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Kingdom of Nepal

May 20, 2023

This article is about the former Hindu kingdom. For the modern-day country, see Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
This article is about the expanded kingdom from 1768–2008. For the predecessor kingdom, see Gorkha Kingdom.
Not to be confused with Nepa Kingdom, the classical name of the kingdom in Mahabharata.

The Kingdom of Nepal (Nepali: नेपाल अधिराज्य) was a Hindu kingdom in South Asia, formed in 1768 by the expansion of Gorkha Kingdom, which lasted until 2008 when the kingdom became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.[2] It was also known as the Gorkha Empire (Nepali: गोरखा अधिराज्य), or sometimes Asal Hindustan (Nepali: असल हिन्दुस्तान, transl. Real Land of the Hindus).[note 1] Founded by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha monarch who claimed to be of Khas Thakuri origin,[4][note 2] 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.

Kingdom of Nepal
  • नेपाल अधिराज्य
  • Nepal Adhirajya
1768–2008
Top: Flag (1962–2008)
Bottom: Flag (pre-1962)
Motto: Janani Janmabhumishcha Swargadapi Gariyasi (Sanskrit)
Mother and Motherland are greater than heaven
Anthem: 1962–2006:
"Shriman Gambhir" (Nepali: श्रीमान् गम्भीर)
(English: "May Glory Crown You, Courageous Sovereign")

2007–2008:
"Sayaun Thunga Phulka" (Nepali" सयौँ थुँगा फूलका)
(English: "Made of Hundreds of Flowers")
Territory of the Kingdom of Nepal in 1808
Territory of the Kingdom of Nepal in 2008
Status
  • british protectorate (1816-1923)
CapitalKathmandu
27°42′N 85°19′E / 27.700°N 85.317°E / 27.700; 85.317Coordinates: 27°42′N 85°19′E / 27.700°N 85.317°E / 27.700; 85.317
Common languagesNepali (official)
Religion
Hinduism (official)
Demonym(s)Nepalese
Nepali
GovernmentUnitary absolute monarchy
(1768–1990; 2002; 2005-2006)

Unitary authoritarian Panchayat absolute monarchy
(1961-1990)
Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
(1990–2002; 2002-2005; 2006–2008)

Mahārājādhirāja (The Great King) 
• 1768–1775
Prithvi Narayan Shah Dev (first)
• 2001–2008
(after 2008 as a titular reign)
Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (last)
Prime Minister 
• 1799–1804
Damodar Pande (first)
• 2006–2008
Girija Prasad Koirala (last)
Legislature
• Upper house
Senate
(1959-1960)
National Assembly
(1990-2002)
• Lower house
House of Representatives
(1959-1960; 1990-2002)
History 
25 September 1768[1]
1806–1837 and
1843–1845
1799–1804 and
1837–1840
• Rana regime
(under Shah kings)
1846–1951
1960–1990
1990–2008
• Republic
28 May 2008
Currency
ISO 3166 codeNP
Today part ofNepal
India

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 the Chinese administration for military support. The Chinese and Tibetan forces under Fuk'anggan attacked Nepal but went for negotiations after failure at Nuwakot.[6] Mulkaji Damodar Pande, who was the most influential among the four Kajis, was appointed after removal of Bahadur Shah. Chief Kaji (Mulkaji) Kirtiman Singh Basnyat,[7] tried to protect king Girvan Yuddha Shah and keep former king, Rana Bahadur Shah away from Nepal. However, on 4 March 1804, the former king came back and took over as Mukhtiyar (premier) and Damodar Pande was then beheaded in Thankot.[8] The 1806 Bhandarkhal massacre instigated upon the death of Rana Bahadur Shah, set forth the rise of authoritative Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa,[9] who became the 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 Treaty of Sugauli, the kingdom retained its internal independence, but in exchange for territorial concessions, marking the Mechi and Sharda rivers as the boundary of Nepalese territories.[11] The territory of the kingdom before the Sugauli treaty is sometimes nascently referred to as Greater Nepal. In the political scenario, the death of Mukhtiyar Mathbar Singh Thapa ended the Thapa hegemony and set the stage for the Kot massacre.[12] This resulted in the ascendancy of the Rana dynasty of Khas (Chhetri) and made the office of the 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. The Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery, economic exploitation and religious persecution.[13][14]

In July 1950, the newly independent Republic of India signed a friendship treaty in which both nations agreed to respect the other's sovereignty as well as continue to have an open border. In November of the same year, India played an important role in supporting King Tribhuvan, whom the Rana leader Mohan Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana had attempted to depose and replace with his infant grandson who would later become King Gyanendra. With Indian support for a new government consisting largely of the Nepali Congress, King Tribhuvan ended the Rana regime in 1951.

Unsuccessful attempts were made to implement reforms and adopt a constitution during the 1960s and 1970s. An economic crisis at the end of the 1980s led to a popular movement that 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 of the Nepalese monarchy was further destabilised by the 2001 Nepalese royal massacre.

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 the 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; since becoming a republic, the country is now formally a secular state.[15][16]

History

18th century

Origins

 
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Nepal (1962–2008)

The country was expanded from the one of the Chaubise principality called the Gorkha Kingdom.[17] .In Nepal, the warrior people are not referred to as 'Gurkhas', they are called 'Gorkhalis', meaning the 'inhabitants of Gorkha.' Their famed battle cry is "Jai Kali, Jai Gorakhnath, Jai Manakamana".[18]

The etymology of the geographical name 'Gorkha' is indeed related to the Hindu mendicant-saint Gorakhnath. In the village of Gorkha is situated a temple dedicated to Gorakhnath as well as another dedicated to Gorakhkali, a corresponding female deity. The Nepali geographical encyclopedia 'Mechi dekhi Mahakali' (From Mechi to Mahakali) published in B.S. 2013 (1974–75 AD) by the authoritarian Panchayat government to mark the coronation of King Birendra Shah agrees with the association of the name of the place with the saint but does not add any further detail.[19] The facts regarding when the temples were built and the place named after the saint are lost in the sweeping winds of time. We may guess that these developments took place in the early part of the second millennium of the Common Era following the rise of the Nath sect. In fact, the pilgrimage circuit of the sect across the northern Indian sub-continent also spans a major part Nepal including Kathmandu Valley. The Newars of Medieval Nepal have a couple of important temples and festivals dedicated to the major Nath teachers. Immediately before the rule of Gorkha by the Shahs, Gorkha was inhabited by both Aryan and Mongoloid ethnic groups and ruled by the Khadkas, who were probably of Magar origin. Dravya Shah defeated the Khadkas in 1559 AD and commenced Shah rule over the principality.[19] Prithvi Narayan Shah belonged to the ninth generation of the Shahs in Gorkha. He took the reins of power in 1742 AD.[20]

Expansion

 
The king's palace on a hill in Gorkha

King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the ruler of the small principality of Gorkha, initially drafted the Gorkhali Army.[21] The Chief of the Gorkhali Army were drawn from Chhetri noble families of Gorkha such as Pande family, Basnyat family and Thapa dynasty before the rule of the Rana dynasty.[22] However, the first civilian army chief was Kaji Kalu Pande who had significant role in the campaign of Nepal.[21] He was considered as an army head due to the undertaking of duties and responsibilities of the army but not by the formalization of the title.[21]

Battle of Nuwakot

 
Kaji Vamshidhar "Kalu" Pande of the Pande dynasty; Kaji (equivalent to Prime Minister) of Gorkha; Commander of Gorkhali forces at victorious battle of Nuwakot

The first battle by Gorkhali forces united under King Prithvi Narayan Shah was the Battle of Nuwakot. The first army commander was Kaji Kalu Pande of the Pande noble family of Gorkha. Pande put up tactics to attack Nuwakot, a strategic fort of Malla king of Kathmandu, from multiple sides by surprise. On 26 September 1744, Pande with a contingent of soldiers climbed from the northern side of Nuwakot city at Mahamandal. He led the surprise attack with a Gorkhali war cry of "Jai Kali, Jai Gorakhnath, Jai Manakamana".[18] The panicked soldiers of Nuwakot under commander Shankha Mani tried to defend but lost after their commander was killed by the 13-year-old Prince Dal Mardan Shah, brother of the king.[23] The second contingent of Gorkhali forces led by Chautariya Mahoddam Kirti Shah (also a brother of the king) passed Dharampani and faced strong tussle but ultimately won over the defenders.[23] The third part of the forces, led by the king himself, advanced to the fort of Nuwakotgadhi after the capture of Mahamandal. The soldiers panicked by death of their commander fled to Belkot from the Nuwakot fort and Nuwakot was annexed by Gorkha.[23]

Battle of Kirtipur

 
Gorkhali soldiers preparing war against Kathmandu Valley

Despite his initial resentment that the valley kings were well prepared and the Gorkhalis were not, Kaji Kalu Pande agreed for a battle against the kingdom of Kirtipur in the Kathmandu valley on being insisted by the king. The Gorkhalis had set up a base in Naikap to mount their assaults on Kirtipur. They were armed with swords, bows and arrows and muskets.[24] The two forces fought on the plain of Tyangla Phant in the northwest of Kirtipur. Surapratap Shah, the king's brother, lost his right eye to an arrow while scaling the city wall. The Gorkhali commander Kaji Kalu Pande was surrounded and killed, and the Gorkhali king himself narrowly escaped with his life into the surrounding hills disguised as a saint.[25][26] In 1767, King Prithvi Narayan Shah sent his army to attack Kirtipur for a third time under the command of Surapratap. In response, the three kings of the valley joined forces and sent their troops to the relief of Kirtipur, but they could not dislodge the Gorkhalis from their positions. A noble of Lalitpur named Danuvanta crossed over to Shah's side and treacherously let the Gorkhalis into the town.[2][27]

Annexation of Makwanpur & Hariharpur

King Digbardhan Sen and his minister Kanak Singh Baniya had already sent their families to safer grounds before the encirclement of their fortress. The Gorkhalis launched an attack on 21 August 1762. The battle lasted for eight hours. King Digbardhan and Kanak Singh escaped to Hariharpurgadhi. Makawanpur was thus annexed by the Gorkhali forces.[23]

After occupying the Makawanpurgadhi fort, the Gorkhali forces started planning for an attack on Hariharpurgadhi, a strategic fort on a mountain ridge of the Mahabharat range south of Kathmandu. It controlled the route to the Kathmandu valley. At the dusk of 4 October 1762, the Gorkhalis launched an attack. The soldiers at Hariharpurgadhi fought valiantly against the Gorkhali forces but were ultimately forced to vacate the Gadhi (fort) after midnight. About 500 soldiers of Hariharpur died in the battle.[23] Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal extended his help to kings of Kathmandu valley with his forces to attack the Gorkhali forces. On 20 January 1763, Gorkhali commander Vamsharaj Pande won the battle against Mir Qasim.[28] Similarly, Captain Kinloch of British East India Company also extended his support by sending contingents against Gorkhalis. King Prithvi Narayan sent Kaji Vamsharaj Pande, Naahar Singh Basnyat, Jeeva Shah, Ram Krishna Kunwar and others to defeat the forces of Gurgin Khan at Makwanpur.[29][30]

