King Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723-1775) was born in the Shah dynasty of Gorkha on 11 January 1723 (27 Poush 1779 B.S.) and he ascended to the throne of Gorkha kingdom on 3 April 1743. He was interested in politics and diplomacy and had interests in both visiting and conquering other countries since his days as prince. He decided to enlarge his kingdom that was confined to the small Gorkha region of present day Nepal and had an area of just 2,500 square km (approx. 50 km x 50 km). He defeated major principalities in wars and unified them under his rule starting from 1740s ending with shifting of his Gorkha Kingdom’s capital from Gorkha region to Kathmandu in 1769. While he was successful at conquering the Kathmandu valley and the Sen kingdoms further east of the Kathmandu valley, his efforts were limited to the west of his homeland. He then attacked and absorbed dozens of other small principalities and gave a new name Nepal to his Gorkha kingdom. He was able to conquer some of the 22 principalities or kingdoms, know as the baisi rajya, and some of the 24 kingdoms (the chaubasi rajya), which were two sets of allies west of the Kings homeland of Gorkha, in what is now called western Nepal. Soon after he ascended the throne of Gorkha Kingdom, Shah tricked his way into the royal household of Bhaktapur for a number of months. He wanted the rich agricultural soil of the valley, and the strategic point of the Kathmandu valley as a transit point for expanding trade with both Tibet and India. Then he planned the conquest of the valley. To this end, he decided to first capture Nuwakot, which belonged to the state of Kantipur, as a strategic point. He also foresaw that taking over Nuwakot would significantly strengthen the position of his Gorkha nation and weaken the states occupying the Kathmandu Valley. Nuwakot held strategic importance, as there was already a fort there, and it had remained as a connecting pass the valley and Tibet.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 02:24:01 +0000
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