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Hidden Women – The
Ruling Women of the Rana Dynasty
Well, the truth is, a lot. Where most of the literature present has to do with the various politically charged events surrounding his life, Hidden Women treads on the road less travelled and in the process unfolds a unique take on the Nepalese ruler; through the eyes of the women who held centrestage in his life. It is the unsung story of the ordinary and the not-so-ordinary women who wrought the destinies of those in authority. It is an evocative tribute to the power and might of the women who stood, at times silently but never powerlessly, behind Nepal’s most-celebrated ruler. There is a freshness of content and perspective in this scrupulously researched document. Mother, wives, concubines and nurses, all of them, at some point or the other, were instrumental in bringing Jung Bahadur Rana to his destiny, and Greta Rana traces this blood-smeared path from their eyes. The story begins, ironically, with Jung Bahadur Rana’s end and is primarily narrated through his wet nurse Kadam, as she reminiscences over his life. Te narrative progresses chronologically, starting well before his birth and till the time he passes away. Right from Rana’s days in the military service to Mathbar Thapa’s (Rana’s maternal uncle) decline and eventual return to power, from Rana’s time as Kaji to the decisive Kot massacre, every event has been chronicled in this partially fictionalised historical volume. The author shows the sly and vicious nature of the rulers and those who got ruled; replete with their debauchery, political backstabbing and sycophancy. In Greta’s hands, the story becomes the epic saga of the man who decided that he would no longer be a pawn in the games of others; rather he would make the rules of the game! We see Nepal like we have never seen it before. Greta brings to life the trials, turmoil and the bloodied battles fought in the realm of politics, the seedy and unpalatable realities that permeated the society. Be it the process of birthing for a low-caste woman in the animal stalls and the application of cow dung on her newly born or the act of a certain crown princess dying of pneumonia after falling prey to her husband’s fetish for sexual cruelty, the narrative races at you. Greta etches the intricate caste system comprising Pandes, Gorkhas and the Thapa Chhetris, and lets the reader see for themselves how Nepal was synonymous with just Kathmandu and the rigid regime, and nothing else; that no life really mattered outside of these boundaries, especially a woman’s life. And in this shadow of "the byzantine antics of the Nepali durbar" rose Jung Bahadur, the ruler who consorted with women yet held the deepest respect for them. From his wet nurse Kadam to his mother Ganesh Kumari, from his principle wife Bada Maharani Hiranya Garba to his mistress who later became his wife Putali Maharani, all these women were crucial to his life and he acknowledged and revered that. And in return he was duly respected and loved; so much so that three of his wives even committed sati on his pyre. Hidden Women comes from the heart of a woman who has seen and felt the tortured realities of the women in the region. It is a telling recital on the restrictive and antiquated practices, the fight for power and the utter disregard for anybody else in the pursuit of power.
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Nepal’s
