Kathmandu: Muni Bahadur
Shakya clears the dust off of what is reportedly Nepal’s first micro-computer
with a mighty blow. This prototypical desktop computer is basically a
typewriter with a maze of transistors, microchips, and circuitry attached to
it. It connects to a television for its monitor. Shakya, widely considered
Nepal’s first IT engineer, built the microcomputer himself in 1979, with parts
collected from around the world.
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| Source: Google |
Muni Bahadur Shakya is widely
regarded as one of the pioneering figures in the history of computer science
and information technology in Nepal. At a time when the concept of computers
was almost completely unfamiliar in the country, he envisioned how digital
technology could transform education, communication, administration, and
national development. Through self-learning, experimentation, and
determination, he helped lay the foundation for Nepal’s modern ICT sector.
Born in Lalitpur, Nepal, Muni
Bahadur Shakya showed an early interest in science and electronics. His
curiosity led him to study physics and later pursue engineering, specializing
in radio and electronic communications. He received technical training abroad,
including in India, the United Kingdom, and France, where he gained exposure to
emerging developments in digital electronics and computing. This international
experience equipped him with advanced knowledge that was rare in Nepal at the
time.
After returning to Nepal,
Shakya worked in the field of telecommunications and broadcasting, including at
Radio Nepal. However, his most significant contributions came from his
independent research and innovation in computing. In the late 1970s, he built
what is considered Nepal’s first microcomputer using limited resources and
imported components. This achievement marked a historic moment, demonstrating
that advanced computing technology could be developed locally in Nepal.
One of his most influential
accomplishments was enabling the use of the Nepali (Devanagari) script on
computers. During the early 1980s, most computer systems supported only Latin
characters, which limited their use in Nepal. Shakya developed systems that
could display and process Nepali text, including a landmark demonstration of
the national anthem written in Nepali on a computer screen. This contribution
was crucial in making computers relevant to Nepali administration, education,
and culture.
Throughout his career, Muni
Bahadur Shakya continued to explore new technological frontiers. He worked on
low-power and energy-efficient computers suitable for Nepal’s limited
electricity infrastructure, experimented with robotics and voice-controlled
systems, and later developed a clustered supercomputer setup to promote
advanced computing research. He also envisioned the use of information
technology in healthcare, education, and rural development, long before such
ideas became common in Nepal.
Despite facing challenges
such as limited funding, lack of institutional support, and slow policy
adoption, Shakya remained committed to innovation and knowledge sharing. He
founded technology-oriented enterprises and actively mentored young engineers
and students, inspiring a culture of experimentation and problem-solving.
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| Source: Google |
Muni Bahadur Shakya’s legacy
lies not only in his technical achievements but also in his vision and
perseverance. He demonstrated that innovation is possible even in
resource-constrained environments and showed how technology can be adapted to
local languages and needs. Today, he is remembered as a trailblazer whose
pioneering work helped shape the early development of computer science and
information technology in Nepal.
Nepal’s first microcomputer,
assembled from parts brought in from all over the world by Muni Bahadur Shakya.
That same year, his creation
was showcased at a ‘UN convention’ held at the Blue Star Hotel in Kathmandu,
and the computer was unofficially named the “UN computer” due to the fact that
its parts had been sourced from around the world, says Shakya. The wood frame
was carved in Nepal, glass crafted in India, switches made in China, and the
microprocessor brought from England — everything assembled in Nepal by Shakya
with practical skills gained in France.
“At that time, you could rarely see a micro-computer in all of South
Asia. Even France was only getting started with personal computers then,” says
81-year-old Shakya.
Shakya is a Nepali computer
science pioneer. Ever since the 80s, when most of the country had yet to even
see a computer in person, Shakya has been innovating in the field of computers.
From programming the first computer able to read Devanagari to developing
low-energy desktops that are used in telemedicine, Shakya has contributed much
to the nascent computers sector in Nepal.
