For one hundred and four years, Nepal lived in fear.
The Rana regime (1846–1951) built its empire on terror — silencing voices, banning education, and turning citizens into subjects. Ordinary people lived in constant dread of arrest, beating, or disappearance. For women, however, life under Rana rule was even more cruel.
Education was forbidden, freedom was dangerous, and dignity itself had to be hidden.
This is the story of those women who, despite unthinkable risks, dared to learn, teach, and resist.
The Forbidden Classroom
When the first whispers of education began to rise in Kathmandu, schools were crimes. Anyone caught teaching or studying without permission risked imprisonment or torture. In that dark time, a few extraordinary women carried the torch of knowledge in secret.
Among them were Heera Devi Yami and Laxmi Prava Bajracharya, two women who turned education into an act of rebellion.
Heera Devi Yami: The Teacher Who Defied Fear
During the 1940s (B.S. 2004), Heera Devi Yami, daughter of businessman Heera Kaji, began gathering children around the home of the reformer Jagat Lal in Keltole. What she did was illegal — she was secretly teaching reading and writing.
Whenever the CID officers or constables got wind of these underground schools, Heera Devi would swiftly shift her students from one hidden courtyard to another.
She carried her infant daughter in her arms while teaching, even as fear hovered outside the classroom walls. That crying child — later known as Dr. Dharma Devi Yami, a cancer specialist — grew up surrounded by the whispers of rebellion.
Students recalled how they often heard protest marches outside the school gates. While the others trembled, Heera Devi’s eyes would light up with defiance. She explained the meaning of the protests to her students — teaching them not just letters, but courage.
Laxmi Prava Bajracharya: Learning under Surveillance
Born in Makhan Bahal, Kathmandu, Laxmi Prava Bajracharya was only six when she joined Buddhi Bikash Vidyalaya, a secret school started in B.S. 2003 by her husband Moti Kaji Sthapit and friends. The school moved constantly — from Janaki Ghar behind Pashupatinath Mandir, to Maru Satah, then Kochhen, and later Voshiko Tole — each time discovered and hunted by the Ranas.
Laxmi Prava and her classmates sang in secret:
“Lane, lane, mane galli school” — In every lane, our school hides.
A Nation of Fear
The Ranas ruled with cruelty and arrogance. Women could not walk freely — even being seen in public without a male escort was perilous. Those who were discovered alone risked abduction, rape, and disappearance.
Families hid their daughters and daughters-in-law deep inside courtyards. During rice planting season, farmers covered young girls in mud to disguise them, so they would not be recognized and taken away by Rana men pretending to “help” in the fields.
The area now known as Putalisadak still bears the memory of that horror. “Putali,” meaning butterfly, was a word used by Ranas for the young girls they exploited. Inside Singha Durbar, they had built “Putali Houses” — where abducted girls were confined. Survivors later said that under those palaces lie the unmarked graves of those who never returned.
The Price of Compassion
Despite this reign of terror, Heera Devi Yami never stopped helping others. After being imprisoned herself for anti-Rana activities, she continued teaching at Buddhi Bikash School and delivering food — beaten rice, corn, soybeans, and vegetables — to prisoners and their starving families.
She collected food from the guardians of her students, storing bones and nettles secretly to feed underground revolutionaries. She would tell the butchers that the bones were “for the dogs,” then dry and store them in earthen pots for those in hiding.
People were afraid to help her — anyone seen supporting a political prisoner could face torture. Yet she carried on, feeding the revolution one handful at a time.
A Society in Shadows
During the Rana years, gathering even three people in conversation could lead to arrest. CIDs monitored neighborhoods, listening for whispers of dissent. Educated people were often denied employment, forcing many to abandon learning altogether.
A few schools emerged under heavy surveillance. Kanya Pathshala near Taleju Temple, run by the sister and sister-in-law of martyr Shukra Raj Shastri, became one of the first girls’ schools. Later, Padma Shumsher JBR established Padma Kanya High School in Dillibazar — a rare official opening in a country afraid of books.
But for most, knowledge was still a secret crime.
Legacy of Resistance
Heera Devi Yami, Laxmi Prava Bajracharya, and women like Ratneswari Shrestha lived through a time when even breathing freely was dangerous. Yet they lit lamps of learning under the shadow of tyranny.
Their bravery helped dismantle the foundation of fear that held Nepal hostage for a century. Today, as women walk to schools and universities freely, their steps echo the courage of those who once walked in secrecy.
The stories of these women remind us:
Freedom was not gifted — it was taught, in whispers, by women who refused to be silent.