Chapter 1: Brief modern history of Nepal
Nepal’s modern political history can be traced in the following subheadings;
a) Building foundation of Nepal and Prithivi Narayan Shah
The political history of modern Nepal starts in 1825 B.S. (1768 AD). The modern era is considered to have
started after King Prithvi Narayan Shah of the Shah Dynasty conquered the Kathmandu Valley. Prithvi
Narayan Shah is considered the pioneer of Nepal's modern history and geographical identity. The political
history of modern Nepal starts in 1825 B.S. (1768 AD). The modern era is considered to have started after
King Prithvi Narayan Shah of the Shah Dynasty conquered the Kathmandu Valley. Prithvi Narayan Shah is
considered the pioneer of Nepal's modern history and geographical identity.
The year 1768 A.D. is an important marker for Nepali political history. It was the year when Gorkha king Prithvi Narayan Shah started his kingdom’s territorial expansion campaign. The march of the Gorkha Empire laid the foundations of modern-day Nepal. Within the existing boundaries of Nepal, there were smaller states ruled by different kings. First of all, king Narbhupal Shah (father of Prithivi Narayan Shah) thought of expanding the territory of Gorkha and attacked Nuwakot to make an entry into Kathmandu Valley. He attacked Nuwakot in 1739 but was badly defeated. Later, Prithivi Narayan Shah attacked Nuwakot again and seized it. Nuwakot was a trade route with Tibet and a way to enter Kathmandu. Powerful adversaries like Lamjung and Tanahun were watching the moves of Prithivi Narayan Shah.
During the expansion campaign, Prithivi Narayan Shah tagged Lamjung as a large vulture, Gorkha as a snake and Kathmandu Valley as a frog. So he made different strategies to expand the boundary of Nepal. For example:
- He attacked Kirtipur thrice. He lost two battles with Kirtipur. So he captured the Chovar and Panga areas and attacked Kirtipur to eventually conquer its territories.
- To capture Kathmandu, he attacked Kathmandu during the Indra Jatra festival.
- He started a military unification of different kingdoms, eventually merging them into Nepal
Once Prithvi Narayan Shah unified many tiny principalities and kingdoms into an empire, or the Nepali nation, every external interaction with the giant neighbors and with many other kingdoms in the region, such as Sikkim, maintained the territorial integrity of the nation. Where possible, the Nepali empire expanded (Rose, 1971).It took approximately 73 years to integrate and organize the smaller states into a larger Nepal (known as the Baise and Chaubise states). The 73 years range from 1801 to 1873, from the time when Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered Nuwakot till the famous Sugauli Treaty between Nepal and the East India Company (the British occupied territory of the present South Asian region). Prithivi Narayan Shah’s Dibya Upadesh is a compilation of his sayings and quotes. This was compiled by the royal priest, and almost 180 years later, it was published in the year 1953 A.D.
You can access the Dibya Upadesh from this link: Dibaya Upadesh P.N. Shah
Before the Ranas took over power in Nepal, the expansion of Nepal was taking place under the leadership of Bahadur Shah (younger son of Prithivi Narayan Shah). While Bahadur Shah was campaigning for the unification process, Pratap Singh Shah ascended the throne. The expansion of Nepal was halted from 1788 to 1792 after a defeat by Tibet. Similarly, 1814-1816 AD was known for the Anglo-Nepalese war which concluded in the famous Sugauli Treaty. We will learn about the Sugauli Treaty and its relation with Bhimsen Thapa.