By Sudeshna Sarkar

Kathmandu, Feb 22 (IANS) In a kingdom where important decisions are taken after consulting astrologers and the position of the stars, the wedding of Devyani Rana, once known as the woman Nepal's ill-fated crown prince Dipendra wanted to marry, seems to be fatally linked with the royals, in some inexplicable way.

The 34-year-old, who comes from one of Nepal's best-known families, and is wedding an illustrious Indian family Thursday in a ceremony that will be attended by the who's who of Nepal, India and elsewhere, hit the headlines worldwide in 2001.

The tiny Himalayan kingdom stunned the world in June 2001 when the king of Nepal, Birendra, his queen Aishwarya, crown prince Dipendra, his two siblings and other members of the royal family were killed in a midnight shootout in the royal palace in Kathmandu.

Initially, Dipendra was held responsible for the killings as the first reports attributed the massacre to his rage at his parents' opposition to his plan to marry Devyani.

Later, speculations began about the possibility of other people being involved in the killings since the weapon, with which Dipendra was believed to have shot himself after killing the others, was not found near his body.

The massacre wiped out entire family of King Birendra and the crown finally went to his younger brother Gyanendra, who, ordinarily, would never have ascended the throne.

Now that the passage of time has healed some of the wounds and Devyani is seeking to make a new life for herself by tying the knot with Indian Human Resources minister Arjun Singh's grandson Aishwarya, fresh doom threatens Nepal's royal family again.

King Gyanendra faces the abolition of his crown after triggering a raging controversy with an ill-timed message to the nation.

On Monday, when Nepal celebrated its 57th Democracy Day - the day five decades ago when the kingdom overthrew the despotic regime of Devyani's ancestors - the king issued a message to the nation in which he justified his attempt to seize power two years ago and rule the country directly.

The move came as a surprise since after the fall of the royal regime owing to public protests last year, a new constitution came into effect, removing the king as head of state.

Under the new circumstances, it is the prerogative of the prime minister to address the nation on important days and events, with the king having no role to play at all.

The royal message roused public anger against monarchy afresh in the country with violent protests continuing even Thursday. Students in remote Bajura district in far west Nepal vandalised the statue of King Birendra, who had been the most popular king for agreeing to relinquish absolute power and become a constitutional monarch.

In an unprecedented move Wednesday, Nepal's parliament asked the government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to take action against the king for issuing an "unconstitutional, unnecessary and undemocratic" message.

Now the Maoists, who began waging a war since 1996 to abolish monarchy, are making fresh demands to axe the crown.

The rebels, who had agreed to hold an election and leave it to the people to choose between monarchy and a republic, are now saying the king may conspire again to seize power. Maoist supremo Prachanda Wednesday said his party would table a proposal in parliament within a couple of days.

The proposal would seek to amend the new constitution and declare Nepal a republic, without waiting for the June elections.