Bhimsen Thapa
Encyclopedia
Bhimsen Thapa was the Prime Minister
of Nepal
from 1806 to 1837. After his initial rise to become the prime minister of Nepal during the reign of Rana Bahadur
, the successive minority of Girvan Yuddha Shah
and Rajendra Bikram Shah
, along with the support from Maharani Tripurasundari (the eldest queen) helped him to stay at the helm of power. During his prime ministership, the Gurkha empire reached its greatest expanse from Sutlej
river in the west to the Teesta
river in the east. It was also during his prime ministership, that Nepal entered into a disastrous Anglo-Nepalese War with the East India Company
lasting from 1814-16, which was concluded with the Treaty of Sugauli, by which Nepal lost almost one-third of its land. The death of Queen Tripurasundari in 1832, his strongest supporter, and the adulthood of king Rajendra, weakened his hold on power. The conspiracies and infighting with rival courtiers finally led to his imprisonment and dead by suicide. He is regarded as one of the National heroes of Nepal
.
. His father, Major Amar Singh Thapa (not to be confused with the commander of Gorkhali forces in the Gurkha War
), was a faithful soldier of King Prithvi Narayan Shah
. At the age of 11, Bhimsen Thapa came into contact with the Nepalese Royal Palace when his bratabandha ceremony was held together with the Crown Prince Rana Bahadur
's. Thapa and the Crown Prince soon developed a friendship with Thapa eventually serving as King Rana Bahadur
's personal secretary at the age of 22 in Varanasi
, India
.
, left a huge power vacuum that remained unfilled for decades, seriously debilitating the emerging Nepalese state. Pratap Singh Shah's successor was his son, Rana Bahadur Shah
(reigned 1777-99), aged two and one-half years at his accession. The acting regent until 1785 was Queen Rajendralakshmi, followed by Bahadur Shah (reigned 1785-94), the second son of Prithvi Narayan Shah. Court life was consumed by rivalry centered on alignments with these two regents rather than on issues of national administration. In 1794 the king came of age, and in 1797 he began to exercise power on his own. Rana Bahadur's youth had been spent in pampered luxury amid deadly intrigue and had made him incapable of running either his own life or the country. He became infatuated with a Maithili Brahman widow, Kantavati, and cleared the way to the throne for their illegitimate son, Girvan Yuddha Shah. Disconsolate after the death of his mistress in 1799, Rana Bahadur began to engage in such irrational behavior that leading citizens demanded his abdication. He was forced to turn his throne over to Girvan Yuddha Shah
, aged one and one-half years, and retired to Banaras.
During the minority of the king, Damodar Pande
took over the administration as mukhtiyar, or prime minister (1799-1804), with complete control over administration and the power to conduct foreign affairs. He set a significant precedent for later Nepalese history, which has seen a recurring struggle for effective power between king and prime minister. The main policy of Damodar Pande was to protect the young king by keeping his unpredictable father in Banaras and to play off against each other the schemes of the retired king's wives. By 1804 this policy had failed. The former king engineered his return and took over as mukhtiyar. Damodar Pande was executed and replaced by Bhimsen Thapa as chief administrator (kaji). In a bizarre turn of events on April 25, 1806, Rana Bahadur Shah quarreled in open court with his half-brother, Sher Bahadur. The latter drew his sword and killed Rana Bahadur Shah before being cut down by a nearby courtier. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Bhimsen Thapa became prime minister (1806-37), and the junior queen, Tripurasundari, became regent (1806-32). They cooperated to liquidate ninety-three of their enemies. The death of Girvan Yuddha Shah in 1816 and the accession of his infant son, Rajendra Bikram Shah
, meant the retention of the regency.
(reigned 1816-47), the prime minister kept the king in isolation--he did not even have the freedom to leave the palace without permission. Bhimsen Thapa appointed members of his own family to the highest positions at court and in the army, giving his brother, Ranbir Singh Thapa, control over the western provinces and his nephew, Mathbar Singh Thapa, control over the eastern provinces. The Pandes and other opponents were frozen out of power. Aside from the army and some attention to increasing trade, little effort could be expended on issues of national development.
became British resident and began a more aggressive campaign to increase British influence and trading opportunities; because Bhimsen Thapa opposed him, Hodgson openly favored Bhimsen Thapa's opponents. In 1837 the king announced his intention to rule independently, deprived both Bhimsen Thapa and Mathbar Singh of their military powers, and promoted some members of the Pande faction.
