– Sheela Sayami
Kathmandu. In terms of age, Tirthamaya Maharjan has reached 88 years of age. 81 years ago, Tirthamaya was only seven years old. At that small age, Kathmandu was not as dense as it is today. It was a lot of fun because of the green waves of the floating fields.

Tirthamaya still has that happy moment in her mind. Tirthamaya’s eyes light up even when she remembers the days when she was holding his mother’s hand and walking with her mother in the fields and baskets. At that time, there was a crowd of people on the way to the current Teku Hospital in Kathmandu, which is often deserted.

Tirthamaya, on the other hand, was surprised to see a crowd she had never met. There was no procession, no instrument, no noise! Crowds of people on the way. Tirthamaya was going to the field with her mother after eating food that day. The farm used to come after a 15-minute walk from Tirthamaya’s house. That day. January 10, 1941, It was the day when the immortal martyr Shukraraj Shastri was hanged on a stake and killed by the then cruel Rana rulers. That day was a black day for Nepalis.

On that day, Tirthamaya saw a crowd of people gathering near her field in Teku, and also saw some people wiping away tears. SHe also saw that Kohamastir had a third finger. Tirthamaya’s eyes widened. She was seen hanging from a tree.

Tirthamaya’s only memory is that Tirthamaya’s mother hurriedly pulled Tirthamaya’s hand inside the small house (balcha) she was building in the field. Tirthamaya still remembers the mother who went to Sattoputlo after seeing the human body hanging on the tree.

At the age of seven, she did not even know that the hanging corpse belonged to the immortal martyr Shukraraj Shastri. Mother and daughter did not have the courage to ask anyone at that time. The situation at that time was not as comfortable as it is today. That day, Tirthama’s parents were busy in the field all day long. Tirthamaya, on the other hand, sits outside the hammock, staring at the tree hanging by the people, and is still scared.

Tirthamaya’s grandfather Dya Singh Maharjan’s farm was spread over about 10 ropanis. Next to the field was Kwansima (tree). There was a road next to Kwansima. Road to Tripureshwar in the east, Kalimati in the west, Lagan in the north and Bagmati in the south. It is said that the sinners brought the immortal martyr Shukraraj Shastri to the crossroads and hung him.

Those who returned home from the field in the evening of Arubela that day, they returned home around 4-5 o’clock. Tirthamaya was listening to her parents talking in the evening. Her father saw many vehicles and soldiers coming at night. Uncle and father were not allowed to look outside. The sound of the car kept him awake all night. She don’t know what she did or why she came.

When she came out in the morning, the body hanging on the tree belonged to Shaheed Shukraraj Shastri. Tirthamaya’s father said that a paper garland (pamphlet) was placed on the body. Tirthamaya has said that everyone in the house has been scared since that day. Tirthamaya, who saw only the corpse hanging, still shuddered.

It took a long time to get back to normal. Tirthamaya’s father and uncle have not slept in the field since that day. Tirthamaya said that she later heard that Patthakaji (religious devotee Mathema) was taken to the Sifal tree and hanged.

Currently, Tirthamaya Maharjan lives in Dallu Chagal, Kathmandu Metropolitan City Ward No. 13. Tirthamaya was born in 1990 to mother Talsimaya Maharjan and father Sanu Maharjan in Makagalli, Inakha Tole, Kathmandu. Tirthamaya was married to Ashta Narayan Maharjan, a resident of Kohiti, at the age of Nine. Currently, Tirthamaya is happily living with her three sons, four daughters-in-law (the eldest son has passed away), a daughter, sixteen grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.
Published in Friday, Feb. 04, 2022.