03-08-2007 13:00
Nepal's King Gyanendra has been dropped from his country's national anthem.
The increasingly unpopular monarch will no longer feature in the tune after Nepal's population voted for a completely new anthem.
The previous national anthem 'Shree Man Gambhir...' was written by Chakrapani Chalise and adopted as national anthem in 1899.
The wording of this anthem was widely criticised as it praised the monarch for being "fierce" and "kind", as well as described him as the "owner of lands".
However, the new song does not even include the word monarch.
It was selected by the National Anthem Selection Taskforce from more than 1,200 songs.
Culture expert Satya Mohan says the national anthem was chosen "on the basis of set criteria such as expressing natural beauty, geographic diversity, cultural and national identity and feeling of the people".
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