Hindu Kingship Rituals

In recent decades, Nepal has witnessed a dramatic shift from its ancient form of Hindu kingship to a federal republican democratic secular order, with the official dissolution of monarchy in 2008. This study deals with the religious lives of the Sah kings of Nepal, concentrating on such major rituals as the "coronation" (rajyabhi?eka) and the autumnal navaratri (Goddess-centered) festival. This study unravels how religion and politics were deeply intertwined in the ritual activities, and how the rituals, in their traditional deeply religious and devotional settings, exerted a maximum of socio-political powers for the king and his institutions.