Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva

Born June 11, 1920, in Katmandu; died Jan. 31, 1972, in Katmandu. King of Nepal from 1956 (he actually took power in 1955).

Under his rule Nepal ended its age-old international isolation, joining the United Nations in 1955 and establishing diplomatic relations with many countries, including the socialist ones. He carried through a series of reforms of a bourgeois nature and followed a policy of nonalignment with military blocs.