(King Prithvi Narayan Shah)
Prithvi Narayan Shah, the builder of modern Nepal, is one of the greatest kings Nepal has produced. He was the ruler of Gorkha, a small state in Western Nepal. When he ascended the throne of Gorkha, Nepal was divided into a number of petty states. Within a span of thirty years. Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered the various states and unified Nepal.
After death of his father, Nar Bhupal Shah, in 1800 V.S.. Prithvi Narayan Shah became the King of Gorkha at the age of twenty-one. He determined to conquer the tiny states of Nepal and make it a big and powerful state. With this aim, he attacked the neighboring states. He failed many times but did not lose heart. At last, he was successful in conquering Nuwakot, Makwanpur, Lamjung and some other states. Then, he attacked Kritiupur. He faced stiff opposition there and could conquer it only on the third attempt.
Next, he attacked Kathmandu which was ruled by Jaya Prakash Malla. First, he had to fight the British troops which had come to help Jaya Prakash. Jaya Prakash foiled all his attempts to conquer Kathmandu. At last, Prithvi Narayan Shah thought of a plan. He ordered his troops to attack Kathmandu on the day of Indra Jatra festival. His troops marched into Kathmandu from four sides. The troops of Jaya Prakash were taken by surprise and offered no resistance. Jaya Prakash left Kathmandu and took shelter under Tej Narasingh, the King of Patan. Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered Patan and Bhaktapur too.
Prithvi Narayan Shah made Kathmandu the capital of his kingdom and introduced many reforms. His reforms were based on those of Ram Shah, Jayasthiti Malla and Mahindra Malla. He liked the policies of these Kings. Prithvi Narayan Shah’s policies can be known from his book, Dibya Upadesh. He was a staunch nationalist. He expelled the Christian missionaries from his Kingdom. He thought they were spies of foreign countries. He encouraged the use of handmade cloth. He saw that everybody got justice. He punished the corrupt officials.
Prithvi Narayan Shah wanted to keep his subjects happy. He thought the people were the wealth of a king. He wished that none of his subjects should remain hungry. He used to eat his meal only when he knew that all his subjects had eaten their meal. He ordered the people to eat their morning meal before 9 a.m. He watched the roofs of all houses in Kathmandu to see if smoke came out of all house. For this purpose, he had a nine-story palace built at Basantapur.
Prithvi Narayan Shah ruled his kingdom wisely for thirty years and passed away at the age of fifty-two, He is called the great King for he established a big state ruled it well.
