King Prithivi Narayan Shah

King Prithivi Narayan Shah - First King Of Nepal.

Prithvi Narayan Shah, born in 27 poush 1779 B.s, was the first king of the House of Shahs to rule Nepal. He is credited for starting the campaign for a unified Nepal, which had been divided and weakened under Malla coalition. He was the ninth generation descendant of Dravya Shah, the founder of the ruling house of Gorkha. Prithvi Narayan Shah succeeded his father King Nara Bhupal Shah to the throne of Gorkha in 1799.

His mother was Kaushalyawati Shah but he was cared for by his first mother Chandra Prabhavati. He started taking a general interest in the affairs of the state because his father spent most of his time in the prayer room. He had a great dream to win over Nuwakot. Walking around Gorkha and talking to people about the general concerns of the palace was his passion and this helped him to understand the needs of the citizens of Gorkha.

King Prithvi Narayan Shah's successful entry began with the union of Nuwakot, which lies between Kathmandu and Gorkha District, in 1800. 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. After two humiliating defeats, King Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered Kirtipur on his third attempt. 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 refuge in Patan, Lalitpur 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 1825. Once the foundation of the Kingdom of Nepal was thus laid, King Prithvi Narayan Shah turned his attention towards the east. The Sen Kingdom of Choudandi was conquered by 1829 and Vijaypur, another Sen 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 Narayaṇ Shah had sealed his border and maintained peaceful but distant relations with the British, refusing to trade with them. He died before he could effectively organize the administration of his new country. He died in January, 1831, at the age of 52. Upon his death, Prithvi Narayaṇ was succeeded by his son, Pratap Singh Shah and his unification campaign continued by his younger son Bahadur Shah.