Rajendra of Nepal

Rajendra Bikram Shah
King of Nepal
King Rajendra Bikram Shah Deva of Nepal
Reign	20 November 1816 – 12 May 1847
Predecessor	Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva
Successor	Surendra Bikram Shah
Spouse	Samrajya Laxhmi Devi Rajya Laxmi Devi
Dynasty	Shah dynasty
Dynasty	House of Shah
Father	Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva
Mother	Gorakshya Rajya Laxmi Devi
Born	3 December 1813 Basantapur, Nepal
Died	10 July 1881 (aged 67)[1] Bhaktapur, Nepal
Religion	Hinduism

Rajendra Bikram Shah, King of Nepal (1813–1881) was King of Nepal from 1816 to 1847. He became king at age three on the death of his father Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva. As had been the case with his father, most of Rajendra's rule was under the regency of Queen Lalit Tripura Sundari (died 1832) and Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa. As regent, Bhimsen Thapa kept the king in isolation—he did not even have the freedom to leave the palace without permission.

Reign

Rajendra came of age in 1832, and in 1837 announced his intention to rule independently of the Prime Minister. He stripped Bhimsen Thapa and Thapa's nephew, Mathabar Singh, of their military authority. Shortly afterward the youngest son of Rajendra's elder queen died, and Bhimsen Thapa was arrested on a trumped-up charge of poisoning the prince. All the property of the Thapas was confiscated. Bhimsen Thapa was acquitted after an eight-month trial, but the Thapas were in disarray. When Rana Jang Pande became prime minister, he reimprisoned Bhimsen Thapa, who committed suicide in prison in 1839.

In January 1843, Rajendra declared that he would rule the country only with advice and agreement of his junior queen, Lakshmidevi, and commanded his subjects to obey her even over his own son, Surendra Bikram Shah. Continued infighting among noble factions led eventually to the Kot Massacre in 1846.

Rise of the Ranas

Janga Bahadur Kunwar (Nepali: जंग बहादुर कुँवर) began the Rana dynasty. He came to power through the 1846 Kot massacre (Nepali: कोत पर्व, Kot Parwa) where 36 members of the palace court including the Prime Minister and a relative of the King Chautariya Fate Janga Shah were murdered.

In the aftermath of the Kot Massacre, Jung Bahadur became prime minister and quickly seized power, sending King Rajendra and Queen Lakshmidevi into exile in Varanasi. From exile, Rajendra sought to regain power by creating and mobilizing an army, but Jung Bahadur learned of Rajendra's plans and attacked his camp in Alau. He was captured while trying to flee and forced him to abdicate the throne in favor of his son Surendra.

Later Life

Jung Bahadur's forces captured Rajendra in 1847 and brought him to Bhaktapur, where he spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He died in the Bhaktapur Durbar in 10 July 1881 at the age of 67 during the time of the reign of his great-grand son.

References

External links/sources

• Royal Court of Nepal -- official site
• Rajendra Bikram Shah biography - Nepal Home Page
• Library of Congress Country Studies: Nepal