Deification of the dead

Recently, ie, the 14^th of Poush 2072 BS was the 70^th birthday of the most liked and revered Shah king of Nepal, King Birendra. On the occasion, I saw numerous posts wishing him on his birthday and countless others worshipping him as the actual avatar of the Hindu God, Bishnu. Among all the emotional posts, many had also opined that Nepal would have been far better off had he been alive to this day. I also saw many kids who would have no firsthand knowledge of his existence praising him to the hilt. This deification of Birendra made me question the rationale behind this whole idolizing and deification process.  

Birendra was the 11^th King of Nepal. He was a soft-spoken man with a charismatic personality and according to the mythology associated with the Nepali Royal Palace; he was supposedl to be the avatar of Lord Bishnu. He was one of the longest serving kings of the Shah Dynasty that ruled Nepal for around 300 years starting with Prithvi Narayan Shah (1768) and ending with Gyanendra Shah (deposed in 2008). He was one of the very few people from the royal lineage who had complete faith of the people and seemed to be the “real deal”. He inherited Nepal as a 27 year old in 1972 and was credited with the transformation of Nepal from a prohibitionary “Panchayat” system of governance where the King held absolute power as the chairman of cabinet into a multi-party democracy overseen by a Constitutional Monarchy.

 It’s not a question of whether or not he deserved the credit and reverence he got. Yes, he did have a role in a peaceful transition and yes, he should be respected. But is it necessary or wise to deify him? As human beings, we are taught not to speak ill of the dead. So, is that what’s keeping us from having a rational and non-prejudiced discussion on his positive and negative aspects? Or, are we just happy in perpetuating the myth? We, as humans, are the result of millions of years of continuous evolution. So, how is it that a human being was actually perfect, that he had no flaws and that he be idolized and deified?

It’s not just the question of Birendra. We are an inherently subservient race. It is as if we “need” a deity, a holy being and one in a human image at that. Instead of just gleaning the positives from people, we turn them into myths, mystify and glorify them and preach what we think is true and wise. In the process, history is often window-dressed to perpetuate the myth. We jump at any chance to glorify the dead while we are ready to condemn the living at the drop of a hat.

So, for a change, how about we take an objective look at the actual deeds, both positives and negatives, and not just the sweet words uttered by them or the whitewashed version of history presented to us by a few prejudiced historians?
So, the next time you read something about any dead guy, I hope you can say,” Okay! He was good, but not THAT good.”