Revolutionary Couple: Heera Devi and Dharma Ratna Yami
Based on oral accounts by Ram Maya (aged 80), recorded in Newar language and translated into English by Prof. Timila Yami Thapa
When people talk about Nepal’s democratic awakening, they often remember the politicians, the exiles, and the slogans. But within the shadows of history were those who quietly — and fearlessly — risked everything to bring change to their communities. Among them were Dharma Ratna Yami and Heera Devi Yami, a revolutionary couple who challenged not only the autocratic Rana regime but also the deep-seated casteism and superstition within their own society.
Breaking Social Taboos
In those days, even within Buddhist Newar families, caste discrimination was sharply enforced. People feared pollution from “untouchables,” and even a shadow crossing the food of an upper-caste family was seen as defilement.
But Dharma Ratna and Heera Devi rejected this hypocrisy.
As Ram Maya, who worked in their household as a child, recalls:
“Dharma Ratna Yami used to make me and my grandmother work in the kitchen. People on the streets could see us cooking from the fifth floor. They shouted, ‘Look! Look! Untouchables are working in the kitchen!’ But he and his wife didn’t care. They believed in equality — not in empty rituals.”
When neighbours mocked them, Dharma Ratna would answer through action, not words. He deliberately cooked and ate pork and chicken, meat that was strictly banned by his caste.
“From his rooftop he would shout, ‘Look, I’m eating pork! It’s delicious!’” recalls Ram Maya. “People were shocked. But today everyone eats pork — thanks to his defiance.”
When he became Minister after the 1951 revolution, Dharma Ratna famously kept a chicken farm of 200 birds on his rooftop — a visible challenge to those who once called him impure. His community had banned even touching chicken or eggs, but he turned that taboo into a symbol of freedom.
Heera Devi: The Quiet Fire
While her husband confronted the political regime, Heera Devi Yami waged her own revolution from within the household and the classroom.
“She was different from other women,” remembers Ram Maya. “She used to teach the children of farmers — even the children of untouchables. People harassed her for it. But she never stopped.”
In exchange for her teaching, parents would offer vegetables, grains, or beaten rice, because money was scarce and education was forbidden.
When the Rana secret police began tracking her activities, she shifted her secret classrooms from one courtyard to another, carrying her infant child along with her lesson books.
She also took care of ailing prisoners and starving families of political detainees, carrying food herself — even when she was sick.
Her courage was rooted in empathy, not anger. She had personally witnessed the Gandhian movement in India — in Kolkata and Kalimpong — before 1947, and returned home inspired to ignite similar social change in Nepal.
“It was not easy for Heera Devi,” says Prof. Timila Yami Thapa, her granddaughter. “She came from a deeply conservative family that believed in rituals and god-fearing traditions. To stand for Dalits, to promote secular education, to defy the government — she was challenging everything she had been taught. Yet she did it, with grace and conviction.”
From Poverty to Principle
Life in the Yami household was never easy. Ram Maya recalls that when Dharma Ratna was about to take the oath as a Cabinet Minister in 1951, there was not even a handful of rice to prepare the ritual Tika.
The shopkeeper refused to lend them any grain due to old debts. Laughing it off, he went to the public tap, drank water, and said,
“This is my rice and my lentils.”
Moments later, the radio announced his appointment as minister.
The same shopkeepers rushed back with offerings and apologies, realizing they had refused a revolutionary who had fought for their freedom.
Faith Versus Fear
The couple’s defiance of blind ritualism often shocked their community.
When General Keshar Shumsher Rana once visited their fragile wooden home and fell through the stairs, he mocked the condition of the house. Dharma Ratna calmly replied:
“It is not my house that shakes — it is your palace, shaken by the movement of the people.”
Their story reveals how social revolution often begins with personal courage — the willingness to disobey unjust customs, to see humanity where others see impurity, and to feed love where society sows fear.