Conquest of Kathmandu valley and Declaration of Kingdom of Nepal

The victory in the Battle of Kirtipur climaxed Shah's two-decade-long effort to take possession of the wealthy Kathmandu valley. After the fall of Kirtipur, Shah took over the cities of Kathmandu and Lalitpur in 1768 and Bhaktapur in 1769, completing his conquest of the valley.[2] In a letter to Ram Krishna Kunwar, King Prithvi Narayan Shah expressed his unhappiness at the death of Kaji Kalu Pande in Kirtipur and thought it was impossible to conquer Kathmandu valley after the death of Kalu Pande.[31] After the annexation of Kathmandu valley, King Prithvi Narayan Shah praised in his letter about the valour and wisdom shown by Kunwar in the annexation of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur (collectively known as Nepal valley at the time).[32] Vamsharaj Pande, Kalu Pande's eldest son, was the commander of the Gorkhali forces who led the attack during the Battle of Bhaktapur on 14 April 1769.[33]

Conquest of the Kirata

 
Abhiman Singh Basnyat, a military commander and later Mulkaji

King Prithvi Narayan Shah had deployed Sardar Ram Krishna Kunwar to the invasion of Kirata regional areas comprising; Pallo Kirant (Limbuwan), Wallo Kirant and Majh Kirant (Khambuwan).[34] On B.S. 1829 Bhadra 13 (i.e. 29 August 1772), Kunwar crossed the Dudhkoshi river to invade King Karna Sen of the Majh Kirant (Khambuwan) and Saptari region[32] with fellow commander Abhiman Singh Basnyat.[35] He then crossed the Arun river to reach Chainpur (Limbuwan),[36] where he later achieved victory over the Kiratas.[37] King Prithvi Narayan Shah bestowed 22 pairs of Shirpau (special headgear) in appreciation to Ram Krishna Kunwar after his victory over the Kirata region.[37]

Political conflicts

In 1775, the King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who expanded the Gorkha Kingdom into the Kingdom of Nepal, died in Nuwakot.[38] Swarup Singh Karki, a shrewd Gorkhali courtier from a Chhetri family of eastern Nepal,[39] marched with an army to Nuwakot to confine Prince Bahadur Shah who was then mourning the death of his father.[38] He confined Bahadur Shah and Dal Mardan Shah with the consent from newly reigning King Pratap Singh Shah who was considered to have no distinction of right and wrong.[38] In the annual Pajani (renewal) of that year, Swarup Singh was promoted to the position of Kaji along with Abhiman Singh Basnyat, Amar Singh Thapa and Parashuram Thapa.[38] In Falgun 1832 B.S., he succeeded in exiling Bahadur Shah, Dal Mardan Shah and Guru Gajraj Mishra on three heinous charges.[40] The reign of Pratap Singh Shah was characterized by the constant rivalry between Swarup Singh and Vamsharaj Pande.[41] The document dated B.S. 1833 Bhadra 3 Roj 6 (i.e. Friday, 2 August 1776), shows that he had carried the title of Dewan along with Vamsharaj Pande.[42] King Pratap Singh Shah died on 22 November 1777[43] with his infant son Rana Bahadur Shah succeeding as the King of Nepal.[44] Sarbajit Rana Magar was made a Kaji along with Balbhadra Shah and Vamsharaj Pande[45] while Daljit Shah was chosen as Chief Chautariya.[44][45] Historian Dilli Raman Regmi asserts that Sarbajit was chosen as Mulkaji (equivalent to Prime Minister),[44] while historian Rishikesh Shah asserts that Sarbajit was the head of the Nepalese government only for a short period in 1778.[46] Afterwards, rivalry arose between Prince Bahadur Shah and Queen Rajendra Laxmi. Sarbajit led the followers of the Queen opposed to Sriharsh Pant who led the followers of Bahadur Shah.[47] The group of Bharadars (officers) led by Sarbajit badmouthed Rajendra Laxmi against Bahadur Shah.[48] Rajendra Laxmi succeeded in the confinement of Bahadur Shah with the help of her new minister Sarbajit.[49] Guru Gajraj Mishra came to the rescue of Bahadur Shah on a condition that Bahadur Shah should leave the country.[49][50] Also, his rival Sriharsh Pant was branded outcast and expelled instead of being executed as execution was prohibited for Brahmins.[47]

Prince Bahadur Shah confined his sister-in-law Queen Rajendra Laxmi on the charge of having illicit relation with Sarbajit[51] on 31 August 1778.[43][52][53] Subsequently, Sarbajit was executed inside the palace by Bahadur Shah[54][55] with the help of male servants of the royal palace.[54] Historian Bhadra Ratna Bajracharya asserts that it was actually Chautariya Daljit Shah who led the opposing group against Sarbajit Rana and Rajendra Laxmi.[56] The letter dated B.S. 1835 Bhadra 11 Roj 4 (1778) to Narayan Malla and Vrajabasi Pande asserts the death of Sarbajit under misconduct and the appointment of Bahadur Shah as regent.[43] The death of Sarbajit Rana Magar is considered to have marked the initiation of court conspiracies and massacres in the newly unified Kingdom of Nepal.[50] Historian Baburam Acharya points that the sanctions against Queen Rajendra Laxmi under moral misconduct was a mistake of Bahadur Shah. Similarly, the murder of Sarbajit was condemned by many historians as an act of injustice.[57]

Vamsharaj Pande, once Dewan of Nepal and son of the popular commander Kalu Pande, was beheaded on the allegations of conspiring with Queen Rajendra Laxmi.[58][59] In a special tribunal meeting at Bhandarkhal garden east of Kathmandu Durbar, Swaroop Singh held Vamsharaj liable for letting the King of Parbat, Kirtibam Malla, run away in the battle a year ago.[60] He had a fiery conversation with Vamsharaj before Vamsharaj was declared guilty and was subsequently executed by beheading on the tribunal.[47] Historian Rishikesh Shah and Ganga Karmacharya claim that he was executed in March 1785,[58][59] whereas Bhadra Ratna Bajracharya and Tulsi Ram Vaidya claim that he was executed on 21 April 1785.[60][47] On 2 July 1785, Swaroop Singh's opponent Prince Regent Bahadur Shah was arrested, but on the eleventh day of imprisonment, on 13 July, Singh's only supporter Queen Rajendra Laxmi died.[58][59] Then onwards, Bahadur Shah took over the regency of his nephew King Rana Bahadur Shah[61] and as one of his first orders as the regent, he ordered Swaroop Singh, who was then in Pokhara, to be beheaded there[62][63] on the charges of treason.[64] Singh had gone to Kaski to join Daljit Shah's military campaign of Kaski fearing retaliation of the old courtiers due to his conspiracy against Vamsharaj. He was executed on B.S. 1842 Shrawan 24.[62]

Tibetan conflict

Further information: Sino-Nepalese War

After the death of Prithvi Narayan Shah, the Shah dynasty began to expand their kingdom into what is present-day North India. Between 1788 and 1791, Nepal invaded Tibet and robbed Tashi Lhunpo Monastery of Shigatse. Tibet sought Chinese help and the Qianlong Emperor of the Chinese Qing Dynasty appointed Fuk'anggan commander-in-chief of the Tibetan campaign. Heavy damages were inflicted on both sides. The Nepali forces retreated step by step back to Nuwakot to stretch Sino-Tibetan forces uncomfortably. Chinese launched an uphill attack during the daylight and failed to succeed due to a strong counterattack with khukuri at Nuwakot.[6] The Chinese army suffered a major setback when they tried to cross a monsoon-flooded Betrawati, close to the Gorkhali palace in Nuwakot.[65] A stalemate ensued when Fuk'anggan was keen to protect his troops and wanted to negotiate at Nuwakot. The treaty was favouring more to Chinese side where Nepal had to send tributes to the Chinese emperor.[6]

19th century

Dominance of Damodar Pande

Main article: Pande dynasty
 
Damodar Pande, Mulkaji of Nepal from the Pande aristocratic family

Damodar Pande was appointed as one of the four Kajis by King Rana Bahadur Shah after the removal of Chautariya Bahadur Shah in 1794.[7] Pande was the most influential and dominant amongst the court factions in spite of the post of Mulkaji being held by Kirtiman Singh Basnyat.[7] Pandes were the most dominant noble family. Later due to the continuous irrational behaviour of King Rana Bahadur Shah, a situation of civil war arose where Damodar was the main opposition to the King.[66] He was forced to flee to the British-controlled city of Varanasi in May 1800 after the military parted with influential Kaji Damodar Pande.[67][66] After Queen Rajrajeshwari finally managed to assume the regency on 17 December 1802,[68][69] later in February she appointed Damodar Pande as the Mulkaji.[70]

After Rana Bahadur's reinstatement to power, he ordered Damodar Pande, along with his two eldest sons, who were completely innocent, to be executed on 13 March 1804; similarly, some members of his faction were tortured and executed without any due trial, while many others managed to escape to India. Among those who managed to escape to India were Damodar Pande's sons Karbir Pande and Rana Jang Pande.[71][71][72] After Damodar Pande's execution, Ranajit Pande who was his paternal cousin, was appointed Mulkaji along with Bhimsen Thapa as second Kaji, Sher Bahadur Shah as Mul Chautariya and Ranganath Paudel as Raj Guru (Royal Preceptor).[73][74]

Thapa Regime

Main article: Thapa dynasty
 
Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa, founder of Khas Thapa dynasty

Thapa courtiers, who were Kshatriya, rose to power when the King Rana Bahadur Shah was murdered by his half brother Sher Bahadur Shah in 1806.[75] Bhimsen Thapa (1775–1839), the leading Thapa Kaji, taking opportunity of the occasion massacred nearly 55 military and civil officers and catapulting the Thapas into the power.[75] He took the title of Mukhtiyar succeeding Rana Bahadur as the chief authority and his niece Queen Tripurasundari as Queen Regent of junior King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah.[76]

Anglo-Gurkha War

Main article: Anglo-Nepalese War
 
Territories lost by Nepal after the Treaty of Sugauli

Rivalry between Nepal and the East India Company—over the princely states bordering Nepal and India—eventually led to the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–16). The Treaty of Sugauli was signed in 1816, ceding large parts of the Nepali territories of the Terai and Sikkim, which accounted to nearly one-third of the country, to the British in exchange for Nepalese autonomy. As the territories were not restored to Nepal by the British when freedom was granted to the people of British India, most of these lands later became a part of the Republic of India. Sikkim remained independent until annexed into India in 1975 when it becomes the 22nd state of the Republic of India. However, in 1860 the British returned the authority over some of Nepal's land in the Terai back to Nepal (known as Naya Muluk, new country) as an act of gratitude for supporting Britain during various Indian uprisings, such as the Sepoy mutiny.

