Nepal's troubled Shah dynasty faces extinction

---

KATHMANDU, Sept 9 (AFP): Centuries ago, an angry Hindu god prophesied that the dynasty established by the founder of modern Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah, would last fewer than a dozen generations, according to legend.
Eleven generations later, King Gyanendra looks like fulfilling the prophesy as the future of the monarchy hangs in the balance.
The biggest political party announced late last week it was set to back a republic in November elections and fiercely republican former rebel Maoists have ended their decade-long people's war and entered government.
The polls to elect a body to rewrite the constitution could be the endgame in an incredibly turbulent dynastic history.
In the 18th century, Gyanendra's forefather, Prithvi Narayan Shah, was king of Gorkha, a small hill kingdom in central Nepal that was not particularly fertile nor on any trade route. But the king had big ambitions.
One of at least 60 kingdoms between the Himalayas to the north and the southern plains bordering India, the Shah dynasty founder used political wiles and force to conquer dozens of kingdoms and create what became known as modern Nepal.
"His success was due to effective military leadership and his ability to play other states off against each other," John Whelpton, author of "A History of Nepal," said.
The jewels in the crown of his conquests were three towns-
Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan-nestled in the fertile
Kathmandu valley, epicentre of a major India-China trade route
Still seen today as an impressive military leader and shrewd political operator, Prithvi established the kingship that passed down the male line and ruled until his death in 1775.
Proving leadership is not hereditary, his heirs were a much less impressive bunch, historians say.
After his death in 1775, "Nepal was ruled for the next 70 years by kings who were either underage, inept, insane or all three," wrote Manjushree Thapa in a history of Nepal, "Forget Kathmandu (An Elegy for Democracy)."
Kings were allowed to take numerous wives which meant conflicts over succession, intrigue and killings.
"Successive kings, family members and courtiers were involved in power struggles, and many of the Shah kings of this time did not die natural deaths," said royal expert Sanu Bhai Dangol.
Events came to a head in the 19th century when a regent queen, Rajyalaksmi Shah, summoned her advisors, furious that one of her aides-believed to have been her lover-had been murdered.
After her orders to execute the suspected culprit were defied, she tried to kill him herself. The row triggered court in-fighting, leaving 55 people dead, and prompted the prominent Rana family to take power and declare themselves "hereditary prime ministers."
By the early 20th century, the Shahs were "virtual prisoners of the Rana maharajas," Thapa said.
The Ranas kept the Shahs under tight control until 1950 when King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah told his overlords he planned to leave his palace for a hunting trip but fled to the Indian embassy and was spirited to Delhi.
Tribhuvan departed with most of his family but left his toddler grandson, Prince Gyanendra, today's king, whom the Ranas enthroned as a child monarch.