Vidhan Ratna Yami

In 2016, former Speaker of Nepal’s Parliament, Onsari Gharti Magar, visited Vidhan Ratna Yami while he was being treated for Stage IV lung cancer. Surrounded by his family, Vidhan greeted her with a Namaste. Even though he was too weak to get out of bed, he remained deeply worried about Nepal's future. As the son of well-known freedom fighters Dharma Ratna Yami and Heera Devi Yami, and as a former government official, Vidhan cared deeply about his country. He urged Gharti Magar to focus on completing important development projects. He passed away just a few days after their meeting.

Vidhan’s story is an inspiring example of courage and dignity. Instead of hiding away after his diagnosis, he chose to live fully, stay active, and connect with people. By doing so, he helped break the social stigma around cancer and showed other patients and families that hope and normal life can continue during illness. Supported by his loving family, Vidhan faced tough cancer treatments with a positive attitude, proving that love, human connection, and courage are just as powerful as medical care.

Historical Significance

During the political turmoil of mid-20th-century Nepal, as Dharma Ratna Yami and Heera Devi Yami faced repeated arrests and imprisonment for their anti-Rana and pro-democracy activism, Laxmi Heera Tuladhar played a vital role in sustaining the family.

Shortly after giving birth to her son, Vidhan Ratna Yami, Heera Devi was ordered to be taken directly to prison. When she presented herself, officials saw that her sari was still stained with blood from childbirth. Instead of granting her release or medical assistance, the Rana regime placed her under house arrest in Kyakewa, near Shantiniketan School, keeping her and her newborn outside in the freezing cold for several days.

During those days, healthcare workers were often too afraid to visit underground activists. The severe exposure led to life-threatening illnesses for both mother and child, and the infant’s condition deteriorated rapidly, reducing him to a near-skeletal state. Because entering Heera Devi's residence carried immense personal risk during that period, medical assistance was severely limited. Consultation with a physician, Dr. Halder, was made possible only after secretly moving the mother and child to her brother Heera Kaji's home in Nara Devi.

As the infant's condition grew increasingly dire, Heera Devi's brother, Dhana Kaji Kansakar, desperately considered ending the newborn's life to save his sister. Hera Laxmi Tuladhar—Heera Devi's maternal aunt—intervened immediately. She brought the newborn to her home in Jwa Bahal, where her dedicated care restored the child to health.

Alongside female relatives such as Dhana Maya Tuladhar, Hira Hira provided vital assistance to the Yami family throughout periods of political exile, imprisonment, and hardship, ensuring the survival and well-being of the children.

Nutan Thapalia (also spelled Nutan Thapaliya) is a Nepali lawyer and human rights activist, best known as the founder of Amnesty International Nepal.

wrote : 

In 1948 (2005 BS), as Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher crushed democratic reforms and suppressed Nepal's fledgling draft constitution, political activists opposing the Rana regime were rounded up and I was locked in Golghar—a high-security isolation unit inside Kathmandu's Central Jail.

Under strict censorship, paper and writing materials were strictly forbidden to block covert communication. Even daily spice deliveries were inspected and handed to inmates wrapped only in natural leaves. Yet, underground networks found a way. Tucked deep inside one of those leaf-wrapped masala packets was a smuggled note with news from outside: a fellow freedom fighter, Heera Devi Yami, had given birth to a baby boy.

Imprisoned for demanding a constitutional rule over autocratic decree, the inmates were deeply moved by the news. In a symbolic act of defiance and hope for Nepal's political future, they collectively named the newborn baby boy Vidhan—the Nepali word for constitution—immortalizing the cause for which they were caged.