Siliguri, June 2 : An enraged sage Durbasha's curse had made King Dushyant forget his beloved Shakuntala, his child she was bearing and brought untold grief to the belle from the backwoods. But Kalidasa wanted a happy ending to his play, and schemed an exoneration for his heroine. Thus all ended well in Shakuntala. But it was not to be for the Shah dynasty. Legends have it that an 18th century godman, Baba Gorakhnath, had put a terrible curse on the ruling clan in Nepal after he was slighted by the autocratic Shahs. He had prophesied in the Nepali calendar year of 1825 that the reigning Shah dynasty, particularly the 11th generation, would perish in 2058, corresponding to 2001 in the Christian calendar. He cursed that if the Crown Prince got married and begot a child before attaining the age of 35, the reigning king would meet with an untimely and brutal end. Another legend spelt doom for the dynasty. The powerful Prithvi Narayan Shah - who is considered to have unified the world's only Hindu kingdom in the early 19th century - had granted a last wish to the Newar king of the Malla dynasty, whom he had defeated to conquer the principality of Bhaktapur, comprising the Kathmandu valley. The dying Malla king had asked that the crown and throne of Bhaktapur be returned to him. A shocked Prithvi Narayan had predicted then that his dynasty would end in its 11th generation. Indeed, Crown Prince Dipendra and his slain younger brother, Prince Nirajan, represented the 11th generation of the Shah dynasty. The house was pushed out of power by the warlike Rana clan in the late 18th century. But King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah Dev brought the Shahs back to power and glory in the mid-19th century, and many began believing that the Baba's curse had worn off. But, it is said, that the pious King Birendra - considered the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu by his subjects - and his family strongly believed in the curse. In fact, this belief is said to be behind Queen Aishwariya's strong opposition to the 29-year-old Dipendra's marriage now, before the curse deadline was over. Sources said she was also against the Crown Prince's choice of bride. Though there is no official confirmation about the midnight annihilation of the royal family, it is widely believed that the tragic killings were triggered by an argument between Dipendra and the family over his wedding plan. 'The entire episode is being constructed on hearsay, there has been no confirmation on how the end came. But since news of the deaths leaked out, the legend of Baba Gorakhnath's curse has been doing the rounds in the capital and elsewhere in the Hindu kingdom. The godman's curse and Prithvi Narayan's prediction have been in circulation for a few years, and with last night's tragedy both seem to have gained credence. It was indeed unusual for a member of the royal family, let alone the Crown Prince, to remain a bachelor till the age of 30. The royalty in Nepal traditionally get married in their mid-twenties,' said a Kathmandu-based journalist.