King Birendra sometimes hosted his brothers for after-dinner drinks and a cigar. He would pour himself a brandy, and fix drinks for Prince Gyanendra and Prince Dhirendra.
Upstairs, the first floor leads to the King and Queen’s personal chambers and the hallway has oil-on-canvas paintings of landscapes and wildlife by Princess Shruti, an accomplished artist herself.
Tyaha raja rani hunthyo, Rabi Thapa
To the left is a common living room, with blue themed walls and furniture. There is a bulky cathode-ray Sony tv set and a stereo with cassette tapes in a corner. This area leads to Queen Aishwarya’s vanity room where there is a small dressing area with a three-sided mirror table, a partition for changing. Adjoining it is a puja kotha (prayer room).
The living room, bedrooms, dining hall and even the bar alcove show the king's simple lifestyle and plain taste.
To the right on the first floor is the personal room of the King and Queen which is modest, almost frugal. A 1990s National tv set faces a king-sized bed attached to a mirror that goes up to the ceiling. The side table has a dial telephone along with a framed image of Khaptad Baba. The bathrooms are simple with pink tiles, a bathtub, a small mirror and ordinary sink.
Next to the door is a small cot for King Birendra’s favourite pet, Jit the German Shepherd. Jit died soon after the royal massacre. “It was depression,” Gurung says.
Princess Shruti and Prince Nirajan lived on the second floor. To the right of the hallway is Nirajan’s chamber: his study room, bedroom and a small terrace with a punching bag, where he often practiced boxing. Nirajan was 23 when he was killed.
The Prince’s study room had stickers of cartoon characters Goofy and Mickey Mouse. He has a collection of Laughing Buddha figures on his shelf, and picture frames on the wall. Everything is as it was 20 years ago – even Nirajan’s class schedule for Kathmandu Management College pinned to the wall and a weekly schedule printed in dot matrix: ‘Wake up at 6.30 and head to bed by 23.00. Friday wake up at 10 am and FRIDAY NIGHT from 19.00 to 23.00.’
If truth to be told, Kunda Dixit
Princess Shruti’s room is different. She was two years older than Nirajan, and it is more feminine: pink flowered closets, family portraits, single bed, study table with VCR tapes which she often shared with her brother. In the driveway below Shree Sadan are three small toy cars -- black, red and white – in which the three siblings often played when they were children.
The opening of Shree Sadan has been delayed by the pandemic and bureaucratic hurdles. But Director of the Narayanhiti Palace Museum Bhesh Narayan Dahal says they are being sorted out: “Yes there were a lot of delays and mismanagement, but we don’t want to wait any further. There is much more of an emotional connection with the royal family in Shree Sadan and it is a searing memory of the tragedy.”
Because of his links to the royal family, Gurung was disappointed that visitors were not happy with the ceremonial palace and its exhibits. But he is confident that Shree Sadan will be a much more intimate addition to the museum.
There are other sections of the palace that are still out of bounds. Trishul Sadan to the east of the main palace has a salon, medication room, gymnasium, indoor swimming pool and private rooms of the prince and princesses. It has not been opened because it is part of the Mahendra Manjil, still the private residence of Queen Mother Ratna who is now 92, and was allowed to live there after 2008.
From royal to republic, Shreejana Shrestha
Gurung says that although King Birendra had winter and summer palaces in Chitwan, Pokhara and Nagarjun, his favourite was always Shree Sadan, a place where he truly felt at home and where he liked to relax while gardening and reading.
Narayanhiti is named after the Malla-era water spouts near the Narayan Temple. Prime Minister Bir Shumshere Rana, who had his daughter marry King Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah, made a palace for the king as a dowry in the late 19th century.
However, that neo-classical palace was destroyed in the 1934 earthquake and King Tribhuvan rebuilt the house called Tribhuvan Sadan -- the building where the massacre took place.
Says Buddhi Bahadur Gurung: “We look forward to welcoming visitors to this museum after the COVID-19 crisis. We have put our heart and soul into it to preserve it just as it was two decades ago on the day of the tragedy.”
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