In July of 1837, King Rajendra Bikram Shah
's youngest son, an infant of one year, died suddenly; and it was at once given out that the child had died of poison, intended for its mother the Maharani (elder queen), and given at the instigation of Bhim Sen, or someone of his party. On this charge, Bhim Sen, his brother Ranbir Singh, his nephew Mathbir Singh, their families, the court physician and his deputy, with a number more of the nearest relations of the Thapas, were incarcerated, proclaimed outcasts, and their property confisticated. They were fearfully tortured to induce them to confess, but not a syllable to criminalize anyone was elicited.
Ranjang Pande was suddenly appointed as the Prime Minister. Fearful, from this appointment, of the establishment of the Pandes in power, Fatte Jang Chautaria, Raghunath Pandit, and the junior Rani obtained from the king the liberation of Bhim Sen, Mathabir, and the rest of the party. Pardon was given to Bhim Sen, who fell on his face at the king's feet, in full Durbar. Their confiscated property was also returned. Ranjung, the leader of the powerful Pande party, was removed from the office of Prime Minister and Raghunath Pandit, who was favorably inclined towards the Thapas was elected Premier.
However, Raghunath Pandit, finding himself unsupported by the king, resigned the Premiership, which was conferred nominally on Pushkar Shah Chautaria, but actually upon his colleague, Ranjang Pande, in whom all real authority was vested. The Pandes were now in full possession of power; they had gained over the king to their side by flattering his weaknesses. The Maharani had been a firm supporter of their party; and they endeavored to secure popularity in the army by promises of war and plunder.
On the 20th of July 1839, driven to desperation, Bhim Sen attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a kukri, of which wound he died nine days afterwards. His enemies refused even to his corpse the ordinary funeral rites; it was dismembered and exposed about the city, and afterwards the manged remains were thrown on the river-side as food for vultures and jackals. His very bones were not allowed to be removed that they might be buried. His family and relatives were imprisoned, and their property confiscated. A decree was also issued that none of the Thapa class should receive public employ for seven generations.
It is believed that he killed himself when he was told that his wife would be dragged through the streets naked.
The death of Mathbar Singh set the stage for one of the crucial sequences of events in modern Nepalese history--the destruction of the old aristocracy and the establishment of a dictatorship of the prime minister. These events provided the long period of stability the country needed but at the cost of political and economic development.
Thapa served for 31 years under six kings. Support from Queen Tripurasundari as well as the long minority of the successive kings allowed him to stay in power for a long time. He appealed all South Asian states to fight collectively against the British and declared war
on the English East India Company in 1816 as the commander of the army and as the Prime Minister. However due to the ill preparation, long standing internal unification campaign, lack of foreign assistance, as well as previous military confrontation with China, Nepal lost the war which precipitated his downfall. However it was his skill as a diplomat that saved Nepal from complete annexation by the British. Despite the defeat in Anglo-Nepalese war, he continued to rule for another 13 years whence he brought about several military, judicial, social and economic reforms in Nepal. The army was modernized in European style. He arranged facilities for guns and other explosives for the army. He also gave the army of Nepal more salary and training. His view was that the stronger the army of a country, the stronger will be the country. Several ill social practices were abolished, unused land were brought under cultivation and the administration was updated. The Dharahara
and Sundhara
of Kathmandu, the Bagdurbar and Teku bridge were constructed by him.
King Rana Bahadur Shah said of him "If I die the nation will not die, but if Bhimsen Thapa dies the nation will collapse". Maharaja Ranjit Singh
of Punjab
said of him "If I had Bhimsen on my service, I know what many things I would have achieved". Karl Marx
praised Bhimsen Thapa by referring him the only man in Asia who braved to protest submission to the colonists.
Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa was the maternal grandfather of Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana who was driven to kill the Pandeys and the Basnets to avenge Bhimsen Thapa. This brought the chapter of Nepalese history known as the Ranas.
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
of Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
from 1806 to 1837. After his initial rise to become the prime minister of Nepal during the reign of Rana Bahadur
Rana Bahadur Shah
Rana Bahadur Shah, King of Nepal was the third King of greater Nepal. He succeeded to the throne in 1777 on the death of his father, Pratap Singh Shah. He ruled under the regencies of his mother, Queen Rajendra Laxmi and then of his uncle, Bahadur Shah...
, the successive minority of Girvan Yuddha Shah
Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva
Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva, King of Nepal , also called Girvanyuddha Bikrama Shah, was the King of Nepal from 1799 to 1816....
and Rajendra Bikram Shah
Rajendra of Nepal
Rajendra Bikram Shah, King of Nepal 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 and Prime Minister...
