i am not that sad. many nepaleses' tax money was being wasted in filling up these highnesses. Not only their immediate family but the whole nine yard that included their close associated and extended relatives were enjoying what in my opinion is unfair benefits and social prestige at the expense of rest of the great peoples of Nepal. yes, we had some good kings in shah dynasty but also rotten ones like rajendra bir bikram just to name one..the biggest contributer of course Prithvi Narayan Shah, a visionary. He was the one who started the unification. and i solute him. yes they are part of our history but so are the ranas,who i must admit were the worst thing to happen in our history.. u say they are our identity.. well they still are..after all they ruled over u and me for this long.. plus iam not sure how many Nepalese considered the Shahs to be a part of our true identity.. the state tried its best to make them a part of Nepalese identity by self promoting them by practicing hegemony in the forms of songs, stories, legends..etc... now, most nepalese don't feel a need forthem.. identity is a complex issue.. before Shahs unified us, we still had some sort of identity.. iam sure we will have an identity after they are gone..not too worried about it because i am not insecured about identity..i am still a proud nepali minus nationalism.. I have to disagree with mansion on one issue regarding soverignity.. it was the ranas who maintained our soverignity. they were the ones who shook hands with the british.. helped them.. in return, british stayed away from our internal affairs although don't be in a state of ignorance or denial about external affairs.. the east india comapny retained full rights of our external affair.. it was more of a compromise..while ranas looted us, devriped us education and exposure, they continued to cater to british demands like sending nepalis to supress the indian revolt, hunting trips, summer camps.. etc.. but yes they did stop us being under a direct foreign state.. but ladies and gentlemen, what kind of senseless pride is this? yes Prithvi Narayan Shah did see the southern threat.. but it was the ranas who faced the music from down south.. and it was them who pushed nepal into the age of darkness.. Shahs had 230 odd years to rule and prosper nepal. the results are out and anyone can see that they are less than satisfactory.. yes 107 of them was rana rule.. it took 107 years for a real king to emerge in Tribhuwan, who, for a change, acted like a king to lead against the injustice.. but nepalese cannot wait for another 107 to see more able king whom we were told to worship.. one more thing, the ranas came because of stupidity of a shah king and internal rajdurbar politics while rest of the population kept drifting away .....drifting and drifting.. well, i guess the drifting has stopped now, hasn't it?.. maybe we ought to seek for new directions instead of being comfortable with our (uncomfortable) past!!! what do you think?