Gautam Banerjee

Rana Prime Minister Chandra Sumshere had five sons from his first wife, Lok Bhakta Devi. From 1901 until 1950, these sons were the shadow players of Nepali politics and were a power base themselves.
Chandra did not enroll his sons to Durbar School and taught them under private tutors inside the Singha Durbar. All of them had excellent English, which they wrote, spoke and read with adequate fluency. The three brothers- Keshar, Singha and Krishna were married to sisters of King Tribhuvan. The five sons were nicknamed Pancha Pandav after the brothers of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata.

Mohun Sumshere
The eldest of Chandra Sumshere's son Mohun Sumshere was the last Rana prime minister. He was a teetotaler and deeply religious person who spent hours in his chapel.
Mohun Sumshere was never in good relations with King Tribhuvan, which probably was his habit of treating the king like a child. He was elder to the King Tribhuvan who despised this. Finally, the confrontation between the King and Mohun Sumshere took place with the plate incident.

All Rana prime ministers had to present an application to the king when they ascended to the post of Prime Minister and the king ratified the application by applying his palm print dipped in a mixture of curd and red powder known in Nepal as abir.
While a silver plate was used earlier from where the King used to give his palm print, Mohun Sumshere insisted that the mixture be mixed in a gold plate and he wanted the king's palm imprint from a gold plate only.

When the message reached King Tribhuvan, he gave a terse reply saying that the Royal Palace had no gold plate as he had sold them all to maintain his family. While it was unbelievable that the Royal Palace would not have a gold plate, it was clear that The King was not happy with Mohun Sumshere. Ultimately the instructions were followed and the gold plate was secured from outside and the ritual of palm print completed.
Egoistical and vain to a fault, Mohun Sumshere was the last Prime Minister to wear the teen Chandra, and the first prime minister of the caretaker government following the fall of the Rana Regime in 1950.
He later left Nepal and settled in Bangalore where he died in 1967.

Babar Sumshere
The  second son of Chandra Sumshere is Babar Sumshere.
Babar's character was a synonym for discipline.  His daily life was also organised. He took a daily morning walk inside the compound of Babar Mahal, and was present in Tundikhel for horse riding. During his equestrian activity, he used to collect applications from citizens which was later stopped by his elder brother Mohun Sumshere.

When he was about 11 years, Mohun Sumshere, while playing, had told him that he would give him 11 lakhs rupees if he became the prime minister. Babar Sumshere insisted that he give the commitment in writing which Mohun did on a paper torn off an excercise book and written in a childish scroll.

The day Mohun Sumshere became the prime minister, Babar Sumshere presented the paper and was given 11 lakhs as per the promise. The surprising aspect of this incident is how a single page could be preserved over the years. Babar Sumshere was well into sixties when he became Commander-In-Chief, the second in roll after Mohun Sumshere.
He doubled his earning through V. K. U. Advani, who bought and sold shares on his behalf every day at the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Babar Sumshere later went away to India and died in Indore.

Keshar Sumshere
The third son, Keshar Sumshere, was a very different character. Very short in stature he loved big game hunting, reading, whiskey and cigar. His love for woman and gambling was well known and so was his hobby of collecting jewels and hand painted miniature paintings.
Unlike his brothers, he did not go to India and stayed back in Nepal.

His personal library which was later donated to the Nepal Government displayed his  vast interest in reading and it was said that he knew where each book was and could quote from them.
He had a penchant for astrology and the reason the main gate of Keshar Mahal is turned at an odd angle is due to his astrological calculations.
So was his quality of public speaking and his speech at Oxford University Oriental Society under the chairmanship of Mr Radhakrishnan ( later President of India) was much appreciated.

General Keshar Sumshere was the ambassador to Britain then.
However, his habit of making sarcasm was not well received by many people. He used to taunt people and make sarcasm regularly to humiliate his staffs. A story goes that one evening Prime Minister Juddha Sumshere telephoned him and said, "Janab (Singha Sumshere) did a wonderful job during the hunt and because of him I managed to shoot a tiger. What medal do you think I should give him?" Keshar Sumshere probably was having his whiskey and in an inebriated state replied " If Janab by arranging the shooting of a single tiger deserves a medal then what do I deserve since I have helped you shoot dozens of tiger." called in Singha Durbar. They were made to wait for three-long agonising hours in a small room when Juddha Sumshere entered. The first question he asked to Mohun Sumshere was, "Jetha, tell me what are the powers of the Prime Minister and what can he do?"

A nervous Mohun Sumshere replied, "The power of a prime is unlimited and he is capable of doing anything Maharaj."
"Then tell this to your Saila brother, who gave me a tongue in cheek reply yesterday, without showing respect to the prime minister. I am forgiving you this time just for your late mother's sake and you all learn your manners."

A feeling of relief greeted the brothers as they walked out of the Singha Durbar. Actually, what Keshar said was true. He headed and managed the Hunting Department and once had to spend the whole night on the back of an elephant during the hunt. What actually happened was that the tiger was entrapped around 4 PM and before Juddha Sumshere reached it became dark. Juddha ordered the elephants to keep the tiger surrounded for the whole night while he and a few others took shelter in a Tharu's hut. After a whole night of vigil, he shot the tiger the next day.
The first Field Marshal of Nepal army General Keshar SJBR died in 1964.

Singha Sumshere
He was the fourth son and nicknamed Janab as at one time he headed the foreign ministry where his letters were addressed as Janab so and so. Hence the name stuck. Soft spoken, Singha was the ambassador to India when Tribuvan made his great escape that culminated in the success of 1950 democratic revolution.

Krishna Sumshere
The youngest of the five brothers. Krishna aka Mitthe was a person of immense generosity. When Bahadur Sumshere resigned from the post of Hajuria General of Padma Sumshere, Padma requested Krishna to take over as Hajuria General.

Krishna duly obliged. But this was not taken very lightly by his brothers, especially Mohun Sumshere, who wanted Krishna to persuade Padma to submit his resignation. Padma finally was forced to resign and while he headed for Ranchi, Krishna Sumshere also resigned from the role of Hajuria General. His reasoning for resignation was his chronic blood pressure, but actual reason was his vision that the Rana system of administration was out of time and needed Improvements. Krishna's concept was not supported by other four brothers.

His resignation was finally accepted and he donated his residence, Sita Niwas and fleet of cars and buggies to the Government of Nepal. He settled in Bangalore where he passed away in 1977. After his death, his wife Tara Rajya Laxmi Rana donated their Banglore bunglow to Shree Aurobindo Ashram and she returned to Nepal only with her husband's writing desk as a momento. No one to date in Nepal has been able to beat the generosity of Krishna Sumshere and his wife Tara.

(A travel trade entrepreneur, Banerjee is a history buff)