Four Year Old Aditya A Miracle Boy

Yuba Nath Lamsal

Some call him as a Goggle Boy and some as an incarnation of God because of his exceptional mental ability and knowledge. But he says he is a common man. Aditya Dahal, a four year old boy, who has never set foot in school nor is he physically fit, possesses exceptional mental state that he has answer to every question and everything from politics, religion and philosophy to mathematics. Given his special quality and mental state, despite physical deformity, Aditya is, without any shade of doubt, a miracle boy.

He cannot speak, stand and even hold his own head for which he needs support from others. Yet he writes and gives answer to every question in multiple languages including Nepali, Sanskrit and English. His parents claim that he can also write in Korean, Russian, German, Japanese and Chinese languages.

Is this not a miracle?

When asked to say something about The Rising Nepal, Aditya wrote in English ‘Barun Shamsher did well as the first editor of The Rising Nepal’. Yes Barun Samsher Rana was The Rising Nepal’s first editor in chief who gave good leadership to the paper in the initial phase and is still remembered as a thorough gentleman. Awestruck by his answer, this scribe asked in Nepali the date of the first issue of The Rising Nepal. Aditya with his trembling hands wrote, “2022, Poush 1 start date’. Perfectly correct as The Rising Nepal was first published on Poush 1, 2022 Bikram era or December 16, 1965.

Aditya was born to Sesh Raj Dahal and Ishwora Guarani, both government employees, on July 23, 2010. According to his father Shesh Raj Dahal, Aditya was normal until he was two and a half year old. Physical deformities were seen in him later and Aditya finally lost his speech and movement. However, his disease has not yet been diagnosed, let alone its treatment and cure. Dahal couple visited almost all hospitals in Kathmandu and also consulted with expert doctors. They even took Aditya to Gangaram Hospital in New Delhi of India but his disease has not been diagnosed.

“We have taken Aditya to many doctors including pediatricians to neurologists both in Nepal and India, but his disease has not been diagnosed,” Aditya’s father said. According to Dahal, doctors are puzzled as all test reports are absolutely normal but his illness continues to afflict Aditya. However, they are optimistic that Aditya will be alright in a few years as the boy himself has told the parents not to be worried too much because his disease will be cured by 2073 Bikram Era (2017). Aditya says, according to parents, that his treatment will be possible only in Stanford Hospital of California, the United States. However, Aditya was denied visa from the United States Embassy in Kathmandu for lack of fund to cover the costs of his treatment.

Parents are now running from pillar to post to arrange fund for his treatment as lower level employees they cannot afford for Aditya’s treatment abroad. In view of Aditya’s extraordinary mental state, the government has decided to provide 2.5 million rupees (US$ 25,000) for his treatment. But this is meager amount if he has to be taken abroad for treatment. According to Aditya’s father, “it is too low, as it does not cover the cost of treatment”. 

Aditya’s father Shesh Raj Dahal demands to know whether the state is interested to save Aditya and his security as he can be an asset to the country. According to him, Nepal will one day be known in the world as the country of Aditya Dahal in addition to its present identity as the country of Lord Buddha and Mt Everest. Asked what exactly he expected from the government, Dahal said “we expect the government to bear the entire cost of Aditya’s treatment and also his security and management.”

Parents are worried about Aditya’s security as crowd of visitors throng their residence every day to see him. As both the parents are government’s employee, they leave Aditya to the care of a teenage girl Sushma Guragain, Ishwora’s own niece during office hours. Sushma is the first witness to Aditya’s miraculous talent and behavior.  According to parents, on July 9, 2014, Sushma, who was responsible to take care of the boy at day time when parents were in office, called Dahal couple and told that Aditya started writing both in Nepali and English. They initially did not believe her words as they did not expect the boy, who has never gone to school or was ever taught, to write English and Nepali fluently. But they believed only when they saw it with their own eyes. They also call it a miracle and ‘divine power’. “I thought she was just joking and did not believe her in the beginning but got exhilarated when I myself saw his writing,” Aditya’s mother Ishwora Guragain said. “Now we have realized that divine power has dawned on him, which has also changed our thinking as we have now become more spiritual because of Aditya,”, Ishwora explained.

Sushma, narrating the story, says:  “I was busy in my own study while Aditya, who was just beside me, tried to take my pen and a paper. I gave a pen and paper thinking that he will be busy and let me study my own course. But he immediately started writing Nepali alphabets followed by English alphabets and words. This astonished me and immediately called uncle and aunt in office’.  

Upon hearing the miracle and his ability to predict—and predict correctly— crowd started to throng his residence every day. Dignitaries like former Prime Minister Jhalnath Khanal, former chief justice and former chairman of election government Khilraj Regmi, Health Minister Khagraj Adhikari, chief secretary Lilamani Poudel and secretary at Ministry of Information and Communication Suman Bahadur Malla visited Aditya’s house and were astonished by his mental ability and power. In a meeting with Health Minister Khagraj Adhikari, Aditya asked him ( minister Adhikari) in English, “Can you make me fit?”

As the number of visitors continued to grow and many of them expressed willingness to donate in Aditya’s treatment, ‘Aditya Protection Foundation’ was formed with Aditya’s father as its chairman, whereas Aditya himself is its patron. The objectives of the Foundations are to ‘protect the rights of differently-abled and handicapped people, raise awareness against drug abuse and alcoholism, help and rescue victims of natural disasters, assist marginalized people, promote peaceful co-existence in the society, establish community health posts, hospitals, ayurbedic hospitals with due permission from the concerned authorities and establish and operate a Fund for Aditya’s treatment’.  The Foundation has opened a bank account in SBI Bank (Account No 20525240200231) to facilitate the well-wishers to donate for Aditya’s treatment. “We have done this as per the Guru’s (Aditya) suggestions and it mainly seeks to make arrangement for his treatment, security and management,” said vice chairman of the Foundation Laxmi Prasai. However, Aditya’s father demands that the state should take the responsibility of Aditya’s security as well as treatment. Aditya’s father said that they do not accept any donation with conditions. Dahal has expressed gratitude to all those who have offered voluntary support to Aditya and Aditya Protection Foundation.  

Aditya’s mental state is extra ordinary but he is physically handicapped. If parents are to be believed, all medical test results including MRI reports are normal and doctors themselves are puzzled as they have not been able to know what exactly is Aditya’s disease. Thus, this is the subject of research for medical science to solve this mystery.