Rana Regime

Main article: Rana dynasty
 
Maharaja of Kaski and Lamjung and Prime Minister of Nepal Chandra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana and his 8 sons who were one of the most powerful factions of Ranas of Nepal

Factionalism among the royal family led to a period of instability after the war. In 1846, Queen Rajya Lakshmi Devi plotted to overthrow Jang Bahadur Rana, a fast-rising military leader who was presenting a threat to her power. The plot was uncovered and the queen had several hundred princes and chieftains executed after an armed clash between military personnel and administrators loyal to the queen. This came to be known as the Kot Massacre. However, Jung Bahadur emerged victorious eventually and founded the Rana dynasty; the monarch was made a titular figure, and the post of Prime Minister was made powerful and hereditary, held by the Ranas.

Third Nepalese Tibet War

Main article: Nepalese-Tibetan War

Jung Bahadur Rana sent forces under his brothers Bam Bahadur Kunwar and Dhir Shamsher Rana to attack Tibet again to achieve complete victory. His forces succeeded in defeating Tibetan forces on two sides. The Tibetan team arrived in January 1856 to sign a treaty. After a month, the Treaty of Thapathali was signed which was more favourable to Nepal.[6]

20th century

 
Rani (Queen) of Nepal surrounded by her Ladies-in-Waiting, 1920

Nepal and the British

The Rana regime, a tightly centralized autocracy, pursued a policy of isolating Nepal from external influences. This policy helped Nepal maintain its national independence during the British colonial era, but it also impeded the country's economic development and modernisation. The Ranas were staunchly pro-British and assisted the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and later in both World Wars. At the same time, despite Chinese claims, the British supported Nepalese independence at the beginning of the twentieth century.[77]

In December 1923, Britain and Nepal formally signed a treaty of perpetual peace and friendship superseding the Sugauli Treaty of 1816 and upgrading the British resident in Kathmandu to an envoy. Slavery was abolished in Nepal in 1924.[78]

Democratic reform

Main article: Democracy movement in Nepal

Popular dissatisfaction against the family rule of the Ranas had started emerging from among the few educated people, who had studied in various Indian schools and colleges, and also from within the Ranas, many of whom were marginalised within the ruling Rana hierarchy. Many of these Nepalese in exile had actively taken part in the Indian Independence struggle and wanted to liberate Nepal as well from the internal autocratic Rana occupation. The political parties such as the Praja Parishad and Nepali Congress were already formed in exile by leaders such as B.P. Koirala, Ganesh Man Singh, Subarna Shamsher Rana, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Girija Prasad Koirala and many other patriotic-minded Nepalis who urged the military and popular political movement in Nepal to overthrow the autocratic Rana Regime. Among the prominent martyrs to die for the cause, executed at the hands of the Ranas, were Dharma Bhakta Mathema, Shukraraj Shastri, Gangalal Shrestha and Dasharath Chand. This turmoil culminated in King Tribhuvan, a direct descendant of Prithvi Narayan Shah, fleeing from his 'palace prison' in 1950, to the newly independent India, touching off an armed revolt against the Rana administration. This eventually ended in the return of the Shah family to power and the appointment of a non-Rana as prime minister. A period of the quasi-constitutional rule followed, during which the monarch, assisted by the leaders of fledgling political parties, governed the country. During the 1950s, efforts were made to frame a constitution for Nepal that would establish a representative form of government, based on a British model.

In early 1959, Tribhuvan's son King Mahendra issued a new constitution, and the first democratic elections for a national assembly were held. The Nepali Congress, a moderate socialist group, gained a substantial victory in the election. Its leader, B.P. Koirala, formed a government and served as prime minister. After a period of power wrangling between the king and the elected government, Mahendra dissolved the democratic experiment in 1960.

King Mahendra's new constitution

Main article: Panchayat (Nepal)

Declaring the contemporary parliament a failure, King Mahendra in 1960 dismissed the Koirala government, declared that a "partyless" Panchayat system would govern Nepal, and promulgated another new constitution on 16 December 1962.

Subsequently, the Prime Minister, members of parliament and hundreds of democratic activists were arrested. In fact, this trend of the arrest of political activists and democratic supporters continued for the entire 30-year period of the partyless Panchayat system under King Mahendra and then his son, King Birendra.

The new constitution established a "partyless" system of panchayats (councils), which King Mahendra considered to be a democratic form of government, closer to Nepalese traditions. As a pyramidal structure, progressing from village assemblies to a Rastriya Panchayat (National Parliament), the panchayat system constitutionalised the absolute power of the monarchy and kept the King as head of state with sole authority over all governmental institutions, including the cabinet (council of ministers) and the parliament. One-state-one-language became the national policy, and all other languages suffered at the cost of the official language, Nepali, which was the king's language.

King Mahendra was succeeded by his 27-year-old son, King Birendra, in 1972. Amid student demonstrations and anti-regime activities in 1979, King Birendra called for a national referendum to decide on the nature of Nepal's government: either the continuation of the panchayat system with democratic reforms or the establishment of a multiparty system. The referendum was held in May 1980, and the Panchayat system won a narrow victory. The king carried out the promised reforms, including a selection of the prime minister by the Rashtriya Panchayat.

End of Panchayat system

There was resentment against the authoritarian regime and the curbs on the freedom of the political parties. There was a widespread feeling of the palace being non-representative of the masses, especially when the Marich Man Singh government faced political scandals on charges of misappropriation of funds allotted for the victims of the earthquake in August 1998 or when it reshuffled the cabinet instead of investigating the deaths of the people in a stampede in the national sports complex in a hailstorm. Also, the souring of the India-Nepal trade relations affected the popularity of the Singh government.

In April 1987, Nepal had introduced the work permit for Indian workers in three of its districts, and in early 1989, Nepal provided 40% duty concession to Chinese goods and later withdrew duty concessions from Indian goods in such a manner that the Chinese goods became cheaper than the Indian goods. This led to the souring of relations which were already strained over the purchase of Chinese arms by Nepal in 1988. India refused to renew two separate Treaties of Trade and Transit and insisted on a single treaty dealing with the two issues, which was not acceptable to Nepal. A deadlock ensued and the Treaties of Trade and Transit expired on 23 March 1989. The brunt of the closure of the trade and transit points was mainly faced by the lower classes in Nepal due to the restricted supply of consumer goods and petroleum products such as petrol, aviation fuel and kerosene. The industries suffered because of their dependence on India for resources, trade and transit. The Government of Nepal tried to deal with the situation by depending on foreign aid from the US, UK, Australia and China. However, the government's strategy to manage the crisis could not satisfy those people who desired negotiations with India rather than dependence on foreign aid as a solution.[citation needed]

Taking advantage of the uneasiness amongst some people against the government and the strained India-Nepal relations, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the left-wing parties blamed the government for perpetuating the crisis and not taking any serious measures to solve it. In December 1989, the NC tried to utilize B.P. Koirala's anniversary by launching a people's awareness program. The left-wing alliance known as the United Left Front (ULF) extended its support to the NC in its campaign for a party system. On 18–19 January 1990, the NC held a conference in which leaders from various countries and members of the foreign Press were invited. Leaders from India attended the conference; Germany, Japan, Spain, Finland supported the movement; and the Embassies of the US and West Germany were present on the occasion. Inspired by the international support and the democratic movements occurring throughout the world after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1989, the NC and the ULF launched a mass movement on 18 February to end the Panchayat regime and the installation of an interim government represented by various parties and people.[citation needed]

On 6 April the Marich Man Singh government was dismissed and Lokendra Bahadur Chand became the Prime Minister on the same day. However, the agitating mob was not satisfied with the change of government as they were not against the Singh government per se but against the party-less system. On 16 April the Chand government was also dismissed and a Royal Proclamation was issued the next day which dissolved the National Panchayat, the Panchayat policy and the evaluation committee and the class organizations. Instead, the proclamation declared "functioning of the political parties" and maintained that "all political parties will always keep the national interest uppermost in organizing themselves according to their political ideology."[citation needed]

During this protest many civilians were killed: after the end of the Panchayat rule they were seen as 'undeclared martyrs'. One of those martyrs is Ram Chandra Hamal, a member of the Nepali Congress and killed during his imprisonment.[79]

1990 People's Movement

Main article: 1990 Nepalese revolution

People in rural areas had expected that their interests would be better represented after the adoption of parliamentary democracy in 1990. The Nepali Congress with the support of "Alliance of leftist parties" decided to launch a decisive agitational movement, Jana Andolan, which forced the monarchy to accept constitutional reforms and to establish a multiparty parliament. In May 1991, Nepal held its first parliamentary elections in nearly 50 years. The Nepali Congress won 110 of the 205 seats and formed the first elected government in 32 years.

Civil strife

In 1992, in a situation of economic crisis and chaos, with spiraling prices as a result of the implementation of changes in the policy of the new Congress government, the radical left stepped up their political agitation. A Joint People's Agitation Committee was set up by the various groups.[80] A general strike was called for 6 April.

Violent incidents began to occur on the evening before the strike. The Joint People's Agitation Committee had called for a 30-minute 'lights out' in the capital, and violence erupted outside Bir Hospital when activists tried to enforce the 'lights out'. At dawn on 6 April, clashes between strike activists and police, outside a police station in Pulchok (Patan), left two activists dead.

Later in the day, a mass rally of the Agitation Committee at Tundikhel in the capital Kathmandu was attacked by police forces. As a result, riots broke out and the Nepal Telecommunications building was set on fire; police opened fire at the crowd, killing several persons. The Human Rights Organisation of Nepal estimated that 14 persons, including several onlookers, had been killed in police firing.[81]

When promised land reforms failed to appear, people in some districts started to organize to enact their own land reform and to gain some power over their lives in the face of usurious landlords. However, this movement was repressed by the Nepali government, in Operation Romeo and Operation Kilo Sera II, which took the lives of many of the leading activists of the struggle. As a result, many witnesses to this repression became radicalised.

Nepalese Civil War

Main article: Nepalese Civil War

In February 1996, one of the Maoist parties started a bid to replace the parliamentary monarchy with a people's new democratic republic, through a Maoist revolutionary strategy known as the people's war, which led to the Nepalese Civil War. Led by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and Pushpa Kamal Dahal (better known by his nom de guerre "Prachanda"), the insurgency began in five districts in Nepal: Rolpa, Rukum, Jajarkot, Gorkha, and Sindhuli. The Maoists declared the existence of a provisional "people's government" at the district level in several locations.

21st century

Palace massacre

Main article: Nepalese royal massacre
 
The Narayanhiti Palace where the royal massacre occurred

On 1 June 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra allegedly went on a shooting-spree, assassinating 9 members of the royal family, including King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, before shooting himself. Due to his survival, he temporarily became king before dying of his wounds, after which Prince Gyanendra (Birendra's brother) inherited the throne, according to tradition. The massacre shattered the aura of mythology that still surrounded the Royal Family, exposing their far too human intrigues.

Meanwhile, the Maoist rebellion escalated, and in October 2002 the king temporarily deposed the government and took complete control of it.[82] A week later he reappointed another government, but the country was still unstable because of the civil war with the Maoists, the various clamouring political factions, the king's attempts to take more control of the government, and worries about the competence of Gyanendra's son and heir, Prince Paras.

Suspension of responsible government

In the face of unstable governments and a Maoist siege on the Kathmandu Valley in August 2004, popular support for the monarchy began to wane. On 1 February 2005, Gyanendra dismissed the entire government and took to exercising his executive powers without ministerial advice, declaring a "state of emergency" to quash the Maoist movement. Politicians were placed under house arrest, phone and internet lines were cut, and freedom of the press was severely curtailed.

