Shukraraj Shastri

Sukraraj Shastri (शुक्रराज शास्त्री) (1894—January 23, 1941) was a pre-eminent Nepalese intellectual and opposition leader who died as a martyr.

Contributions to society

Political

The future statesman was born Sukraraj Joshi in Kathmandu. Earning the academic title of Shastri, he waged a life-long struggle to awaken Nepal from the Dark Ages of the oppressive Rana regime which was autocratic, corrupt and incompetent. He was the founding member of Praja Parishad (Peoples' Council)—the then-underground political party backed by King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal to terminate the rule of the Ranas, who had rendered the Shah monarchs of Nepal powerless.

Language

Sukraraj Shastri is also renowned for his contribution to the development of Nepal Bhasa especially in the field of grammar. He wrote and published the first grammar book in Nepal bhasa (in N.S. 1048, Kaulaathwa 10) called "Nepalbhasa byakaran"^[1]. He also wrote and published the first Nepal Bhasa reader as well as children's story book.

Martyrdom and legacy

In January 1941, after giving an impassioned speech to a mass gathering in Indrachowk, condemning the Rana misrule, Sukraraj Shastri was seized by the regime's enforcers and executed by hanging on Teku Road in Pachali, Kathmandu. The tree from which he was hanged, now revered as the Sukraraj tree, is the focal point of Kathmandu's and Nepal's Martyr Week, as inhabitants gather from all parts of the country to have tilaka applied to their foreheads and lay flowers to commemorate Shastri and other leaders of the struggle.

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