The Kingdom of Nepal (Nepali: नेपाल अधिराज्य), also known as the Kingdom of

Gorkha or Gorkha Empire (Nepali: गोरखा अधिराज्य) or Asal Hindustan (Real

Land of Hindus),[note 1] was a Hindu kingdom on the Indian subcontinent, formed in
1768,[5] by the unification of Nepal. Founded by King Prithvi Narayan Shah,
a Gorkhali monarch of Rajput origin from medieval India,[6] it existed for 240 years
until the abolition of the Nepalese monarchy in 2008. During this
period, Nepal was formally under the rule of the Shah dynasty, which exercised
varying degrees of power during the kingdom's existence.

After the invasion of Tibet and plundering of Digarcha by Nepali forces under

Prince Regent Bahadur Shah in 1792, the Dalai Lama and Chinese Ambans
reported to Chinese administration for military support. The Chinese and Tibetan
forces under Fu Kang An attacked Nepal but went for negotiation after failure at
Nuwakot.[3] MulKaji Damodar Pande was the most influential Kajiamong the four
Kajis appointed after removal of Bahadur Shah of Nepal even though Chief (Mul)
Kaji was Kirtiman Singh Basnyat.[7] MulKaji Damodar Pande tried to protect
king Girvan Yuddha Shah and keep Rana Bahadur off of Nepal. However, in 1804,
March 4, the former king came back and took over the post of Mukhtiyar and
Damodar Pande was then beheaded and killed in Thankot.[8] The 1806 Bhandarkhal
massacre instigated upon the death of King Rana Bahadur Shah, set forth the rise
of authoritative Mukhtiyar (premier) Bhimsen Thapa[9] who became de facto ruler
of Nepal from 1806 to 1837.[10] During the early nineteenth century, however, the
expansion of the East India Company's rule in India led to the Anglo-Nepalese
War (1814–1816), which resulted in Nepal's defeat. Under the Sugauli Treaty, the
kingdom retained its independence, but in exchange for territorial concessions
making Mechi River to Mahakali River its boundary under Nepalese rule,
[2]
 sometimes known as "Greater Nepal". In the political scenario, the death
of Prime Minister Mathbar Singh ended the Thapa hegemony and set the stage
for Kot massacre[11] which resulted in the ascendancy of the Rana dynasty of Khas
Rajput (Chhetri) origin, which made the office of Prime Minister of
Nepal hereditary in their family for the next century, from 1843 to 1951. Beginning
with Jung Bahadur, the first Rana ruler, the Rana dynasty reduced the Shah
monarch to a figurehead role. Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery,
economic exploitation and religious persecution.[12][13]

In July 1950, the newly independent republic of India signed a friendship treaty in

which both nations agreed to respect the other's sovereignty. In November of the
same year, India played an important role in supporting King Tribhuhvan, whom
the Rana leader Mohan Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana had attempted to depose and
replace with his infant grandson King Gyanendra. With Indian support for a new
government consisting largely of the Nepali Congress, King Tribhuvan ended the
rule of the Rana dynasty in 1951.

Unsuccessful attempts were made to implement reforms and a constitution during

the 1960s and 1970s. An economic crisis at the end of the 1980s led to a popular
movement which brought about parliamentary elections and the adoption of a
constitutional monarchy in 1990. The 1990s saw the beginning of the Nepalese
Civil War (1996–2006), a conflict between government forces and the insurgent
forces of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The situation for the Nepalese
monarchy was further destabilised by the 2001 Nepalese royal massacre, in
which Crown Prince Dipendra reportedly shot and killed ten people, including his
father King Birendra, and was himself mortally wounded by what was allegedly a
self-inflicted gunshot.
As a result of the massacre, King Gyanendra returned to the throne. His imposition
of direct rule in 2005 provoked a protest movement unifying the Maoist insurgency
and pro-democracy activists. He was eventually forced to restore Nepal's House of
Representatives, which in 2007 adopted an interim constitution greatly restricting
the powers of the Nepalese monarchy. Following an election held the next year,
the Nepalese Constituent Assembly formally abolished the kingdom in its first
session on 28 May 2008, declaring the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in its
place.

Until the abolition of the monarchy, Nepal was the world's only country to
have Hinduism as its state religion; the country is now formally a secular state.[14]
[15]