2006 democracy movement

Main article: 2006 Nepalese revolution

The king's new regime made little progress in his stated aim of suppressing the insurgents. The European Union described the municipal elections of February 2006 as "a backward step for democracy", as the major parties boycotted the election and the army forced some candidates to run for office.[83] In April 2006 strikes and street protests in Kathmandu forced the king to reinstate the parliament. A seven-party coalition resumed control of the government and stripped the king of most of his powers. As of 15 January 2007, a unicameral legislature under an interim constitution governed Nepal.

Abolition of the monarchy

The Constituent Assembly came to fruition on 24 December 2007 when it was announced that the monarchy would be abolished in 2008 after the Constituent Assembly elections;[84] and on 28 May 2008, Nepal was declared a Federal Democratic Republic.

Zones, districts, and regions

 
Nepalese zones

Nepal was divided into 14 zones and 75 districts, grouped into 5 development regions. Each district was headed by a fixed chief district officer responsible for maintaining law and order and coordinating the work of field agencies of the various government ministries. The 14 zones were:

Government and politics

Until 1990, Nepal was an absolute monarchy running under the executive control of the king. Faced with a people's movement against the absolute monarchy, King Birendra, in 1990, agreed to large-scale political reforms by creating a parliamentary monarchy with the king as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of the government.

Nepal's legislature was bicameral consisting of a House of Representatives and a National Council. The House of Representatives consists of 205 members directly elected by the people. The National Council had sixty members, ten nominated by the king, thirty-five elected by the House of Representatives and the remaining fifteen elected by an electoral college made up of chairs of villages and towns. The legislature had a five-year term but was dissolvable by the king before its term could end. All Nepali citizens 18 years and older became eligible to vote.

The executive comprised the King and the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet). The leader of the coalition or party securing the maximum seats in an election was appointed as the Prime Minister. The Cabinet was appointed by the king on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Governments in Nepal have tended to be highly unstable; no government has survived for more than two years since 1991, either through internal collapse or parliamentary dissolution by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister according to the constitution.

The movement in April 2006 brought about a change in the nation. The autocratic King was forced to give up power. The dissolved House of Representatives was restored. The House of Representatives formed a government that had successful peace talks with the Maoist Rebels. An interim constitution was promulgated and an interim House of Representatives was formed with Maoist members. The number of seats was also increased to 330. The peace process in Nepal made a giant leap in April 2007, when the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) joined the interim government of Nepal.

Notes

  1. ^ King Prithvi Narayan Shah self proclaimed the newly unified Kingdom of Nepal as Asal Hindustan ("Real Land of the Hindus") due to the remaining North India being ruled by the Islamic Mughal rulers. The self proclamation was done to enforce the Hindu social code of Dharmashastra over his reign and refer to his country as being inhabitable for people of Dharmic religions. He also referred Northern part of India as Mughlan (Country of Mughals) and called the region infiltrated by Muslim foreigners.[3]
  2. ^ An account of the kingdom, however, argues that the dynasty is from Magar descent.[5]

References

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Further reading

  • Garzilli, Enrica, "A Sanskrit Letter Written by Sylvain Lévi in 1923 to Hemarāja Śarmā Along With Some Hitherto Unknown Biographical Notes (Cultural Nationalism and Internationalism in the First Half of the 21st Cent.: Famous Indologists Write to the Raj Guru of Nepal – no. 1), in Commemorative Volume for 30 Years of the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project. Journal of the Nepal Research Centre, XII (2001), Kathmandu, ed. by A. Wezler in collaboration with H. Haffner, A. Michaels, B. Kölver, M. R. Pant and D. Jackson, pp. 115–149.
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "Strage a palazzo, movimento dei Maoisti e crisi di governabilità in Nepal", in Asia Major 2002, pp. 143–160.
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "Il nuovo Stato del Nepal: il difficile cammino dalla monarchia assoluta alla democrazia", in Asia Major 2005–2006, pp. 229–251.
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "Il Nepal da monarchia a stato federale", in Asia Major 2008, pp. 163–181.
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "La fine dell'isolamento del Nepal, la costruzione della sua identità politica e delle sue alleanze regionali" in ISPI: Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionali, CVII (Nov. 2008), pp. 1–7;
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "Le elezioni dell'Assemblea Costituente e i primi mesi di governo della Repubblica Democratica Federale del Nepal", in Asia Maior 2010, pp. 115–126.
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "Nepal, la difficile costruzione della nazione: un paese senza Costituzione e un parlamento senza primo ministro", in Asia Maior 2011, pp. 161–171.
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "The Interplay between Gender, Religion and Politics, and the New Violence against Women in Nepal", in J. Dragsbæk Schmidt and T. Roedel Berg (eds.), Gender, Social Change and the Media: Perspective from Nepal, University of Aalborg and Rawat Publications, Aalborg-Jaipur: 2012, pp. 27–91.
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "Nepal, stallo politico e lentezze nella realizzazione del processo di pace e di riconciliazione", in Asia Maior 2012, pp. 213–222.
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "A Sanskrit Letter Written by Sylvain Lévy in 1925 to Hemarāja Śarmā along with Some Hitherto Unknown Biographical Notes (Cultural Nationalism and Internationalism in the First Half of the 20th Century – Famous Indologists write to the Raj Guru of Nepal – No. 2)", in History of Indological Studies. Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference Vol. 11.2, ed. by K. Karttunen, P. Koskikallio and A. Parpola, Motilal Banarsidass and University of Helsinki, Delhi 2015, pp. 17–53.
  • Garzilli, Enrica, "Nepal 2013–2014: Breaking the Political Impasse", in Asia Maior 2014, pp. 87–98.
  • Wright, Daniel, History of Nepal. New Delhi-Madras, Asian Educational Services, 1990

