On the fateful night of 1 June, 2001, shots rang out from Kathmandu’s Narayanhity Palace. In the days that followed, a number of rumors and conspiracy theories emerged as people tried to make sense of what was the deadliest royal massacre in modern history. One of the stories spoke of a family curse involving Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of modern Nepal and the Shah Dynasty. According to the story, Prithvi Narayan Shah came across an old holy man in a forest, whom he offered some curd. The old man regurgitated the curd into the bowl and asked the king to drink it as a sign of his devotion. A repulsed king dropped the bowl. As the liquid touched his feet, the old man, who was none other than the venerated yogi Gorakhnath, cursed Shah that his dynasty would only last the number of generations as the toes on his feet. Prithvi Narayan Shah’s story began hundreds of miles from Kathmandu, in the small kingdom of Gorkha, whose throne he ascended in 1742. During that time, Nepal was divided into 54 states. Not satisfied with his small kingdom, Prithvi Narayan Shah set out to expand his kingdom. He first set his eye on the kingdom of Nuwarkot, but was badly defeated. He went to Benaras, bought arms and ammunition, and was successful in his second attempt. Several small kingdoms followed. In 1757, he invaded Kirtipur, which he intended to use as a base to invade Kathmandu. He seems to have had a prior arrangement with the rulers of Kirtipur, according to which they were supposed to have let his army enter the city. However, they changed their mind at the last moment and a fierce battle broke out, in which Shah’s general Kalu Pandey was killed. Prithvi Narayan himself had a narrow escape. In 1764, he made a second attempt on Kirtipur and lost again. This time his brother Surya Pratap lost an eye. In 1767, Shah made a third attempt, and was finally successful. He exacted vengeance on the inhabitants of Kirtipur by ordering his men to cut off the tips of their noses. Jaya Prakash Malla, the ruler of Kantipur, sensed that he kingdom was next. He reached out to the East India Company for help. However, the troops they sent under Captain Kinlock were defeated by Prithvi Narayan Shah’s forces at the battle of Hariharpur. In 1768, Prithvi Narayan’s forces invaded Kantipur during a major festival, catching the defenders by surprise. Though Jaya Prakash Malla managed to flee to Lalitpur, Kantipur fell in Prithvi Narayan’s hands. Lalitpur itself fell a few months later, and both Jaya Prakash Malla and Tej Narasimha Malla, the ruler of Lalitpur, found political asylum at Bhaktapur. Prithvi Narayan Shah first sent a letter to Ranjit Malla, the old king of Bhaktapur, asking him to hand over the two fugitives, and proceeded to lay siege to Bhaktapur. Owing to the treachery of Ranjit Malla’s illegitimate sons, Shah’s army managed to enter the city. In the battle that followed, a bullet struck Jaya Prakash Malla’s leg. Sensing no hope of victory, Ranjit Malla hung his crown outside the palace. Upon receiving this signal, the battle stopped and the victorious Gorkhali soldiers entered the palace laughing. An enraged Jaya Prakash Malla retorted “O Gorkhali, you laugh today because of the treachery of our own men. Had they not betrayed us, we would have taught you a good lesson. Now that we are in your hands, do with us as you wish!”. Prithvi Narayan treated the old king Ranjit Malla with respect, allowing him to retire to Benaras. Jaya Prakash Malla was sent to Pashupati, according to his wishes, and died soon after. Tej Narasimha did not express a wish and was imprisoned for life. The fall of Kantipur, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur marked the end of the Malla Dynasty, and the Shah Dynasty was born. Prithvi Narayan Shah did not live long to enjoy the fruit of his conquests. In 1775, after having founded the unified kingdom of Nepal, he died at Devighat, in Nuwarkot, at the age of 52. Kingdom of Nepal, Shah Dynasty: Prithvi Narayan Shah (25 September 1768-11 January 1775), AR Mohar, SE1692 (1770 AD), RGV#612, KM#454 (5.24 g, 29 mm) Obverse: Sri Sri Prithvi/Nara/yana/Sah Dev in scalloped square. Date 16/92 below. Sun at left and moon at right abouve legend. Attributes of lord Vishnu: chakra and padma (discus and lotus) to left and shankha and gada (conch and mace) to right. Trident in small circle in center of square. Reverse: “Sri Sri Sri Gorakhnath” in petals of a flower. “Sri Sri/ Bhawa/ni” in three-sectioned circle. Garlanded sword at center.
I think I recall hearing about that massacre in 2001. But with 9/11 only 3 months later it got overshadowed. Was it ever determined who was responsible? Although I'm not a collector of this country's coinage, I like to learn and enjoyed your in-depth information. Did you or do you live there? EDIT- For those interested, I did a little snooping and found this info on Wkipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_royal_massacre
Thanks. I don’t: I recently complete collecting 1 coin each of the Shah Dynasty rulers and intend to write a series of posts on them, of which this was the first.