, along with the support from Maharani Tripurasundari (the eldest queen) helped him to stay at the helm of power. During his prime ministership, the Gurkha empire reached its greatest expanse from Sutlej
Sutlej
The Sutlej River is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroad region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. It is located north of the Vindhya Range, south of the Hindu Kush segment of the Himalayas, and east of the Central Sulaiman Range in Pakistan.The Sutlej...
river in the west to the Teesta
Teesta
Teesta could mean:* Tista River, Norway—a river in the municipality Halden, Norway* Teesta River—a major river in Sikkim, India* Teesta Setalvad—a human and social rights worker based in Bombay, a coaster...
river in the east. It was also during his prime ministership, that Nepal entered into a disastrous Anglo-Nepalese War with the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
lasting from 1814-16, which was concluded with the Treaty of Sugauli, by which Nepal lost almost one-third of its land. The death of Queen Tripurasundari in 1832, his strongest supporter, and the adulthood of king Rajendra, weakened his hold on power. The conspiracies and infighting with rival courtiers finally led to his imprisonment and dead by suicide. He is regarded as one of the National heroes of Nepal
National heroes of Nepal
National Heroes of Nepal is a list of Nepalese people, including those from ancient or medieval times, who were selected to their ranks posthumously by a commission headed by famous liteurate Bal Krishna Sum and appointed by the king Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, in 1955...
.
Early Years
Bhimsen Thapa was born in the small district of GorkhaGorkha District
Gorkha District of 288,134. It is the location of the Manakamana Temple. Also, the temples of great sage Gorakh Nath and goddess Gorakh Kali temple is located in district, after which the district got its name. Four major rivers run within and along it, they are Chepe, Daraudi, Marsyangdi and...
. His father, Major Amar Singh Thapa (not to be confused with the commander of Gorkhali forces in the Gurkha War
Gurkha War
The Gurkha War , sometimes called the Gorkha War or the Anglo–Nepalese War, was fought between the Kingdom of Nepal and the British East India Company as a result of border tensions and ambitious expansionism...
), was a faithful soldier of King Prithvi Narayan Shah
Prithvi Narayan Shah
Prithvi Narayan Shah, King of Nepal was the first king of the House of Shahs to rule Nepal. He is credited for starting the campaign for a unified Nepal, which had been divided and weakened under Malla confederacy. He was the ninth generation descendant of Dravya Shah , the founder of the ruling...
. At the age of 11, Bhimsen Thapa came into contact with the Nepalese Royal Palace when his bratabandha ceremony was held together with the Crown Prince Rana Bahadur
Rana Bahadur Shah
Rana Bahadur Shah, King of Nepal was the third King of greater Nepal. He succeeded to the throne in 1777 on the death of his father, Pratap Singh Shah. He ruled under the regencies of his mother, Queen Rajendra Laxmi and then of his uncle, Bahadur Shah...
's. Thapa and the Crown Prince soon developed a friendship with Thapa eventually serving as King Rana Bahadur
Rana Bahadur Shah
Rana Bahadur Shah, King of Nepal was the third King of greater Nepal. He succeeded to the throne in 1777 on the death of his father, Pratap Singh Shah. He ruled under the regencies of his mother, Queen Rajendra Laxmi and then of his uncle, Bahadur Shah...
's personal secretary at the age of 22 in Varanasi
Varanasi
-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Rise to Power
The premature death of Pratap Singh Shah (reigned 1775-77), the eldest son of Prithvi Narayan ShahPrithvi Narayan Shah
Prithvi Narayan Shah, King of Nepal was the first king of the House of Shahs to rule Nepal. He is credited for starting the campaign for a unified Nepal, which had been divided and weakened under Malla confederacy. He was the ninth generation descendant of Dravya Shah , the founder of the ruling...
, left a huge power vacuum that remained unfilled for decades, seriously debilitating the emerging Nepalese state. Pratap Singh Shah's successor was his son, Rana Bahadur Shah
Rana Bahadur Shah
Rana Bahadur Shah, King of Nepal was the third King of greater Nepal. He succeeded to the throne in 1777 on the death of his father, Pratap Singh Shah. He ruled under the regencies of his mother, Queen Rajendra Laxmi and then of his uncle, Bahadur Shah...