May 20, 2023
kingdom, nepal, this, article, about, former, hindu, kingdom, modern, country, federal, democratic, republic, nepal, this, article, about, expanded, kingdom, from, 1768, 2008, predecessor, kingdom, gorkha, kingdom, confused, with, nepa, kingdom, classical, nam. This article is about the former Hindu kingdom For the modern day country see Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal This article is about the expanded kingdom from 1768 2008 For the predecessor kingdom see Gorkha Kingdom Not to be confused with Nepa Kingdom the classical name of the kingdom in Mahabharata This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations August 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Kingdom of Nepal Nepali न प ल अध र ज य was a Hindu kingdom in South Asia formed in 1768 by the expansion of Gorkha Kingdom which lasted until 2008 when the kingdom became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal 2 It was also known as the Gorkha Empire Nepali ग रख अध र ज य or sometimes Asal Hindustan Nepali असल ह न द स त न transl Real Land of the Hindus note 1 Founded by King Prithvi Narayan Shah a Gorkha monarch who claimed to be of Khas Thakuri origin 4 note 2 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 Kingdom of Nepalन प ल अध र ज य Nepal Adhirajya1768 2008Top Flag 1962 2008 Bottom Flag pre 1962 Coat of arms 1962 2008 Motto Janani Janmabhumishcha Swargadapi Gariyasi Sanskrit Mother and Motherland are greater than heavenAnthem 1962 2006 Shriman Gambhir Nepali श र म न गम भ र English May Glory Crown You Courageous Sovereign source source 2007 2008 Sayaun Thunga Phulka Nepali सय थ ग फ लक English Made of Hundreds of Flowers source source track track track track track track track track track Territory of the Kingdom of Nepal in 1808Territory of the Kingdom of Nepal in 2008Statusbritish protectorate 1816 1923 CapitalKathmandu27 42 N 85 19 E 27 700 N 85 317 E 27 700 85 317 Coordinates 27 42 N 85 19 E 27 700 N 85 317 E 27 700 85 317Common languagesNepali official ReligionHinduism official Demonym s NepaleseNepaliGovernmentUnitary absolute monarchy 1768 1990 2002 2005 2006 under military dictatorship 1776 1779 1785 1804 1806 1837 1838 1846 under a totalitarian military dictatorship 1846 1951 Unitary authoritarian Panchayat absolute monarchy 1961 1990 Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy 1990 2002 2002 2005 2006 2008 under a provisional government 2007 2008 Maharajadhiraja The Great King 1768 1775Prithvi Narayan Shah Dev first 2001 2008 after 2008 as a titular reign Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev last Prime Minister 1799 1804Damodar Pande first 2006 2008Girija Prasad Koirala last LegislatureNone rule by decree 1768 1959 2005 2006 Rastriya Panchayat 1962 1990 Parliament 1959 1962 1990 2005 2006 2007 Interim legislature 2007 2008 Upper houseSenate 1959 1960 National Assembly 1990 2002 Lower houseHouse of Representatives 1959 1960 1990 2002 History Unification under Prithivi Narayan Shah25 September 1768 1 Thapa premiers under Shah kings 1806 1837 and1843 1845 Pande premiers under Shah kings 1799 1804 and1837 1840 Rana regime under Shah kings 1846 1951 Panchayat system1960 1990 Constitutional monarchy1990 2008 Republic28 May 2008CurrencyNepalese mohar 1768 1932 Nepalese rupee 1932 2008 ISO 3166 codeNPPreceded by Succeeded by1768 Gorkha Kingdom1769 Malla Dynasty1770s 1780s Chaubisi Rajya1774 Kirat Kingdom1776 Kingdom of Sikkim1780s Baise Rajya1791 Doti KingdomKumaon Kingdom1804 Garhwal Kingdom 1816 Princely State of Tehri GarhwalKingdom of Sikkim2008 Federal Democratic Republic of NepalToday part ofNepalIndiaAfter 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 the Chinese administration for military support The Chinese and Tibetan forces under Fuk anggan attacked Nepal but went for negotiations after failure at Nuwakot 6 Mulkaji Damodar Pande who was the most influential among the four Kajis was appointed after removal of Bahadur Shah Chief Kaji Mulkaji Kirtiman Singh Basnyat 7 tried to protect king Girvan Yuddha Shah and keep former king Rana Bahadur Shah away from Nepal However on 4 March 1804 the former king came back and took over as Mukhtiyar premier and Damodar Pande was then beheaded in Thankot 8 The 1806 Bhandarkhal massacre instigated upon the death of Rana Bahadur Shah set forth the rise of authoritative Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa 9 who became the 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 Treaty of Sugauli the kingdom retained its internal independence but in exchange for territorial concessions marking the Mechi and Sharda rivers as the boundary of Nepalese territories 11 The territory of the kingdom before the Sugauli treaty is sometimes nascently referred to as Greater Nepal In the political scenario the death of Mukhtiyar Mathbar Singh Thapa ended the Thapa hegemony and set the stage for the Kot massacre 12 This resulted in the ascendancy of the Rana dynasty of Khas Chhetri and made the office of the 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 The Rana rule was marked by tyranny debauchery economic exploitation and religious persecution 13 14 In July 1950 the newly independent Republic of India signed a friendship treaty in which both nations agreed to respect the other s sovereignty as well as continue to have an open border In November of the same year India played an important role in supporting King Tribhuvan whom the Rana leader Mohan Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana had attempted to depose and replace with his infant grandson who would later become King Gyanendra With Indian support for a new government consisting largely of the Nepali Congress King Tribhuvan ended the Rana regime in 1951 Unsuccessful attempts were made to implement reforms and adopt a constitution during the 1960s and 1970s An economic crisis at the end of the 1980s led to a popular movement that 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 of the Nepalese monarchy was further destabilised by the 2001 Nepalese royal massacre 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 the 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 since becoming a republic the country is now formally a secular state 15 16 Contents 1 History 1 1 18th century 1 1 1 Origins 1 1 2 Expansion 1 1 3 Battle of Nuwakot 1 1 4 Battle of Kirtipur 1 1 5 Annexation of Makwanpur amp Hariharpur 1 1 6 Conquest of Kathmandu valley and Declaration of Kingdom of Nepal 1 1 7 Conquest of the Kirata 1 1 8 Political conflicts 1 1 9 Tibetan conflict 1 2 19th century 1 2 1 Dominance of Damodar Pande 1 2 2 Thapa Regime 1 2 3 Anglo Gurkha War 1 2 4 Rana Regime 1 2 5 Third Nepalese Tibet War 1 3 20th century 1 3 1 Nepal and the British 1 3 2 Democratic reform 1 3 3 King Mahendra s new constitution 1 4 End of Panchayat system 1 5 1990 People s Movement 1 5 1 Civil strife 1 5 2 Nepalese Civil War 1 6 21st century 1 6 1 Palace massacre 1 6 2 Suspension of responsible government 1 6 3 2006 democracy movement 1 6 4 Abolition of the monarchy 2 Zones districts and regions 3 Government and politics 4 Notes 5 References 5 1 Citations 5 2 Sources 6 Further readingHistory Edit18th century Edit Origins Edit Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Nepal 1962 2008 The country was expanded from the one of the Chaubise principality called the Gorkha Kingdom 17 In Nepal the warrior people are not referred to as Gurkhas they are called Gorkhalis meaning the inhabitants of Gorkha Their famed battle cry is Jai Kali Jai Gorakhnath Jai Manakamana 18 The etymology of the geographical name Gorkha is indeed related to the Hindu mendicant saint Gorakhnath In the village of Gorkha is situated a temple dedicated to Gorakhnath as well as another dedicated to Gorakhkali a corresponding female deity The Nepali geographical encyclopedia Mechi dekhi Mahakali From Mechi to Mahakali published in B S 2013 1974 75 AD by the authoritarian Panchayat government to mark the coronation of King Birendra Shah agrees with the association of the name of the place with the saint but does not add any further detail 19 The facts regarding when the temples were built and the place named after the saint are lost in the sweeping winds of time We may guess that these developments took place in the early part of the second millennium of the Common Era following the rise of the Nath sect In fact the pilgrimage circuit of the sect across the northern Indian sub continent also spans a major part Nepal including Kathmandu Valley The Newars of Medieval Nepal have a couple of important temples and festivals dedicated to the major Nath teachers Immediately before the rule of Gorkha by the Shahs Gorkha was inhabited by both Aryan and Mongoloid ethnic groups and ruled by the Khadkas who were probably of Magar origin Dravya Shah defeated the Khadkas in 1559 AD and commenced Shah rule over the principality 19 Prithvi Narayan Shah belonged to the ninth generation of the Shahs in Gorkha He took the reins of power in 1742 AD 20 Expansion Edit The king s palace on a hill in Gorkha King Prithvi Narayan Shah the ruler of the small principality of Gorkha initially drafted the Gorkhali Army 21 The Chief of the Gorkhali Army were drawn from Chhetri noble families of Gorkha such as Pande family Basnyat family and Thapa dynasty before the rule of the Rana dynasty 22 However the first civilian army chief was Kaji Kalu Pande who had significant role in the campaign of Nepal 21 He was considered as an army head due to the undertaking of duties and responsibilities of the army but not by the formalization of the title 21 Battle of Nuwakot Edit Kaji Vamshidhar Kalu Pande of the Pande dynasty Kaji equivalent to Prime Minister of Gorkha Commander of Gorkhali forces at victorious battle of Nuwakot The first battle by Gorkhali forces united under King Prithvi Narayan Shah was the Battle of Nuwakot The first army commander was Kaji Kalu Pande of the Pande noble family of Gorkha Pande put up tactics to attack Nuwakot a strategic fort of Malla king of Kathmandu from multiple sides by surprise On 26 September 1744 Pande with a contingent of soldiers climbed from the northern side of Nuwakot city at Mahamandal He led the surprise attack with a Gorkhali war cry of Jai Kali Jai Gorakhnath Jai Manakamana 18 The panicked soldiers of Nuwakot under commander Shankha Mani tried to defend but lost after their commander was killed by the 13 year old Prince Dal Mardan Shah brother of the king 23 The second contingent of Gorkhali forces led by Chautariya Mahoddam Kirti Shah also a brother of the king passed Dharampani and faced strong tussle but ultimately won over the defenders 23 The third part of the forces led by the king himself advanced to the fort of Nuwakotgadhi after the capture of Mahamandal The soldiers panicked by death of their commander fled to Belkot from the Nuwakot fort and Nuwakot was annexed by Gorkha 23 Battle of Kirtipur Edit Gorkhali soldiers preparing war against Kathmandu Valley Despite his initial resentment that the valley kings were well prepared and the Gorkhalis were not Kaji Kalu Pande agreed for a battle against the kingdom of Kirtipur in the Kathmandu valley on being insisted by the king The Gorkhalis had set up a base in Naikap to mount their assaults on Kirtipur They were armed with swords bows and arrows and muskets 24 The two forces fought on the plain of Tyangla Phant in the northwest of Kirtipur Surapratap Shah the king s brother lost his right eye to an arrow while scaling the city wall The Gorkhali commander Kaji Kalu Pande was surrounded and killed and the Gorkhali king himself narrowly escaped with his life into the surrounding hills disguised as a saint 25 26 In 1767 King Prithvi Narayan Shah sent his army to attack Kirtipur for a third time under the command of Surapratap In response the three kings of the valley joined forces and sent their troops to the relief of Kirtipur but they could not dislodge the Gorkhalis from their positions A noble of Lalitpur named Danuvanta crossed over to Shah s side and treacherously let the Gorkhalis into the town 2 27 Annexation of Makwanpur amp Hariharpur Edit King Digbardhan Sen and his minister Kanak Singh Baniya had already sent their families to safer grounds before the encirclement of their fortress The Gorkhalis launched an attack on 21 August 1762 The battle lasted for eight hours King Digbardhan and Kanak Singh escaped to Hariharpurgadhi Makawanpur was thus annexed by the Gorkhali forces 23 After occupying the Makawanpurgadhi fort the Gorkhali forces started planning for an attack on Hariharpurgadhi a strategic fort on a mountain ridge of the Mahabharat range south of Kathmandu It controlled the route to the Kathmandu valley At the dusk of 4 October 1762 the Gorkhalis launched an attack The soldiers at Hariharpurgadhi fought valiantly against the Gorkhali forces but were ultimately forced to vacate the Gadhi fort after midnight About 500 soldiers of Hariharpur died in the battle 23 Mir Qasim the Nawab of Bengal extended his help to kings of Kathmandu valley with his forces to attack the Gorkhali forces On 20 January 1763 Gorkhali commander Vamsharaj Pande won the battle against Mir Qasim 28 Similarly Captain Kinloch of British East India Company also extended his support by sending contingents against Gorkhalis King Prithvi Narayan sent Kaji Vamsharaj Pande Naahar Singh Basnyat Jeeva Shah Ram Krishna Kunwar and others to defeat the forces of Gurgin Khan