THE GREAT KING PRITHIVI NARAYAN SHAH Prithvi narayan shah was born in 27 poush 1779 B.

s His father was Narbhupal shah and mother was Kaukshalya vati. King Narbhupal shah have four queens, he had done four marriages. The first queen chandraprabhavati devi did not got any children. Second queen kaushalya vati had 3 children their name were prithivi narayan shah,dalmardan shah, prithivi pati shah. The first queen did not have any children so she had adopted prithivinarayan shah. And she took all the necessitity care of prithivinarayan shah. First married of prithivinarayan shah was done with Indrakumari; she was the daughter of king Hemkarn sen princess of makwanpur. unfortunately the married was not successful because pritihvinarayan shah has demanded one elephant with one teeth whose cost was nine lakh and he wants to take his wife with him at married time but Indrakumari father rejected all the demand due this prithivinarayan shah was felling insulted so in same year he had done another marriage with Narendra laxmi daughter of Ahimansingh princess of banaras (India). In 1799 B.S. Prithvi narayan shah father got death at that time prithivinarayan shah was only 20 years old. And he becomes the king of gorkha. When prithivi narayan shah become the king at that time Nepal was not single country it was divided into 52 states at that time kathmandu have 3 states and due to this they all were quarreling everytime. Due to this situation king prithivi narayan shah decided that he will make on single powerful state. Soon after he ascended the throne of Gorkha, Shah tricked his way into the royal household of Bhaktapur for a number of months. He lusted over the rich agricultural soil of the valley, and envied the strategic point of Kathmandu valley as a transit point for expanding trade with both Tibet and India. Then he planned the conquest of the valley. To this end, he decided to first capture Nuwakot, which belonged to the state of Kantipur, as a strategic point. He also foresaw that taking over Nuwakot would significantly strengthen the position of his Gorkha nation and weaken the states occupying the Kathmandu Valley. Nuwakot held strategic importance, as there was already a fort there, and it had remained as a connecting pass the valley and Tibet.

NUWAKOT (1744 AD) One year after becoming King, in 1744 AD, Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Nuwakot but was repelled because the Gorkha army was not well equipped. In addition, conflicts of interest between the Pandeys and Basnets - two important courtier clans in the Gorkha palace - arose to add domestic political tension. Shah then made Kalu Pandey the "Mul Kaji " of his state and thus strengthened his domestic political position. Almost a year later, on 2 October 1744, he attacked Nuwakot again and won, thus expanding the bounds of his Gorkha state.

ABOVE PICTURE SHOWS THE SCENE OF BATTLE AGAINST NUWAKOT. ASSAULTS ON KIRTIPUR Prithvi Narayan Shah employed a strategy involving a blockade of the Kathmandu Valley, and subsequently took over the surrounding settlements and strategic positions around the valley. He focused his attention on Kirtipur and Makawanpur, two palaces which were also strategic military targets. Kirtipur was in an elevated position with a fort surrounded by walls and jungles, an ideal place to make inroads into the valley. Shah thought that if he could take over Kirtipur, occupying the rest of the valley would be much easier. On 4 December 1757 he made his first attack on Kirtipur. Prithvi Narayan Shah himself was nearly killed in the battle. As a result, the Gorkha army, having lost a great deal of moral, was defeated.But greed took over Prithvi Narayan Shah soon. He did not care for the welfare of his soldiers. He was interested only in the capture of more lands, whatever the cost. The Gorkha army was repelled again in August 1764. After two defeats, the Gorkha army changed its strategy again and surrounded Kirtipur during the harvest season, effectively laying siege to the stronghold. The Gorkha army also took over the nearbyAfter two defeats, the Gorkha army changed its strategy again and surrounded Kirtipur during the harvest season, effectively laying siege to the stronghold. The Gorkha army also took over the nearby Balaju fort. After several months of this blockade, the people of Kirtipur could not even get water to drink and were forced to surrender.

CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN NEPAL AND CONQUEST OF KATHMANDU VALLEY As Nuwakot was a key point for Kathmandu s trade with Tibet, Makawanpur in the south was equally important for trade with India. While the battle to surround Kathmandu was going on in the north, the Gorkha army, captured southeast of modern-day Nepal. Makawanpur was captured after only 10 hours of battle in August 1762. In 1763 AD, the Gorkha army conquered seven other villages, including Dhulikhel and Banepa, and expanded the Gorkha state's border line further north. With this, the Kathmandu Valley was completely surrounded and blockaded. After all the four passes (Sanga, Baad, pati and Chandragiri Bhanjyang, also known as Char Bhanjyang) of the Kathmandu Valley were controlled by Prithvi Narayan Shah, the eventual lack of salt, oil, spices, and even clothes led to turmoil in the valley and disaster struck Kathmandu. The king of Kathmandu at the time, Jaya Prakash Malla, then asked for military aid from the British in British India. In August 1767, when the forces of the British India arrived in Sindhuligadhi, the Gorkha military conducted guerrilla attacks against them. Many of the British Indian forces were killed and the rest eventually fled, leaving behind a huge amount of weapons and ammunitions, which were seized by the Gorkha army.

KING PRITHIVI NARAYAN SHAH VIEWING THE TOP VIEW OF KATHMANDU VALLEY. This boosted the morale of the forces of Prithvi Narayan Shah and further demoralized the kings of the Kathmandu Valley, among which was the king of Kantipur. In addition to this, the political situation of the valley, political wrangling inside the palace, and personal enmity had rendered the people of Kantipur very weak because Jaya Prakash Malla, the king of Kantipur, was of a paranoid nature, and his own brother and courtiers became dissatisfied with him.. In Bhaktapur as well, the palace of King Ranjeet Malla was in disarray due to domestic political wrangling. When Ranjeet Malla wanted to declare his two year-old son as his heir, a queen opposed it. This forced the king to declare his older illegitimate son as his heir to the throne..While the three kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley were engaged in clashes, Prithvi Narayan Shah used this opportunity to impose an economic blockade against the entire valley region. He closed the trade route to Tibet, which passed through Nuwakot.

The Gorkha army, marched into the valley. On 25 September 1768, when the people of Kathmandu were celebrating the Festival of Indrajatra, Prithvi Narayan Shah won an easy victory over Kantipur. Some historians doubt this version of the history written by the conquerors. They say that the valley was overtaken not on September but on cold December. The official version of overwhelmingly large force that captured Kathmandu is considered historically inaccurate. The truth, however, is that the powerful Pradhan courtiers of Kathmandu were promised lucrative position in the new Kingdom in lieu for their help in killing the beleaguered king. The king realized that he had enemies galore and fled to the neighboring Bhaktapur leaving the throne empty in Kathmandu. Upon easing his way to the throne of the Kathmandu, the very next day, he ordered the beheading of all of the Pradhan courtiers and their extended family. Eleven days later (6 October 1768), he conquered Lalitpur. On 14 April 1769, he gained the town of Thimi and seven months later (17 November 1769), he took over Bhaktapur. In this way, the whole Kathmandu Valley came under the control of Prithvi Narayan Shah.

UNIFICATION OF NEPAL AND ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNITED KINGDOM OF NEPAL

After his conquest of the Kathmandu Valley, Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered other smaller countries south of the valley to keep other smaller fiefdoms near his Gurkha state out of the influence and control of the British rule. After his kingdom spread out from north to south, he made Kantipur the capital of expanded country, and renamed it Nepal from its original name of Gorkha. After this he turned his attention towards the east. The Sena kingdom of Choudandi was conquered by 1773 A.D. and Vijaypur, another Sena kingdom, was annexed shortly thereafter. Prithvi Narayan Shah formally established Nepal as a country and the Kingdom of Nepal was officially born in 1769 AD.

KING PRITHIVI NARAYAN SHAH GETTING ENGAGED IN DEVELOPMENTAL WORK

IMPLICATIONS OF UNIFICATION Had Prithvi Narayan Shah not established the Kingdom of Nepal, it is likely that the smaller and weaker nation states would have come under the control of the British Empire, whose influence was increasing in India at the time. If the British Indian army had not been stopped and defeated at MakawanpurgadhiSindhuligadhi, Nepal would not have been born as a country, and the Nepalese would not be known as an independent political entity, a people separate from India. The majority of credit for preventing these outcomes goes to Prithvi Narayan Shah. Some historians of questionable intent calls Prithivi Narayan Shah as the Great in Nepal. However, this history written by the conquered leaves out the critical detail; that the conquered people thought and still think that this event was nothing but a glorified version of internal colonization practiced by Shah dynasty over almost all of the Nepalese people.

KING PRITHIVI NARAYAN HAVING VIEW OF HIS STATE FROM HIS GORKHA PALACE ALONG WITH HIS QUEENS

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