(reigned 1777-99), aged two and one-half years at his accession. The acting regent until 1785 was Queen Rajendralakshmi, followed by Bahadur Shah (reigned 1785-94), the second son of Prithvi Narayan Shah. Court life was consumed by rivalry centered on alignments with these two regents rather than on issues of national administration. In 1794 the king came of age, and in 1797 he began to exercise power on his own. Rana Bahadur's youth had been spent in pampered luxury amid deadly intrigue and had made him incapable of running either his own life or the country. He became infatuated with a Maithili Brahman widow, Kantavati, and cleared the way to the throne for their illegitimate son, Girvan Yuddha Shah. Disconsolate after the death of his mistress in 1799, Rana Bahadur began to engage in such irrational behavior that leading citizens demanded his abdication. He was forced to turn his throne over to Girvan Yuddha Shah
Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva
Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva, King of Nepal , also called Girvanyuddha Bikrama Shah, was the King of Nepal from 1799 to 1816....
, aged one and one-half years, and retired to Banaras.
During the minority of the king, Damodar Pande
Damodar Pande
Damodar Pande was the Prime Minister of Nepal from 1799 to 1804. He was the first Prime Minister of Nepal ....
took over the administration as mukhtiyar, or prime minister (1799-1804), with complete control over administration and the power to conduct foreign affairs. He set a significant precedent for later Nepalese history, which has seen a recurring struggle for effective power between king and prime minister. The main policy of Damodar Pande was to protect the young king by keeping his unpredictable father in Banaras and to play off against each other the schemes of the retired king's wives. By 1804 this policy had failed. The former king engineered his return and took over as mukhtiyar. Damodar Pande was executed and replaced by Bhimsen Thapa as chief administrator (kaji). In a bizarre turn of events on April 25, 1806, Rana Bahadur Shah quarreled in open court with his half-brother, Sher Bahadur. The latter drew his sword and killed Rana Bahadur Shah before being cut down by a nearby courtier. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Bhimsen Thapa became prime minister (1806-37), and the junior queen, Tripurasundari, became regent (1806-32). They cooperated to liquidate ninety-three of their enemies. The death of Girvan Yuddha Shah in 1816 and the accession of his infant son, Rajendra Bikram Shah
Rajendra of Nepal
Rajendra Bikram Shah, King of Nepal 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 and Prime Minister...
, meant the retention of the regency.
Actors
Five leading families contended for power during this period--the Shahs, Choutariyas, Thapas, Basnyats, and Pandes. Working for these families and their factions were hill Brahmans, who acted as religious preceptors or astrologers, and Newars, who occupied secondary administrative positions. No one else in the country had any influence on the central government. When a family or faction achieved power, it killed, exiled, or demoted members of opposing alliances. Under these circumstances, there was little opportunity for either public political life or coordinated economic development.Reasons
The Gorkha aristocracy had led Nepal into disaster on the international front but preserved the political unity of the country, which at the end of the Anglo-Nepalese War in 1816 still was only about twenty-five years old as a unified nation. The success of the central government rested in part on its ability to appoint and control regional administrators, who also were high officers in the army. In theory these officials had great local powers; in practice they spent little energy on the daily affairs of their subjects, interfering only when communities could not cope with problems or conflicts. Another reason for Gorkha success in uniting the country was the willingness to placate local leaders by preserving areas where former kings and communal assemblies continued to rule under the loose supervision of Kathmandu, leaving substantial parts of the country out of the control of regional administrators. Even within the areas directly administered by the central government, agricultural lands were given away as jagir to the armed services and as birta to court favorites and retired servicemen. The holder of such grants in effect became the lord of the peasants working there, with little if any state interference. From the standpoint of the average cultivator, the government remained a distant force, and the main authority figure was the landlord, who took part of the harvest, or (especially in the Tarai) the tax collector, who was often a private individual contracted to extort money or crops in return for a share. For the leaders in the administration and the army, as military options became limited and alternative sources of employment grew very slowly, career advancement depended less on attention to local conditions than on loyalty to factions fighting at court.Consequences
The struggle for power at the court had unfortunate consequences for both foreign affairs and for internal administration. All parties tried to satisfy the army in order to avoid interference in court affairs by leading commanders, and the military was given a free hand to pursue ever larger conquests. As long as the Gorkhas were invading disunited hill states, this policy--or lack of policy--was adequate. Inevitably, continued aggression led Nepal into disastrous collisions with the Chinese and then with the British. At home, because power struggles centered on control of the king, there was little progress in sorting out procedures for sharing power or expanding representative institutions. A consultative body of nobles, a royal court called the Assembly of Lords (Bharadari Sabha), was in place after 1770 and it had substantial involvement in mayor policy issues. The assembly consisted of high government officials and leading courtiers, all heads of important Gorkha families. In the intense atmosphere surrounding the monarch, however, the Assembly of Lords broke into factions that fought for access to the prime minister or regent, and alliances developed around patron/client relationships.Hold on Power
Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa, in collusion with the queen regent, Tripurasundari, remained in power despite the defeat of Nepal in the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16. He faced constant opposition at court from factions centered around leading members of other families, notably the Pandes, who decried what they felt was his craven submission to the British. Bhimsen Thapa managed to keep his opposition under control by maintaining a large army and modernizing its equipment and by convincing the suspicious British that he had no intention of using the army. During the minority of King Rajendra Bikram ShahRajendra of Nepal
Rajendra Bikram Shah, King of Nepal 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 and Prime Minister...
