King Gyanendra can’t seem to get a break these days. The newspapers seem to be consistently publishing articles that are destructive to and ridicule his character. One story released that the Nepal Airlines Corporation that chartered the King’s flight for his personal three-week safari in Africa, hasn’t received full payment for their services eight months after the fact. There was a more recent report that the King, now deposed of all of his powers and reduced in many ways to the level of ordinary Nepalese citizens, has taken up online gambling to drown his sorrows. His gambling sessions, allegedly, go on for hours until three or four o’clock in the morning. Apparently, the King was entering his credit card information online, which tipped off news informants. Even if the reports are fabricated, they seem to show a different attitude towards the monarchy, which was previously considered in the lineage of a Hindu diety.

With the looming elections of the constituent assembly, the King has much to worry about. The CPN (Maoist party) has announced that they would – quite obviously – not want to see a monarchy exist in the new Nepal. On the other hand, the RPP (the National Democratic Party that has ties to the monarchy) has announced their support for a constitutional monarchy. But it has been mentioned to me that if the constituent assembly were held today that the throne would surely be eliminated.

Another option has been discussed of holding a referendum to be held in tandem with elections of the constituent assembly to allow the citizen’s to decide the fate of the monarchy. This would prove without equivocation the desires of Nepal.

From the random samples of opinions gathered over the past few weeks, I’ve found that there is a mixture of beliefs, even within COCAP. As an organization, the view is that any form of monarchy is unacceptable. However, individuals show split opinions. Many believe in the complete disposal of the king. But others believe that having a monarchy that is symbolic, as seen is Japan with the Emperor or the United Kingdom with the Queen, isn’t so bad. The random taxi drivers and shop keeps I’ve spoken to seem to lean more towards allowing the king to remain. “The King can live in the palace,” one taxi driver told me simply. “And the Prime Minister can do all his work.”

But the monarchy seems like an important and historic part of Nepal as the only Hindu country in the world. Is there an issue of cultural relevance to keeping the King in place even symbolically? Gyanu, COCAP’s Resource Center Manager, whose insights I highly respect, gave me an image, using the Hindu symbolism of society as a single body. “The monarchy is like an appendix. As long as it doesn’t become infected, it can stay in the body. But once it starts to cause the body pain, it needs to be taken out and discarded.”

Whether he’s thrown out like a useless body part or kept as a figurehead in the royal palace, the future for King Gyanendra is not too bright. Either way, the wounds caused from the Royal Coup and the subsequent civil protests run deep, and his image has been forever tarnished in the majority of people’s eyes. In some ways, I feel for the guy. How awful it must be to have caused of the fall of a 238-year-old empire. Then again, he’s had it coming for a while.