Good morning, we are continuing with someone fun and frivolous for December to wind up the year. These are documentaries that do not quite fit in a curriculum but could potentially be shown as something fun for the classroom. The documentary explores the royal family of Nepal. The run time for this documentary series is 49:31 and is called Falls of the House of Shah.
In 2008, the royal family of Nepal was ousted from power after 250 years of rule. They were forced from their palaces and sent into exile. Nepal was going to become a republic, even though he was loved by the people. The fall of the royal house was a story filled with bloodshed, betrayal, and intrigue. The transition from a monarchy to a republic was swift and would make people question the future of Nepal. Nepal is a beautiful land of temples and mountains. Both Hinduism and Buddhism existed together peacefully for years. Dozens of cultures lived in harmony. However, the Royal Family did not reflect this harmony and peacefulness. The Nepalese royal line was established by Prithvi Narayan Shah. He was a warrior who united Nepal. Rajendra Shah was a mentally ill king and his reign saw one of the first mass murders in Nepal’s royal history. There were both good kings and bad kings and they seemed to cycle between the two extremes over the years. Nepal is unified by Hinduism even though it remains a culturally diverse country. Religious celebrations shut down cities and the people go out to pray. When Nepal had a royal family, they married both religious devotion and royal duties. The royal family strangely adopted the goddess of Vengeance as their personal god. This goddess demanded bloodshed. This bloodshed seemed to turn to the royal family when on June 1, 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra murdered his family. The murders shocked the world. The murder may have been a culmination of a curse that was put on the dynasty that was put on founder. The curse was to last ten generations and then would end. The curse overshadowed this dynasty of the decades. Its founder was Prithvi Narayan Shah, and he came from humble beginnings. He lived in humble circumstances, but he was ambitious to rule. He turned his eyes to Katmandu, an important city on the trade routes between China and India. Prithvi Narayan Shah gathered men, bent on conquering Katmandu. He did but exacted terrible revenge against its people who denied him an easy victory. Soon after the conquest of Katmandu, Prithvi Narayan Shah died, leaving no clear succession. There was infighting in the family and there were serious divisions in the family. The next king that was mentioned was three years old when he became king. Rajendra Shah was a three-year-old king, when he was old enough he managed to overthrow his prime minister and take control of power himself. He had been kept in isolation. However, he was mentally unstable and was known as a cruel ruler. He would frequently change laws and edicts. He passed a law that required the people to obey his young queen and not his crown prince. This battle between the queen and the Crown Prince would lead to the first royal massacre. This would also lead to the first coup against the Nepalese King. The future kings would be under house arrest for a century by the hereditary prime minister. These prime ministers established a clear line of succession: the oldest male would inherit the prime minister position. How would the Shah gain back the throne? Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more about Nepal and the Shahs. This was an intriguing episode to watch in light of how the Nepalese monarchy ended. It seemed everything went back and forth for the Shah Family. The legend of the curse was fascinating. You also thought that the Romanovs were a divided family, the Shahs have nothing on them. Even today, the question of returning the monarch, is still debated in public. I could see showing this documentary in a geography class because of the heavy discussion on the government as well as the royal family. I do not remember learning about Nepal in a history class.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |