On the evening of June 1, 2001, during an intimate gathering of Nepal’s royal family, Crown Prince Dipendra opened fire with automatic weapons inside Kathmandu’s royal palace, killing his parents — the king and queen — his siblings, five other close relatives, and ultimately himself. It was the bloodiest, most complete massacre of any royal family ever recorded and the most horrifying event in the history of the Shah Dynasty, which had ruled Nepal over 10 generations. The Shah Dynasty continues to rule Nepal — the Crown Prince’s uncle now wears the king’s plumed crown — but Dipendra’s violent act has put the tiny mountain nation into a precarious position, where ancient customs and traditions contend with steadily encroaching modernity and Maoist insurgents threaten full-blown civil war.