Black and White Picture of Raja Ugar Singh of Hindur, 1840-1850 (from Archer's book on Punjab Hills Paintings) Picture the year: 1795. The foothills of the Shivaliks are tense, echoing with the tramp of armed men and the grinding pressure of regional rivalries. Down in the valleys, Raja Ram Saran Singh Handuriya of Handur (modern-day Nalagarh) is caught in a grinding political bind. For years, Handur has ridden the coattails of Kangra’s aggressive campaigns against its bitter historical rival, Bilaspur (then known as Kahlur). But looking out across his contested borders, Ram Saran Singh faces a heavier, more haunting question: Does he continue serving as a satellite to Kangra’s ambitions, or does he break away, side with Maha Chand and Bilaspur, and reclaim a fractured sense of Rajput honor? The friction between Handur and Bilaspur was rooted in continuous struggles over strategic border zones, crucial river-crossing points, and the Satgarha (seven forts) territory. Because Handur...
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| Former Royal Priest of Nepal Keshari Raj Pandey performing Katto (credit: Outlook India) |
When the monarch of Nepal Sri Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev had passed away intragic circumstances back in 2001, a wave of shock went across the world for the goriness and the strangeness of the incident. Subsequently the funeral rites were conducted. What followed thereafter had sent murmurs across several groups, wondering what was going on.
An interesting ritual post funeral that took place over time was taken up by the Brahmin Head Priest of the royal family. To quote the Independent story from the United Kingdom of the time.
"A Brahmin priest put on the robes of Nepal's murdered King Birendra, mounted an elephant and went into symbolic exile to rid the country of the curse of his death as the official period of mourning ended yesterday."
Further explaining the 'bizarre' ritual, the Independent wrote:
"The Hindu ceremony, known as katto, is performed only after the death of the monarch. First, in a tent specially erected by the river, the priest, whose usual brahminical diet is strictly vegetarian, consumed an "impure" meal containing animal marrow. Then, over his white cotton clothes, he pulled on the elaborate, medieval court dress of the dead king, including a replica of his crown with its long, curling bird of paradise plume, and a pair of heavy black spectacles similar to the late king's.
Possessions of the king were wrapped in cloth television sets, ceiling fans, bedding, baskets of food and strapped to the back of a caparisoned elephant. Then the priest, too, was heaved aboard, and with a mahout (elephant minder) in front, wrapped in a saffron sash, and with a bearer behind grasping a large, fringed parasol, he set off. The elephant waded into the shallow and smelly Bagmati, bearing the king's soul into exile for ever. The brahmin chosen for the job is supposed never to return."
Nothing StrangeAbout It
Looking at the old gazettes of the 1920s it seems that the practice was under different names and with variations rather important to some hill state monarchs across the Himalayan region.
The 1920 Gazetter of Suket State actually had recorded a funerary ceremony called Preta Palu, calling it a "peculiar practice observed among the Hill Rajas". As the Gazetter explained, upon the death of the Raja, a low class Brahman would be called from outside the State's boundaries. He would be fed food from the right hand of the deceased Raja. He would then remain in the kingdom for a year, eat and drink like the late Raja, sleep on his bed and even be treated by the khidmatgars of the Raja. At the end of the year, he would be escorted out of the state on horse back and would be allowed to get off the horse till the state boundary was crossed.
The Brahmin was called a Preta Palu, or a sustainer of the unripe aatma (Preta). The Mandi State Gazetter made some interesting observations on this practice, a screenshot of which is given for the readers' interest.
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