From a very young age, Shakya
was always interested in science, particularly physics. When he was around 12
years old, Shakya came up with his first invention — a telescope made out of
his grandfather’s spectacle lenses.
From programming the first
computer able to read Devanagari to developing low-energy desktops that are
used in telemedicine, Shakya’s contributions are manifold.
Muni Bahadur Shakya put
together 16 computers in 2006 to create Nepal’s first supercomputer.
“I was overwhelmed with joy
when I finally found a glass with a meter-long focal length for the telescope.
The view of Jupiter’s moons, Mars, and other planets was magical,” he recalls.
In 1961, when he heard of
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin reaching the vast abyss of space for the first
time in human history, Shakya knew what his passion would be. So inspired, he
decided to pursue an intermediate education in science at Tri-Chandra College.
Shakya eventually moved to Calcutta in India to pursue a diploma in radio
engineering. On his return to Nepal, he was hired by the Radio Nepal
Transmission Station, then based in Khumaltar.
At Radio Nepal, Shakya got a
chance to work alongside British engineers on a collaborative project. Shakya
says that the British were so impressed with him that they managed to get him a
scholarship to study engineering in England. In 1970, Shakya found himself in
London studying Electronics and Broadcast Engineering at the London School of
English. After concluding his studies, he received an offer to work in England
as an engineer but Shakya refused.
“I learned a lot there but I
always wanted to come back to my country,” said Shakya.
Shakya returned to Nepal and
resumed work at Radio Nepal. However, he had returned with a newfound hunger to
learn about computers. In England, he had recognized the potential the device
held.
“I had seen a supercomputer
[in England] that took up an entire room, but the microcomputer was the new big
thing. I wanted to help create computers that can be used by individuals,” said
Shakya.
Shakya continued his studies
in France, receiving a scholarship from the French government for a training
program working with mainframe computers.
After returning to Nepal in
1978, Shakya began assembling his first micro-computer. He had purchased all
the necessary parts while studying in England and France — a microprocessor, a
hex keyboard, 1Kb RAM, a CRT TV for display, and some microchips for
interfacing. Shakya built the power supply and video card by himself.
Muni Bahadur Shakya stands in
front of all the computers he’s developed and worked on over the years.
“This thing called
dedication, it’s something special. I don’t know where it comes from, but
that’s what has pushed me since my childhood. Several days and sleepless nights
were spent on making and operating the micro-computer,” says Shakya.
In 1979, when Shakya finally
got his micro-computer up and running, he received much acclaim. Newspapers
including The Rising Nepal and Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, published
feature reports on his computer, says Shakya. All the coverage brought him new
opportunities. He began exchanging letters with an American named Jonathan
Lyndell, who had come to know about Shakya through the news. Lyndell promised
to assist him in his further studies and once again, Shakya was able to go
abroad to study computers. In 1980, Shakya landed in Minnesota to study
computers through Lyndell’s help.
In the United States, Shakya
absorbed information like a sponge, he says, grasping everything they were
working on and further honing his skills through practice and rigor. Shakya
became a technical lead in developing information computer hardware at MTS
Systems Corporation in Minnesota, working to innovate a 900KB floppy disk when
80KB disks were the standard.
A cycle-powered generator
invented by Muni Bahadur Shakya
“My fate took me to many
places solely on the efforts I made at various institutions. I would work late
into the night and frequently, the chairman himself would personally come to
let me know that I should go home. I was known as an employee who had no time
limits,” he says.
For three years, Shakya
worked in the US. While there, he visited Silicon Valley and saw how XT, the
first IBM computer with a hard drive, was produced. In 1983, he returned to
Nepal with 16 boxes of computer parts. This time around, Shakya wanted to
develop a computer that could operate in the Nepali script. He established his
own company, Hi-Tech Pioneer Pvt. Ltd., and soon developed the first personal
computer that could read and display Devanagari script.
