Prithivi Narayan Shah: The King of Nepal

    

    Prithivi Narayan Shah was the first king to rule Nepal. He was born in Gurkha, Nepal in 1723.In 1742, Prithivi Narayan Shah became the king of Gurkha. An ambitious ruler, he was able to quickly enlarge his territory by conquering the quarrelsome and disunited principalities around Gurkha. Prithivi Narayan Shah conquered the three Malla kingdoms of Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhadgaon in 1769 and consolidated them to found the modern state of Nepal. He also established the capital of Nepal at Kathmandu. Prithivi Narayan Shah not only brought caste- and ethnicity-based states under the umbrella of Nepal, but also laid a solid foundation for the modern state. Nepal was a "yam between two boulders" suggesting the need for a delicate balance of relationship between its two big neighbors, a fundamental rule of Nepal's foreign policy even now. Prithivi Narayan Shah's warning quote "both the bribe givers and takers are enemies of nation" is the most repeated Nepalese slogan today.

   Prithivi Narayan Shah was a true nationalist in his outlook, and was in favor of adopting a closed-door policy with regard to British. He sealed his brother 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. Not only his social and economic views guided the country's social-economic course for a long time, his use of the imagery, 'a yam between two boulders' in Nepal's geopolitical context formed the principle guideline of the country's foreign policy for future centuries. He died before he could effectively organize the administration of his new country. Upon his death, Prithivi Narayan shah was succeeded by his son, Pratap Singh Shah.