Royalty & Jewelry – Nepal

 

Mention Royalty and Jewelry in one sentence and the Indian Maharajas/Ranis and their Victorian/Elizabethan counterparts.will immediately come to ones mind. I have often wondered that what is it about them or their attire that makes it so fascinating. The answer struck me as I was looking at the portrait of Nepali kings in the Baktapur museum.

I realised that it was not so much about the the fabric of their clothes or the size of their jewelry. Nor was it about the charisma that they demonstrated or the heroic deeds that they had performed. Yes it was all this but also something more. In my opinion the truth is that we are fascinated with the stories that these pictures, the clothes and the regalia tell us. Stories of whom they had met and what they had seen and been through. Yes these are reference points of the era gone by that still remind us of how things used to be once upon a time.

What I love about these two portraits apart from their beautiful chunky jewelry ofcourse, is the way they had been portrayed. Read about these kings in the History of Nepal Kingdoms.

Talking about the jewelry, I was fascinated by their headgear in particular. Made of glittering diamonds, snow white pearls and green emerald drops, the crown had a fascinating plume of feathers. On further research I found that this was the plume of the ‘Bird of Paradise’. I didn’t even know that such a bird existed in reality before this. It seems that Nepal had only three such crowns: the King’s crown, the Rana Prime Minister’s crown and the Army Commander-in-Chief’s crown. Visit Subodh’s blog – History lessons Nepal to read more about this crown along with other facts about Nepal. 
While the other 2 crowns seem to have disappeared,  the king’s crown was last seen during the accession ceremony of King Gyanendra in 2001 at Hanuman Dhoka (Kathmandu durbar square). Currently, the crown is under the supervision of the Nepal Army and has been kept inside the palace. I learnt about this only after coming back and I seriously regret not being able to visit the Narayanhiti Palace museum. The fact that I went till its gates (braving a bandh – strike) to only find it closed, makes me think that I am destined to see the crown (hopefully it will be shown to the public by then) and other precious jewels some other time.

Maybe a second visit is on the cards for me in the future…and I think that i’ll enjoy it.
Now that royal jewelry has my full interest, I think I’ll read more about it, starting with the ever popular Indian Maharajas of course 😉

Cheers

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