Nepal King crowned

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33777, 25 February 1975, Page 17

Nepal King crowned

(N.Z. PA. Reuter—Copyright) KATMANDU, February 24. King Birendra of Nepal was today crowned monarch of the world’s only Hindu kingdom at the exact moment his astrologers said was the right time.

Presidents, princes and representatives from 60 countries attended the coronation of the 29-year-old King. The pearl, ruby and emerald crown, topped with bird of paradise plumes, was placed on his head at 8,40 a.m.

A fusillade of shots from ! ancient muskets sounded 'outside the Hanumandokha Palace courtyard, accompanied by blowing of horns and other musical instruments as the ceremony reached its ciimax.

The King, with Queen Aishwarya by his side, sat on red plush cushions on a gilt throne with gold decoration of 10 hooded cobras risking from the back.

The King and Queen had driven in a horsedrawn carriage through the streets of Katmandu to the palace on a bitterly cold misty morning. The lead priest placed the crown on the King’s head as he sat under an elaborately ‘decorated pavilion set up in the stone-flagged courtyard. The King wore a Nepalese

• costume of a cream tunic, tight trousers with a kukri, or short dagger, tucked into a sash wound round his i waist. The Queen wore a pink flowered sari with a short red coat to ward off the 1 morning chill. A pipe and drum band of soldiers in red uniforms, wearing leopard-skin scats, played. Guests included Prince Charles and Ear)' Mountbatten of Burma, last British viceroy of India before independence. The ceremonies inside the palace began with an hour-: long ritual in a private (chamber in which the King ;was anointed with earth (gathered from all parts of | his Himalayan kingdom, in-|

‘eluding a mountain-top and an ant-hill. I The King then walked into ; the courtyard accompanied by aides, holding a red ! Royal umbrella over his head. j Representatives of the I four Hindu casts — Brahmin ' (priest), Kshatriya (warrior), Vaisya (merchant) and Sudra (artisan) standing, at tour (different parts of the pas- | ilion anointed him with purified liquid butter, milk, curd and noney, while the priests kept up a continuous chant of hymns from the Vedas, the oldest of Hindu scriptures. After the priests in white costumes with saffron col- ‘ cured hats fiad completed their rites, the Royal couple 'moved to another mounted ■platform covered with a canopy to sit on a smaller but equally lavishly decorated throne. Their three-and-a-half j year-old son, Prince Deependra, wearing military uniform with a sword hanging by his side, was the first of Nepal's citizens to pav hom(age to the King and Queen.