Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Rajendra Bikram Shah


Rajendra Bikram Shah, King of Nepal (1813-1881) was King of Nepal from 1816 to 1847. He became king at age three on the death of his father Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva. As had been the case with his father, most of Rajendra's rule was under the regency of Queen Lalit Tripura Sundari (died 1832) and Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa. As regent, Bhimsen Thapa kept the king in isolation--he did not even have the freedom to leave the palace without permission.



Rajendra came of age in 1832, and in 1837 announced his intention to rule independently of the Prime Minister. He stripped Bhimsen Thapa and Thapa's nephew, Mathbar Singh, of their military authority. Shortly afterward the youngest son of Rajendra's elder queen died, and Bhimsen Thapa was arrested on a trumped-up charge of poisoning the prince. All the property of the Thapas was confiscated. Bhimsen Thapa was acquitted after an eight-month trial, but the Thapas were in disarray. When Rana Jang Pande became prime minister, he reimprisoned Bhimsen Thapa, who committed suicide in prison in 1839.


In January 1843, Rajendra declared that he would rule the country only with advice and agreement of his junior queen, Lakshmidevi, and commanded his subjects to obey her even over his own son, Surendra Bikram Shah. Continued infighting among noble factions led eventually to the Kot Massacre in 1846. In the aftermath of the Kot Massacre, Jung Bahadur became prime minister and quickly seized power, sending King Rajendra and Queen Lakshmidevi into exile in Varanasi. From exile, Rajendra sought to regain power, but Jung Bahadur learned of Rajendra's plans and forced him to abdicate in favor of his son Surendra. Jung Bahadur's forces captured Rajendra in 1847 and brought him toBhaktapur, where he spent the rest of his life under house arrest.


Thursday, August 4, 2011

King Prithvi Narayan Shah

The late king Prithvi Narayan Shah was born on 1723–1775.He was the  the first king of House of Shahs to rule Nepal. He was the ninth generation descendant of Dravya Shah (1559–1570), the founder of the ruling house ofGorkha. Prithvi Narayan Shah succeeded his father King Nara Bhupal Shah to the throne of Gorkha in 1743.
      
      He was born prematurely to Kaushalyawati Shah but was raised by his senior mother Chandra Prabhavati. He started taking general concern with the affairs of the state because his father spent most of his time in the prayer room. He had a great desire of victory over Nuwakot. His senior mother was his perfection against his loyalty towards the unification of modern Nepal. Walking around Gorkha and talking to people about the general concerns of the palace was his likeness and this helped him to understaKing Prithvi Narayan Shah's successful entry began with the union of Nuwakot, which lies between Kathmandu and Gorkha District, in 1744. After Nuwakot, he took possession of strategic points in the hills surrounding the Kathmandu Valley. The valley's communications with the outside world were thus cut off. The occupation of the Kuti Pass in about 1756 stopped the valley's trade with Tibet. To stop the trade between the Newar people living in the Kathmandu Valley and the Muslim Mogul empire in India was a requirement King Prithvi Narayan Shah had to fulfill in order to receive advice and weapons from the Britishnd the needs of the citizens of Gorkha.

After two humiliating defeats, King Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered Kirtipur on his third attempt. He ordered that all the male inhabitants of Kirtipur, except children at the breast, were to have their noses and lips cut off. The weight of the noses and lips that were brought to him amounted to no less than eighty pounds. Father Giuseppe, who was present at the time records the horror with which he saw so many living men whose faces resembled skulls.

Finally, King Prithvi Narayan Shah entered the valley, after conquering Kirtipur. Consequently Jaya Prakash Malla of Kathmandu managed to escape with his wife and took asylum in Patan. When the conquest was extended to Patan a few weeks later both Jaya Prakash Malla and the King of Patan, Tej Narsingh Malla, took refuge in Bhaktapur, which was also conquered after some time. Thus King Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered the Kathmandu Valley and made Kathmandu the capital of the Nepal in 1769. Once the foundation of the Kingdom of Nepal was thus laid, King Prithvi Narayan Shah turned his attention towards the east. The Sena Kingdom of Choudandi was conquered by 1773 and Vijaypur, another Sena Kingdom was annexed shortly after.
Nepal at that time extended from the Punjab to Sikkim and was almost twice as large in land area as it is today.

 King Prithvi Nārāyaṇ Shah had sealed his border and maintained peaceful but distant relations with the British, refusing to trade with them although he had accepted arms and advice from them during his conquering wars. He died before he could effectively organize the administration of his new country. He died in January, 1775, at the age of 52. Upon his death, Prithvi Nārāyaṇ was succeeded by his son, Pratap Singh Shah.