at Makwanpur 29 30 Conquest of Kathmandu valley and Declaration of Kingdom of Nepal Edit The victory in the Battle of Kirtipur climaxed Shah s two decade long effort to take possession of the wealthy Kathmandu valley After the fall of Kirtipur Shah took over the cities of Kathmandu and Lalitpur in 1768 and Bhaktapur in 1769 completing his conquest of the valley 2 In a letter to Ram Krishna Kunwar King Prithvi Narayan Shah expressed his unhappiness at the death of Kaji Kalu Pande in Kirtipur and thought it was impossible to conquer Kathmandu valley after the death of Kalu Pande 31 After the annexation of Kathmandu valley King Prithvi Narayan Shah praised in his letter about the valour and wisdom shown by Kunwar in the annexation of Kathmandu Lalitpur and Bhaktapur collectively known as Nepal valley at the time 32 Vamsharaj Pande Kalu Pande s eldest son was the commander of the Gorkhali forces who led the attack during the Battle of Bhaktapur on 14 April 1769 33 Conquest of the Kirata Edit Abhiman Singh Basnyat a military commander and later Mulkaji King Prithvi Narayan Shah had deployed Sardar Ram Krishna Kunwar to the invasion of Kirata regional areas comprising Pallo Kirant Limbuwan Wallo Kirant and Majh Kirant Khambuwan 34 On B S 1829 Bhadra 13 i e 29 August 1772 Kunwar crossed the Dudhkoshi river to invade King Karna Sen of the Majh Kirant Khambuwan and Saptari region 32 with fellow commander Abhiman Singh Basnyat 35 He then crossed the Arun river to reach Chainpur Limbuwan 36 where he later achieved victory over the Kiratas 37 King Prithvi Narayan Shah bestowed 22 pairs of Shirpau special headgear in appreciation to Ram Krishna Kunwar after his victory over the Kirata region 37 Political conflicts Edit In 1775 the King Prithvi Narayan Shah who expanded the Gorkha Kingdom into the Kingdom of Nepal died in Nuwakot 38 Swarup Singh Karki a shrewd Gorkhali courtier from a Chhetri family of eastern Nepal 39 marched with an army to Nuwakot to confine Prince Bahadur Shah who was then mourning the death of his father 38 He confined Bahadur Shah and Dal Mardan Shah with the consent from newly reigning King Pratap Singh Shah who was considered to have no distinction of right and wrong 38 In the annual Pajani renewal of that year Swarup Singh was promoted to the position of Kaji along with Abhiman Singh Basnyat Amar Singh Thapa and Parashuram Thapa 38 In Falgun 1832 B S he succeeded in exiling Bahadur Shah Dal Mardan Shah and Guru Gajraj Mishra on three heinous charges 40 The reign of Pratap Singh Shah was characterized by the constant rivalry between Swarup Singh and Vamsharaj Pande 41 The document dated B S 1833 Bhadra 3 Roj 6 i e Friday 2 August 1776 shows that he had carried the title of Dewan along with Vamsharaj Pande 42 King Pratap Singh Shah died on 22 November 1777 43 with his infant son Rana Bahadur Shah succeeding as the King of Nepal 44 Sarbajit Rana Magar was made a Kaji along with Balbhadra Shah and Vamsharaj Pande 45 while Daljit Shah was chosen as Chief Chautariya 44 45 Historian Dilli Raman Regmi asserts that Sarbajit was chosen as Mulkaji equivalent to Prime Minister 44 while historian Rishikesh Shah asserts that Sarbajit was the head of the Nepalese government only for a short period in 1778 46 Afterwards rivalry arose between Prince Bahadur Shah and Queen Rajendra Laxmi Sarbajit led the followers of the Queen opposed to Sriharsh Pant who led the followers of Bahadur Shah 47 The group of Bharadars officers led by Sarbajit badmouthed Rajendra Laxmi against Bahadur Shah 48 Rajendra Laxmi succeeded in the confinement of Bahadur Shah with the help of her new minister Sarbajit 49 Guru Gajraj Mishra came to the rescue of Bahadur Shah on a condition that Bahadur Shah should leave the country 49 50 Also his rival Sriharsh Pant was branded outcast and expelled instead of being executed as execution was prohibited for Brahmins 47 Prince Bahadur Shah confined his sister in law Queen Rajendra Laxmi on the charge of having illicit relation with Sarbajit 51 on 31 August 1778 43 52 53 Subsequently Sarbajit was executed inside the palace by Bahadur Shah 54 55 with the help of male servants of the royal palace 54 Historian Bhadra Ratna Bajracharya asserts that it was actually Chautariya Daljit Shah who led the opposing group against Sarbajit Rana and Rajendra Laxmi 56 The letter dated B S 1835 Bhadra 11 Roj 4 1778 to Narayan Malla and Vrajabasi Pande asserts the death of Sarbajit under misconduct and the appointment of Bahadur Shah as regent 43 The death of Sarbajit Rana Magar is considered to have marked the initiation of court conspiracies and massacres in the newly unified Kingdom of Nepal 50 Historian Baburam Acharya points that the sanctions against Queen Rajendra Laxmi under moral misconduct was a mistake of Bahadur Shah Similarly the murder of Sarbajit was condemned by many historians as an act of injustice 57 Vamsharaj Pande once Dewan of Nepal and son of the popular commander Kalu Pande was beheaded on the allegations of conspiring with Queen Rajendra Laxmi 58 59 In a special tribunal meeting at Bhandarkhal garden east of Kathmandu Durbar Swaroop Singh held Vamsharaj liable for letting the King of Parbat Kirtibam Malla run away in the battle a year ago 60 He had a fiery conversation with Vamsharaj before Vamsharaj was declared guilty and was subsequently executed by beheading on the tribunal 47 Historian Rishikesh Shah and Ganga Karmacharya claim that he was executed in March 1785 58 59 whereas Bhadra Ratna Bajracharya and Tulsi Ram Vaidya claim that he was executed on 21 April 1785 60 47 On 2 July 1785 Swaroop Singh s opponent Prince Regent Bahadur Shah was arrested but on the eleventh day of imprisonment on 13 July Singh s only supporter Queen Rajendra Laxmi died 58 59 Then onwards Bahadur Shah took over the regency of his nephew King Rana Bahadur Shah 61 and as one of his first orders as the regent he ordered Swaroop Singh who was then in Pokhara to be beheaded there 62 63 on the charges of treason 64 Singh had gone to Kaski to join Daljit Shah s military campaign of Kaski fearing retaliation of the old courtiers due to his conspiracy against Vamsharaj He was executed on B S 1842 Shrawan 24 62 Tibetan conflict Edit Further information Sino Nepalese War After the death of Prithvi Narayan Shah the Shah dynasty began to expand their kingdom into what is present day North India Between 1788 and 1791 Nepal invaded Tibet and robbed Tashi Lhunpo Monastery of Shigatse Tibet sought Chinese help and the Qianlong Emperor of the Chinese Qing Dynasty appointed Fuk anggan commander in chief of the Tibetan campaign Heavy damages were inflicted on both sides The Nepali forces retreated step by step back to Nuwakot to stretch Sino Tibetan forces uncomfortably Chinese launched an uphill attack during the daylight and failed to succeed due to a strong counterattack with khukuri at Nuwakot 6 The Chinese army suffered a major setback when they tried to cross a monsoon flooded Betrawati close to the Gorkhali palace in Nuwakot 65 A stalemate ensued when Fuk anggan was keen to protect his troops and wanted to negotiate at Nuwakot The treaty was favouring more to Chinese side where Nepal had to send tributes to the Chinese emperor 6 19th century Edit Dominance of Damodar Pande Edit Main article Pande dynasty Damodar Pande Mulkaji of Nepal from the Pande aristocratic family Damodar Pande was appointed as one of the four Kajis by King Rana Bahadur Shah after the removal of Chautariya Bahadur Shah in 1794 7 Pande was the most influential and dominant amongst the court factions in spite of the post of Mulkaji being held by Kirtiman Singh Basnyat 7 Pandes were the most dominant noble family Later due to the continuous irrational behaviour of King Rana Bahadur Shah a situation of civil war arose where Damodar was the main opposition to the King 66 He was forced to flee to the British controlled city of Varanasi in May 1800 after the military parted with influential Kaji Damodar Pande 67 66 After Queen Rajrajeshwari finally managed to assume the regency on 17 December 1802 68 69 later in February she appointed Damodar Pande as the Mulkaji 70 After Rana Bahadur s reinstatement to power he ordered Damodar Pande along with his two eldest sons who were completely innocent to be executed on 13 March 1804 similarly some members of his faction were tortured and executed without any due trial while many others managed to escape to India Among those who managed to escape to India were Damodar Pande s sons Karbir Pande and Rana Jang Pande 71 71 72 After Damodar Pande s execution Ranajit Pande who was his paternal cousin was appointed Mulkaji along with Bhimsen Thapa as second Kaji Sher Bahadur Shah as Mul Chautariya and Ranganath Paudel as Raj Guru Royal Preceptor 73 74 Thapa Regime Edit Main article Thapa dynasty Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa founder of Khas Thapa dynasty Thapa courtiers who were Kshatriya rose to power when the King Rana Bahadur Shah was murdered by his half brother Sher Bahadur Shah in 1806 75 Bhimsen Thapa 1775 1839 the leading Thapa Kaji taking opportunity of the occasion massacred nearly 55 military and civil officers and catapulting the Thapas into the power 75 He took the title of Mukhtiyar succeeding Rana Bahadur as the chief authority and his niece Queen Tripurasundari as Queen Regent of junior King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah 76 Anglo Gurkha War Edit Main article Anglo Nepalese War Territories lost by Nepal after the Treaty of Sugauli Rivalry between Nepal and the East India Company over the princely states bordering Nepal and India eventually led to the Anglo Nepalese War 1814 16 The Treaty of Sugauli was signed in 1816 ceding large parts of the Nepali territories of the Terai and Sikkim which accounted to nearly one third of the country to the British in exchange for Nepalese autonomy As the territories were not restored to Nepal by the British when freedom was granted to the people of British India most of these lands later became a part of the Republic of India Sikkim remained independent until annexed into India in 1975 when it becomes the 22nd state of the Republic of India However in 1860 the British returned the authority over some of Nepal s land in the Terai back to Nepal known as Naya Muluk new country as an act of gratitude for supporting Britain during various Indian uprisings such as the Sepoy mutiny Rana Regime Edit Main article Rana dynasty Maharaja of Kaski and Lamjung and Prime Minister of Nepal Chandra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana and his 8 sons who were one of the most powerful factions of Ranas of Nepal Factionalism among the royal family led to a period of instability after the war In 1846 Queen Rajya Lakshmi Devi plotted to overthrow Jang Bahadur Rana a fast rising military leader who was presenting a threat to her power The plot was uncovered and the queen had several hundred princes and chieftains executed after an armed clash between military personnel and administrators loyal to the queen This came to be known as the Kot Massacre However Jung Bahadur emerged victorious eventually and founded the Rana dynasty the monarch was made a titular figure and the post of Prime Minister was made powerful and hereditary held by the Ranas Third Nepalese Tibet War Edit Main article Nepalese Tibetan War Jung Bahadur Rana sent forces under his brothers Bam Bahadur Kunwar and Dhir Shamsher Rana to attack Tibet again to achieve complete victory His forces succeeded in defeating Tibetan forces on two sides The Tibetan team arrived in January 1856 to sign a treaty After a month the Treaty of Thapathali was signed which was more favourable to Nepal 6 20th century Edit Rani Queen of Nepal surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting 1920 Nepal and the British Edit The Rana regime a tightly centralized autocracy pursued a policy of isolating Nepal from external influences This policy helped Nepal maintain its national independence during the British colonial era but it also impeded the country s economic development and modernisation The Ranas were staunchly pro British and assisted the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and later in both World Wars At the same time despite Chinese claims the British supported Nepalese independence at the beginning of the twentieth century 77 In December 1923 Britain and Nepal formally signed a treaty of perpetual peace and friendship superseding the Sugauli Treaty of 1816 and upgrading the British resident in Kathmandu to an envoy Slavery was abolished in Nepal in 1924 78 Democratic reform Edit Main article Democracy movement in Nepal Popular dissatisfaction against the family rule of the Ranas had started emerging from among the few educated people who had studied in various Indian schools and colleges and also from within the Ranas many of whom were marginalised within the ruling Rana hierarchy Many of these Nepalese in exile had actively taken part in the Indian Independence struggle and wanted to liberate Nepal as well from the internal autocratic Rana occupation The political parties such as the Praja Parishad and Nepali Congress were already formed in exile by leaders such as B P Koirala Ganesh Man Singh Subarna Shamsher Rana Krishna Prasad Bhattarai Girija Prasad Koirala and many other patriotic minded Nepalis who urged the military and popular political movement in Nepal to overthrow the autocratic