Fall of the house of Shah: end of an era for the world's last Hindu monarchy

 A dynasty bows to a new constitutional assembly due to public disapproval. Smearing red sandalwood paste on a line of worshippers gathered outside the main pagoda of the Nepali capital's imposing Pashupatinath temple complex, Hindu priest Raju Baje explains that the 400-odd shrines contain all but one of the religion's 330,000 deities.

Stone statues of roaring lions, a massive bronze cow, endless wooden images of the divine, and framed portraits of the 11 Shah dynasty monarchs who ruled Nepal for 240 years, with the exception of the current king, Gyanendra, are visible among the smoke from funeral pyres. According to Baje, the current ruler is a god who has been expelled from his own temple. "The king is regarded as a divine figure by us. He is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.  However, if we put up a photo of him, it will be taken down. The people don't love him."

Today, Nepal's new constitutional assembly will hold its first meeting and end the monarchy, a key part of a 2006 peace deal with Maoist guerrillas who gave up the bullet for the ballot box on the condition that the country becomes a secular republic.  The civil war lasted a decade and cost more than 13,000 lives.

 The Maoists, who became the largest party in Nepal's assembly after winning elections last month, say that the monarch will have an "honorable exit." However, King Gyanendra's fall and the disappearance of the world's last Hindu monarchy have been dramatic. In the past few months the word "Royal" has been dropped from the army and national airline.  Gone from the national anthem are any references to the king.  Last week, the crown prince, his wife, and their children made their final departure from their pink-hued palace in the center of the capital.

 The royal family is made up of the king, the queen, and the queen mother. It is without a doubt necessary to tighten the royal belts. The monarch's state salary of $3m (£1.5m) has been revoked and the royal family's seven palaces are to be turned into museums.  Even the queen had to part ways with her entourage of beauticians. After today's vote the king, who once ruled by divine right, will be reduced to a commoner - albeit an extremely wealthy one with tea estates and tobacco holdings in the 12th poorest country in the world. The transformation from kingdom to republic still leaves unanswered the questions of what an ex-royal will be allowed to do.

 The politicians shouldn't go too far in humiliating the palace because the king still has support from Hindu extremists and parts of the armed forces—maybe a small fringe. A series of pipe-bomb explosions that rocked the capital on Monday were claimed to be the work of a previously unknown Hindu nationalist group outraged at the removal of royalty. Bhekh Thapa, a former foreign minister under the king, says the royal family will have to be "guarded" and probably have a "privy purse".

 "The monarchy is a symbol of unity for this poor nation with a large, uneducated population. When you take it apart, be careful, he warned. The Nepalese Maoists, said Mr Thapa, cannot replicate what their ideological mentor Chairman Mao did to China's last emperor, Puyi, whom he met in the mid 60s as a young diplomat.

 "In a Beijing palace, I was shown this tall man who was sweeping the leaves in a plain cotton suit. Because the previous emperor enjoyed gardening, Chairman Mao permitted him to remain to plant flowers and prune trees. That simply isn't possible in Nepal, which is why our Maoists have been urging a dignified exit. Unfolding tragedy

 The fall of the house of Shah is a story of bloodshed, betrayal and intrigue.  For almost two-and-a-half centuries the monarchy persisted, buttressed by the central role the king played in the national religion, Hinduism.

 Even when the palace ceded power to a parliament in 1990, the king remained in charge, retaining the right to dissolve parliament and control the army.

 Even former royalists believe that the 60-year-old King Gyanendra's failure rather than a victory for communism is to blame for the monarchy's sudden fall in a few short years. He was unable to win over his subjects, suspicious of a monarch enthroned after the worst royal slaughter since the Romanovs were murdered during the Russian civil war.

 In the summer of 2001, the drunk crown prince assassinated then-king Birendra and his family in the palace before turning the gun on himself. This marked the beginning of the end for the Shah kings. There were ten deaths among the royal family. Gyanendra, Birendra's younger brother, succeeded to the throne and made no secret of his hostility toward the parliament. Gyanendra was a chain-smoking royal with a penchant for astrology and expensive automobiles. He sacked the government first in 2002 and then seized absolute power three years later, saying only a strong leader could end the Maoist insurgency raging in the countryside.

 King Gyanendra's former military secretary, Lieutenant General Vivek Shah, stated, "Trying to restore the absolute monarchy was a disastrous error of judgment, instead of negotiating with the Maoists and bringing them into the peace process." "This was his arrogance.  He did not listen to views he disagreed with."

 Two years ago street protests forced the palace to concede to a coalition of political parties and Maoist rebels, who joined hands to oust the King.  The perception that the king was more concerned with enriching himself than his subjects exacerbated public dissatisfaction with his rule. This was a fatal flaw in a country that presents a striking picture of contrast between extreme poverty and vast wealth.

 Angry public "I used to suggest to the king: 'Why not convert a few of the royal residences into hospitals and schools?'  Gen. Shah stated, "I thought it would improve the palace's image." "But he took no notice.  Instead he brought a Daimler limousine for 50m rupees (£365,000)."

 The public was enraged by the playboy son of the king, Paras, despite the fact that the king's arrogance never won them over. The crown prince was a regular on the Kathmandu party circuit, carrying a gun and a bad attitude.  He was never charged with the alleged hit-and-run death of a well-known singer. According to General Shah, "I once had to rescue him when he shot up a nightclub and attacked some members of the public." "I arranged military training to instill some discipline in him but he just never showed up to the classes."

 The departure of the king leaves open the question who will be the country's next head of state and what sort of political model the country will adopt.  The Maoists campaigned for a presidential system, with their leader Prachanda as the candidate.  The other smaller parties would prefer a Westminster-type parliament with an eminent person "selected" as head of state.

 Diplomats in the capital say that the Maoist proposals have raised fears of a communist takeover.  "The Maoists enjoy comparing their ideas to those of an American presidency. But in Washington the White House is balanced by Congress," said one Kathmandu-based diplomat.  "That is not what the Maoists want. They like to have strong control over things from the center. However, no one wants a communist dictatorship to take the place of a royal one."

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