“All computers operated in
English, but I wanted to create a computer that also understands Nepali. Nepali
language fonts aren’t as simple as English alphabets. The characters in
Devanagari are very intricate. Many of the characters had to be painstakingly
hand-drawn,” says Shakya.
He conducted a demonstration
of his Devanagari computer at the National Planning Commission in 1983.
Muni Bahadur Shakya is seen
reflected on his new invention, a ‘magic mirror’ that displays the news and
real-time weather updates.
“People were astounded to see
a computer that operated in our national language. The first sentence that was
displayed on the computer was our then national anthem, श्रीमान् गम्भीर (Shriman Gambhir).
That was one of my proudest moments as a Nepali,” he says.
In 1985, two years later, the Agriculture
Development Bank commissioned 19 computers, one for each branch, with Shakya’s
Devanagari script installed. The computers were used to input customer names in
Nepali.
Shakya also managed to
integrate new phonetic techniques into a card he had brought from Silicon
Valley, incorporating it into a computer to speak rudimentary Nepali. After
learning about the supply chain operating in Taiwan, he even visited the
country more than 20 times to learn more. His name proved to be a blessing in
Taiwan, as the majority Buddhist country related him with the Shakyamuni
Siddhartha Gautam. He was even allowed to enter the factories and photograph
the motherboards that were being produced there.
He would later use these
photographs to position his own chips into a motherboard.
The many awards that Muni
Bahadur Shakya has received over the years.
His achievements brought
Shakya much fame. Ministers would visit him and promise to develop computers
and the IT field in Nepal, he says. But none of them followed through.
“My dream was to establish a
new Silicon Valley in my country,” he says. “There are still possibilities for
Nepal but neither the government nor anyone else took any interest or supported
me in my endeavors. To this day, Nepal still lacks significant ICT infrastructure
and only allocates a minuscule budget for its development.”
Regardless, Shakya has
continued to work in the field that he is so passionate about. In 2006, Shakya
devised a supercomputer from a cluster of 16 computers to conduct data-heavy
tasks such as weather forecasting and financial analysis. He has also built
‘green computers’ that only consume 35 watts of power, six times lower than the
average desktop computer, and at half the price of a regular laptop. These
computers are currently in operation at telemedicine centers in Jajarkot,
Kalikot, Bajura, and Dhading.
Although Nepal is now firmly
lodged in the IT-sphere, it took a long time for Shakya’s achievements to be
formally recognized. In 2005, he received an award from the Royal Nepal Academy
of Science & Technology (RONAST) and in 2012, he received the Business
Excellence Award from the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) Federation. In
2016, Shakya was awarded the ICT Pioneer Award for his contributions to Nepal’s
IT and computers sector.
Muni Bahadur Shakya receiving
ICT Business Excellence Award from the former president Ram Baran Yadav.
“At a time when the world was
still in the developmental phase of computer technology, he [Shakya] returned
from abroad with knowledge and parts for making computers and set a new
precedent by demonstrating to everyone that it was possible for computers to be
built in Nepal,” says Rajan Lamsal, chair of the ICT Award committee.
Although Nepal has made major strides in telecommunications, mobile connectivity, software outsourcing, and skilled human resource production, much more needs to be done to harness the country’s potential in ICT, says Lamsal. Nepal lags far behind in the UN International Telecommunications Union’s ICT Development Index. In 2017, the last time the index was developed, Nepal ranked 140th out of 176 countries.
Meanwhile, Shakya, even at 81
years of age, continues to innovate. He shows no signs of slowing down and has
a number of projects in the pipeline, including a magic mirror that can display
the news, provide weather forecasts, and even answer basic questions.
“If I was after money, I
could’ve become a billionaire by now, but that was never my intention,” says
Shakya. “If only the government had supported me, thousands of people would have
gotten jobs, maybe even come up with new inventions. Nepal could’ve become a
leader in computers.”