Rana Regime Among the prominent martyrs to die for the cause executed at the hands of the Ranas were Dharma Bhakta Mathema Shukraraj Shastri Gangalal Shrestha and Dasharath Chand This turmoil culminated in King Tribhuvan a direct descendant of Prithvi Narayan Shah fleeing from his palace prison in 1950 to the newly independent India touching off an armed revolt against the Rana administration This eventually ended in the return of the Shah family to power and the appointment of a non Rana as prime minister A period of the quasi constitutional rule followed during which the monarch assisted by the leaders of fledgling political parties governed the country During the 1950s efforts were made to frame a constitution for Nepal that would establish a representative form of government based on a British model In early 1959 Tribhuvan s son King Mahendra issued a new constitution and the first democratic elections for a national assembly were held The Nepali Congress a moderate socialist group gained a substantial victory in the election Its leader B P Koirala formed a government and served as prime minister After a period of power wrangling between the king and the elected government Mahendra dissolved the democratic experiment in 1960 King Mahendra s new constitution Edit Main article Panchayat Nepal Declaring the contemporary parliament a failure King Mahendra in 1960 dismissed the Koirala government declared that a partyless Panchayat system would govern Nepal and promulgated another new constitution on 16 December 1962 Subsequently the Prime Minister members of parliament and hundreds of democratic activists were arrested In fact this trend of the arrest of political activists and democratic supporters continued for the entire 30 year period of the partyless Panchayat system under King Mahendra and then his son King Birendra The new constitution established a partyless system of panchayats councils which King Mahendra considered to be a democratic form of government closer to Nepalese traditions As a pyramidal structure progressing from village assemblies to a Rastriya Panchayat National Parliament the panchayat system constitutionalised the absolute power of the monarchy and kept the King as head of state with sole authority over all governmental institutions including the cabinet council of ministers and the parliament One state one language became the national policy and all other languages suffered at the cost of the official language Nepali which was the king s language King Mahendra was succeeded by his 27 year old son King Birendra in 1972 Amid student demonstrations and anti regime activities in 1979 King Birendra called for a national referendum to decide on the nature of Nepal s government either the continuation of the panchayat system with democratic reforms or the establishment of a multiparty system The referendum was held in May 1980 and the Panchayat system won a narrow victory The king carried out the promised reforms including a selection of the prime minister by the Rashtriya Panchayat End of Panchayat system Edit There was resentment against the authoritarian regime and the curbs on the freedom of the political parties There was a widespread feeling of the palace being non representative of the masses especially when the Marich Man Singh government faced political scandals on charges of misappropriation of funds allotted for the victims of the earthquake in August 1998 or when it reshuffled the cabinet instead of investigating the deaths of the people in a stampede in the national sports complex in a hailstorm Also the souring of the India Nepal trade relations affected the popularity of the Singh government In April 1987 Nepal had introduced the work permit for Indian workers in three of its districts and in early 1989 Nepal provided 40 duty concession to Chinese goods and later withdrew duty concessions from Indian goods in such a manner that the Chinese goods became cheaper than the Indian goods This led to the souring of relations which were already strained over the purchase of Chinese arms by Nepal in 1988 India refused to renew two separate Treaties of Trade and Transit and insisted on a single treaty dealing with the two issues which was not acceptable to Nepal A deadlock ensued and the Treaties of Trade and Transit expired on 23 March 1989 The brunt of the closure of the trade and transit points was mainly faced by the lower classes in Nepal due to the restricted supply of consumer goods and petroleum products such as petrol aviation fuel and kerosene The industries suffered because of their dependence on India for resources trade and transit The Government of Nepal tried to deal with the situation by depending on foreign aid from the US UK Australia and China However the government s strategy to manage the crisis could not satisfy those people who desired negotiations with India rather than dependence on foreign aid as a solution citation needed Taking advantage of the uneasiness amongst some people against the government and the strained India Nepal relations the Nepali Congress NC and the left wing parties blamed the government for perpetuating the crisis and not taking any serious measures to solve it In December 1989 the NC tried to utilize B P Koirala s anniversary by launching a people s awareness program The left wing alliance known as the United Left Front ULF extended its support to the NC in its campaign for a party system On 18 19 January 1990 the NC held a conference in which leaders from various countries and members of the foreign Press were invited Leaders from India attended the conference Germany Japan Spain Finland supported the movement and the Embassies of the US and West Germany were present on the occasion Inspired by the international support and the democratic movements occurring throughout the world after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1989 the NC and the ULF launched a mass movement on 18 February to end the Panchayat regime and the installation of an interim government represented by various parties and people citation needed On 6 April the Marich Man Singh government was dismissed and Lokendra Bahadur Chand became the Prime Minister on the same day However the agitating mob was not satisfied with the change of government as they were not against the Singh government per se but against the party less system On 16 April the Chand government was also dismissed and a Royal Proclamation was issued the next day which dissolved the National Panchayat the Panchayat policy and the evaluation committee and the class organizations Instead the proclamation declared functioning of the political parties and maintained that all political parties will always keep the national interest uppermost in organizing themselves according to their political ideology citation needed During this protest many civilians were killed after the end of the Panchayat rule they were seen as undeclared martyrs One of those martyrs is Ram Chandra Hamal a member of the Nepali Congress and killed during his imprisonment 79 1990 People s Movement Edit Main article 1990 Nepalese revolution People in rural areas had expected that their interests would be better represented after the adoption of parliamentary democracy in 1990 The Nepali Congress with the support of Alliance of leftist parties decided to launch a decisive agitational movement Jana Andolan which forced the monarchy to accept constitutional reforms and to establish a multiparty parliament In May 1991 Nepal held its first parliamentary elections in nearly 50 years The Nepali Congress won 110 of the 205 seats and formed the first elected government in 32 years Civil strife Edit In 1992 in a situation of economic crisis and chaos with spiraling prices as a result of the implementation of changes in the policy of the new Congress government the radical left stepped up their political agitation A Joint People s Agitation Committee was set up by the various groups 80 A general strike was called for 6 April Violent incidents began to occur on the evening before the strike The Joint People s Agitation Committee had called for a 30 minute lights out in the capital and violence erupted outside Bir Hospital when activists tried to enforce the lights out At dawn on 6 April clashes between strike activists and police outside a police station in Pulchok Patan left two activists dead Later in the day a mass rally of the Agitation Committee at Tundikhel in the capital Kathmandu was attacked by police forces As a result riots broke out and the Nepal Telecommunications building was set on fire police opened fire at the crowd killing several persons The Human Rights Organisation of Nepal estimated that 14 persons including several onlookers had been killed in police firing 81 When promised land reforms failed to appear people in some districts started to organize to enact their own land reform and to gain some power over their lives in the face of usurious landlords However this movement was repressed by the Nepali government in Operation Romeo and Operation Kilo Sera II which took the lives of many of the leading activists of the struggle As a result many witnesses to this repression became radicalised Nepalese Civil War Edit Main article Nepalese Civil War In February 1996 one of the Maoist parties started a bid to replace the parliamentary monarchy with a people s new democratic republic through a Maoist revolutionary strategy known as the people s war which led to the Nepalese Civil War Led by Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Pushpa Kamal Dahal better known by his nom de guerre Prachanda the insurgency began in five districts in Nepal Rolpa Rukum Jajarkot Gorkha and Sindhuli The Maoists declared the existence of a provisional people s government at the district level in several locations 21st century Edit Palace massacre Edit Main article Nepalese royal massacre The Narayanhiti Palace where the royal massacre occurred On 1 June 2001 Crown Prince Dipendra allegedly went on a shooting spree assassinating 9 members of the royal family including King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya before shooting himself Due to his survival he temporarily became king before dying of his wounds after which Prince Gyanendra Birendra s brother inherited the throne according to tradition The massacre shattered the aura of mythology that still surrounded the Royal Family exposing their far too human intrigues Meanwhile the Maoist rebellion escalated and in October 2002 the king temporarily deposed the government and took complete control of it 82 A week later he reappointed another government but the country was still unstable because of the civil war with the Maoists the various clamouring political factions the king s attempts to take more control of the government and worries about the competence of Gyanendra s son and heir Prince Paras Suspension of responsible government Edit In the face of unstable governments and a Maoist siege on the Kathmandu Valley in August 2004 popular support for the monarchy began to wane On 1 February 2005 Gyanendra dismissed the entire government and took to exercising his executive powers without ministerial advice declaring a state of emergency to quash the Maoist movement Politicians were placed under house arrest phone and internet lines were cut and freedom of the press was severely curtailed 2006 democracy movement Edit Main article 2006 Nepalese revolution The king s new regime made little progress in his stated aim of suppressing the insurgents The European Union described the municipal elections of February 2006 as a backward step for democracy as the major parties boycotted the election and the army forced some candidates to run for office 83 In April 2006 strikes and street protests in Kathmandu forced the king to reinstate the parliament A seven party coalition resumed control of the government and stripped the king of most of his powers As of 15 January 2007 a unicameral legislature under an interim constitution governed Nepal Abolition of the monarchy Edit The Constituent Assembly came to fruition on 24 December 2007 when it was announced that the monarchy would be abolished in 2008 after the Constituent Assembly elections 84 and on 28 May 2008 Nepal was declared a Federal Democratic Republic Zones districts and regions Edit Nepalese zones Nepal was divided into 14 zones and 75 districts grouped into 5 development regions Each district was headed by a fixed chief district officer responsible for maintaining law and order and coordinating the work of field agencies of the various government ministries The 14 zones were Bagmati Bheri Dhaulagiri Gandaki Janakpur Karnali Koshi Lumbini Mahakali Mechi Narayani Rapti Sagarmatha SetiGovernment and politics EditUntil 1990 Nepal was an absolute monarchy running under the executive control of the king Faced with a people s movement against the absolute monarchy King Birendra in 1990 agreed to large scale political reforms by creating a parliamentary monarchy with the king as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of the government Nepal s legislature was bicameral consisting of a House of Representatives and a National Council The House of Representatives consists of 205 members directly elected by the people The National Council had sixty members ten nominated by the king thirty five elected by the House of Representatives and the remaining