Life of king PN Shah - Sandesh Bhusal

Introduction: Prithvi Narayan Shah, King of Nepal (1723–1775; Nepali: पृथ्वीनारायण शाह) the first king of House of Shahs to rule Nepal. He is credited for starting the campaign for unified Nepal, which had been divided and weakened under Malla confederacy. He was the ninth generation descendant of Dravya Shah (1559–1570), the founder of the ruling house of Gorkha. Prithvi Narayan Shah succeeded his father King Nara Bhupal Shah to the throne of Gorkha in 1743. His mother name was Kaushalyawati Shah but he was cared by his first mother Chandra Prabhavati. He started taking general concern with the affairs of the state because his father spent most of his time in the prayer room. He had a great dream to won over Nuwakot. His first mother was his perfection against his loyalty towards the unification of modern Nepal. Walking around Gorkha and talking to people about the general concerns of the palace was his likeness and this helped him to understand the needs of the citizens of Gorkha.

Childhood: He started taking general concern with the affairs of the state because his father spent most of his time in the prayer room. He had a great dream to won over Nuwakot. His first mother was his perfection against his loyalty towards the unification of modern Nepal. Walking around Gorkha and talking to people about the general concerns of the palace was his likeness and this helped him to understand the needs of the citizens of Gorkha. PN Shah hated the luxurios life that the kings exercised at that time. He was educated at his royal palace by queen Chandrapravawati , Aryal and joshi. His bratabandh was done in Dhading.

YOUTH AND MARRIAGE P.N. Shah was married to the daughter of king Hemakarna Sen of Makwanpur. It was the tradition that P.N. Shah couldn’t take his bride with him immediately. At the time, P.N. Shah was 12 years old. After some time, he again went to take his wife but there arose a hot dispute between him and his brother-in-law. So, as a revenge, he married the daughter of Abhiman Singh, a Rajput of Benaras. After this, he was sent by his elder mother to study the condition of valley kingdoms. He became a ‘MIT’ of Bir Narsingh Malla, the son of king Ranajit Malla. Later, when the brother-in law of the king heard that he had ascended the throne, they invited him to take his bride with him. The king wanted some arms and ammunitions from the country of Makwanpur. So he went there, he beheaded some of the soliders because they had saluted him without removing their shoes. Again, a quarrel rose with the in-laws and they became sworn enemies thereforth.

Prithvi Narayan Shah’s Idea: At the time of king Prithvi narayan Shah, the east india company was invading and capturing various countries and had reached India too. As india was a neighbouring country of Nepal, they could attack Nepal’s countries at any time. The countries of Nepal were very small and weak to fight back the cruel forces of the east india company. So, king Prithvi Narayan Shah thought of unifiying the small countries into a big nation for saving Nepal from east- India invasion.

The start of Unification campaign. Prithvi Narayan Shah started the unification campaign of the modern structure of Nepal as soon as he asended his throne. Prithvi Narayan Shah succeeded his father King Nara Bhupal Shah to the throne of Gorkha in 1743.

A sad departure…………. King Prithvi Narayaṇ Shah had sealed his border and maintained peaceful but distant relations with the British, refusing to trade with them although he had accepted arms and advice from them during his conquering wars. He died before he could effectively organize the administration of his new country. He died in January, 1775, at the age of 52. Nepal lost a true hero.

The Birth-epic Before the birth of king Prithvi Narayan Shah, his mother saw an amazing dream of swallowing the sun. she woke up immediately and told the dream to the king. On hearing it, the king beat her severely. In the morning, she asked the king about why he did it, he said that if anyone wakes up after seeing a good dream, he should not sleep after that to fulfill the dream.

The gorakhnath epic: When king was a small boy, he had gone to visit the temple of Gorakhnath. There he met a sadhu who asked him for a little curd. He ate almost all of it and when there remained a little amount, he spat it out on the hand of P.N. Shah. P.N. Shah threw it. The sadhu said that if he had eaten that curd, anything he would have said were fulfilled. As it fell on P.N. Shahs feet, wherever he stood would be his. It is believed that the sadhu was lord Gorakhnath himself.