fifteen elected by an electoral college made up of chairs of villages and towns The legislature had a five year term but was dissolvable by the king before its term could end All Nepali citizens 18 years and older became eligible to vote The executive comprised the King and the Council of Ministers the Cabinet The leader of the coalition or party securing the maximum seats in an election was appointed as the Prime Minister The Cabinet was appointed by the king on the recommendation of the Prime Minister Governments in Nepal have tended to be highly unstable no government has survived for more than two years since 1991 either through internal collapse or parliamentary dissolution by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister according to the constitution The movement in April 2006 brought about a change in the nation The autocratic King was forced to give up power The dissolved House of Representatives was restored The House of Representatives formed a government that had successful peace talks with the Maoist Rebels An interim constitution was promulgated and an interim House of Representatives was formed with Maoist members The number of seats was also increased to 330 The peace process in Nepal made a giant leap in April 2007 when the Communist Party of Nepal Maoist joined the interim government of Nepal Notes Edit King Prithvi Narayan Shah self proclaimed the newly unified Kingdom of Nepal as Asal Hindustan Real Land of the Hindus due to the remaining North India being ruled by the Islamic Mughal rulers The self proclamation was done to enforce the Hindu social code of Dharmashastra over his reign and refer to his country as being inhabitable for people of Dharmic religions He also referred Northern part of India as Mughlan Country of Mughals and called the region infiltrated by Muslim foreigners 3 An account of the kingdom however argues that the dynasty is from Magar descent 5 References EditCitations Edit Subba Sanghamitra 20 December 2019 A future written in the stars Nepali Times Archived from the original on 31 January 2021 Retrieved 31 January 2021 a b c Kirkpatrick Colonel 1811 An Account of the Kingdom of Nepaul London William Miller pp 382 386 Retrieved 17 October 2012 Acharya Baburam Naraharinath Yogi 2014 Badamaharaj Prithivi Narayan Shah ko Divya Upadesh 2014 Reprint ed Kathmandu Shree Krishna Acharya pp 4 5 ISBN 978 99933 912 1 0 Karl J Schmidt 20 May 2015 An Atlas and Survey of South Asian History Routledge pp 138 ISBN 978 1 317 47681 8 Archived from the original on 16 February 2017 Retrieved 5 February 2017 Hamilton 1819 p 26 a b c d Nepal and Tibetan conflict Official website of Nepal Army Archived from the original on 20 December 2016 Retrieved 29 April 2017 a b c Pradhan 2012 p 12 Nepal The Struggle for Power Archived 5 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine Sourced to U S Library of Congress Acharya 2012 pp 71 72 Whelpton 1991 p 21 History of Nepal A Sovereign Kingdom Official website of Nepal Army Archived from the original on 28 December 2017 Retrieved 29 April 2017 Acharya 2012 pp 11 12 Dietrich Angela 1996 Buddhist Monks and Rana Rulers A History of Persecution Buddhist Himalaya A Journal of Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods Archived from the original on 1 October 2013 Retrieved 17 September 2013 Lal C K 16 February 2001 The Rana resonance Nepali Times Archived from the original on 28 September 2013 Retrieved 17 September 2013 Why Monarchy is necessary in Nepal Archived from the original on 12 April 2020 Retrieved 3 November 2009 George Conger 18 January 2008 Nepal moves to become a secular republic Religious Intelligence Archived from the original on 30 January 2009 Whelpton John 2005 A History of Nepal Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 80470 1 a b Hamal 1995 p 98 a b Mechi dekhi Mahakali Vol 3 Paschimanchal Bikas Kshetra p 70 Sharma Devi Prasad Adhunik Nepal ko Itihas 1742 1961 AD Ratna Pustak Bhandar Kathmandu 1995 a b c Adhikari 2015 p 153 Adhikari 2015 p 154 a b c d e Nepali Army न प ल स न Archived from the original on 31 August 2018 Retrieved 20 November 2018 Vansittart Eden 1896 Notes on Nepal Asian Educational Services ISBN 978 81 206 0774 3 Page 34 Majupuria Trilok Chandra March 2011 Kirtipur The Ancient Town on the Hill Nepal Traveller Archived from the original on 17 November 2015 Retrieved 18 October 2012 Wright Daniel 1990 History of Nepal New Delhi Asian Educational Services Retrieved 7 November 2012 Page 227 The city of good deeds Nepali Times 24 30 November 2000 Archived from the original on 1 March 2012 Retrieved 18 October 2012 History of the Nepalese Army Nepalese Army Archived from the original on 7 June 2011 Retrieved 7 October 2016 Vaidya 1993 p 180 Hamal 1995 p 202 Vaidya 1993 p 151 a b Regmi 1972 p 95 Vaidya 1993 p 163 Hamal 1995 p 180 Vaidya 1993 p 165 Vaidya 1993 p 167 a b Hamal 1995 p 181 a b c d Puratattva Bibhag 1990 p 73 Singh 1997 p 142 Puratattva Bibhag 1990 p 74 Shaha 1990 p 43 D R Regmi 1975 p 272 a b c Karmacharya 2005 p 36 a b c D R Regmi 1975 p 285 a b Shaha 1990 p 46 Shaha 2001 p 21 a b c d Journal PDF himalaya socanth cam ac uk Archived PDF from the original on 14 February 2019 Retrieved 20 November 2018 Rana 1978 p 6 a b Mahesh Chandra Regmi 1975 p 214 a b T U History Association 1977 p 5 D R Regmi 1975 p 215 D R Regmi 1975 p 294 Bajracharya 1992 p 21 a b Mahesh Chandra Regmi 1975 p 215 Puratattva Bibhag 1990 p 76 Bajracharya 1992 pp 21 22 Bajracharya 1992 p 22 a b c Karmacharya 2005 p 46 a b c Shaha 2001 p 62 a b Bajracharya 1992 p 35 Pradhan 2012 p 10 a b Puratattva Bibhag 1990 p 77 Shaha 2001 p 63 Hamal 1995 p 81 Stiller L F The Rise of the House of Gorkha Patna Jesuit Society Patna 1975 a b Acharya 2012 pp 28 32 Pradhan 2012 p 13 Pradhan 2012 p 14 Acharya 2012 pp 36 37 Acharya 2012 p 43 a b Acharya 2012 p 54 Nepal 2007 p 57 Nepal 2007 p 58 Acharya 2012 p 55 a b Pradhan Kumar L 2012 Thapa Politics in Nepal With Special Reference to Bhim Sen Thapa 1806 1839 New Delhi Concept Publishing Company p 278 ISBN 9788180698132 Acharya Baburam 2012 Acharya Shri Krishna ed Janaral Bhimsen Thapa Yinko Utthan Tatha Pattan in Nepali Kathmandu Education Book House p 228 ISBN 9789937241748 Matteo Miele October 2017 British Diplomatic Views on Nepal and the Final Stage of the Ch ing Empire 1910 1911 PDF Prague Papers on the History of International Relations 1 90 101 Archived PDF from the original on 10 October 2017 Retrieved 10 October 2017 Tucci Giuseppe 1952 Journey to Mustang 1952 Trans by Diana Fussell 1st Italian edition 1953 1st English edition 1977 2nd edition revised 2003 p 22 Bibliotheca Himalayica ISBN 99933 0 378 X South Asia 974 524 024 9 Outside of South Asia Nepal The Panchayat System countrystudies us Archived from the original on 3 November 2016 Retrieved 6 August 2017 The organisers of the Committee were the Samyukta Janamorcha Nepal the Communist Party of Nepal Unity Centre Communist Party of Nepal Masal the Nepal Communist League and the Communist Party of Nepal Marxist Leninist Maoist Hoftun Martin William Raeper and John Whelpton People politics and ideology Democracy and Social Change in Nepal Kathmandu Mandala Book Point 1999 p 189 Mahendra Lawoti and Anup K Pahari ed 2012 The Maoist Insurgency in Nepal Routledge ISBN 9780415777179 The Guardian TheGuardian com 2 February 2006 Archived from the original on 19 August 2021 Retrieved 12 December 2016 Nepalese monarchy to be abolished BBC 24 December 2007 Archived from the original on 25 December 2007 Retrieved 25 December 2007 Sources Edit Adhikari Indra 2015 Military and Democracy in Nepal Routledge ISBN 9781317589068 Hamilton Francis Buchanan 1819 An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal and the Territories Annexed to this Dominion by the House of Gorkha A Constable Karmacharya Ganga 2005 Queens in Nepalese Politics an account of roles of Nepalese queens in state affairs 1775 1846 Nepal Educational Publishing House ISBN 978 999463393 7 archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Bajracharya Bhadra Ratna 1992 Bahadur Shah the regent of Nepal 1785 1794 A D Nepal Anmol Publications ISBN 9788170416432 archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Regmi Mahesh Chandra 1995 Kings and political leaders of the Gorkhali Empire 1768 1814 Orient Longman ISBN 9788125005117 archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Vaidya Tulsi Ram 1993 Prithvinaryan Shah the founder of Nepal Anmol Publications ISBN 9788170417019 archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Rana Pramode S J B 1978 Rana Nepal An Insider s View R Rana archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Khatri Shiva Ram 1999 Nepal Army Chiefs Short Biographical Sketches University of Michigan Sira Khatri archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Nepal Gyanmani 2007 Nepal ko Mahabharat in Nepali 3rd ed Kathmandu Sajha ISBN 9789993325857 Regmi Mahesh Chandra 1972 Regmi Research Series PDF Vol 04 Regmi Research Centre D R Regmi 1975 Modern Nepal vol 1 Firma K L Mukhopadhyay ISBN 0883864916 archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Shaha Rishikesh 1990 Modern Nepal 1769 1885 Riverdale Company ISBN 0 913215 64 3 archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Shaha Rishikesh 2001 An Introduction of Nepal Kathmandu Ratna Pustak Bhandar archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Hamal Lakshman B 1995 Military history of Nepal Sharda Pustak Mandir p 125 OCLC 32779233 Puratattva Bibhag 1990 Ancient Nepal vol 116 122 Puratattva Bibhag Archaeology Department archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Mahesh Chandra Regmi 1975 Regmi Research Series vol 7 Regmi Research Centre archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Mainali Pramod 2006 Milestones of history vol 2 Pramod Mainali ISBN 9789994696048 archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Khatri Shiva Ram 1999 Nepal Army Chiefs Short Biographical Sketches University of Michigan Sira Khatri archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 Singh Nagendra Kr 1997 Nepal Refugee to Ruler A Militant Race of Nepal APH Publishing p 125 ISBN 9788170248477 Retrieved 7 November 2012 Mainali Pramod 2006 Milestones of history vol 2 Pramod Mainali ISBN 9789994696048 archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 M C Regmi 1975 Regmi Research Series vol 7 Regmi Research Centre archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 15 September 2020 T U History Association 1977 Voice of History vol 3 Tribhuwan University History Association archived from the original on 15 January 2023 retrieved 28 November 2020 Whelpton John 1991 Kings soldiers and priests Nepalese politics and the rise of Jang Bahadur Rana 1830 1857 Manohar Publications ISBN 9788185425641Further reading EditGarzilli Enrica A Sanskrit Letter Written by Sylvain Levi in 1923 to Hemaraja Sarma Along With Some Hitherto Unknown Biographical Notes Cultural Nationalism and Internationalism in the First Half of the 21st Cent Famous Indologists Write to the Raj Guru of Nepal no 1 in Commemorative Volume for 30 Years of the Nepal German Manuscript Preservation Project Journal of the Nepal Research Centre XII 2001 Kathmandu ed by A Wezler in collaboration with H Haffner A Michaels B Kolver M R Pant and D Jackson pp 115 149 Garzilli Enrica Strage a palazzo movimento dei Maoisti e crisi di governabilita in Nepal in Asia Major 2002 pp 143 160 Garzilli Enrica Il nuovo Stato del Nepal il difficile cammino dalla monarchia assoluta alla democrazia in Asia Major 2005 2006 pp 229 251 Garzilli Enrica Il Nepal da monarchia a stato federale in Asia Major 2008 pp 163 181 Garzilli Enrica La fine dell isolamento del Nepal la costruzione della sua identita politica e delle sue alleanze regionali in ISPI Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionali CVII Nov 2008 pp 1 7 Garzilli Enrica Le elezioni dell Assemblea Costituente e i primi mesi di governo della Repubblica Democratica Federale del Nepal in Asia Maior 2010 pp 115 126 Garzilli Enrica Nepal la difficile costruzione della nazione un paese senza Costituzione e un parlamento senza primo ministro in Asia Maior 2011 pp 161 171 Garzilli Enrica The Interplay between Gender Religion and Politics and the New Violence against Women in Nepal in J Dragsbaek Schmidt and T Roedel Berg eds Gender Social Change and the Media Perspective from Nepal University of Aalborg and Rawat Publications Aalborg Jaipur 2012 pp 27 91 Garzilli Enrica Nepal stallo politico e lentezze nella realizzazione del processo di pace e di riconciliazione in Asia Maior 2012 pp 213 222 Garzilli Enrica A Sanskrit Letter Written by Sylvain Levy in 1925 to Hemaraja Sarma along with Some Hitherto Unknown Biographical Notes Cultural Nationalism and Internationalism in the First Half of the 20th Century Famous Indologists write to the Raj Guru of Nepal No 2 in History of Indological Studies Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference Vol 11 2 ed by K Karttunen P Koskikallio and A Parpola Motilal Banarsidass and University of Helsinki Delhi 2015 pp 17 53 Garzilli Enrica Nepal 2013 2014 Breaking the Political Impasse in Asia Maior 2014 pp 87 98 Wright Daniel History of Nepal New Delhi Madras Asian Educational Services 1990 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kingdom of Nepal amp oldid 1155469733, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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