(reigned 1816-47), the prime minister kept the king in isolation--he did not even have the freedom to leave the palace without permission. Bhimsen Thapa appointed members of his own family to the highest positions at court and in the army, giving his brother, Ranbir Singh Thapa, control over the western provinces and his nephew, Mathbar Singh Thapa, control over the eastern provinces. The Pandes and other opponents were frozen out of power. Aside from the army and some attention to increasing trade, little effort could be expended on issues of national development.
Downfall
The power balance began to change after the king came of age and Queen Tripurasundari died in 1832. The prime minister lost his main support at a time when the young ruler was coming under greater influence from the Pande faction at court. In 1833 Brian HodgsonBrian Houghton Hodgson
Brian Houghton Hodgson was an early naturalist and ethnologist working in British India and Nepal where he was an English civil servant. He described many species, especially birds and mammals from the Himalayas, and several birds were named after him by others such as Edward Blyth...
became British resident and began a more aggressive campaign to increase British influence and trading opportunities; because Bhimsen Thapa opposed him, Hodgson openly favored Bhimsen Thapa's opponents. In 1837 the king announced his intention to rule independently, deprived both Bhimsen Thapa and Mathbar Singh of their military powers, and promoted some members of the Pande faction.
In July of 1837, King Rajendra Bikram Shah
Rajendra of Nepal
Rajendra Bikram Shah, King of Nepal 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 and Prime Minister...
's youngest son, an infant of one year, died suddenly; and it was at once given out that the child had died of poison, intended for its mother the Maharani (elder queen), and given at the instigation of Bhim Sen, or someone of his party. On this charge, Bhim Sen, his brother Ranbir Singh, his nephew Mathbir Singh, their families, the court physician and his deputy, with a number more of the nearest relations of the Thapas, were incarcerated, proclaimed outcasts, and their property confisticated. They were fearfully tortured to induce them to confess, but not a syllable to criminalize anyone was elicited.
Ranjang Pande was suddenly appointed as the Prime Minister. Fearful, from this appointment, of the establishment of the Pandes in power, Fatte Jang Chautaria, Raghunath Pandit, and the junior Rani obtained from the king the liberation of Bhim Sen, Mathabir, and the rest of the party. Pardon was given to Bhim Sen, who fell on his face at the king's feet, in full Durbar. Their confiscated property was also returned. Ranjung, the leader of the powerful Pande party, was removed from the office of Prime Minister and Raghunath Pandit, who was favorably inclined towards the Thapas was elected Premier.
However, Raghunath Pandit, finding himself unsupported by the king, resigned the Premiership, which was conferred nominally on Pushkar Shah Chautaria, but actually upon his colleague, Ranjang Pande, in whom all real authority was vested. The Pandes were now in full possession of power; they had gained over the king to their side by flattering his weaknesses. The Maharani had been a firm supporter of their party; and they endeavored to secure popularity in the army by promises of war and plunder.
Suicide
At the beginning of 1839, Ranjang Pande was made the sole Prime Minister. The accusation of poisoning the young prince in 1837 was revived against Bhim Sen Thapa and his party, and forged papers and evidence were produced professing to criminate him. Bhim Sen, by then an old man, defended himself in open Durbar with great spirit, asking why, if this evidence were really true, it had not been produced in 1837; and denouncing the papers as forgeries, he demanded to be confronted with his accusers. His appeal was of no use; he was surrounded by enemies. The few chiefs who were in his favor, or convinced of his innocence, sat by in silence and in fear. The king denounced him as a traitor, and sent him back in chains to prison. Threats of every indignity to himself and the female members of his house were constantly made to him, with a view to induce him to commit suicide. The court physician, who attended the child (a Brahman, and whose life was sacred), was burnt on the forehead and cheeks till his brain and jaws were exposed. The under-physician, a Newar, was impaled alive, and his heart extracted while he was yet living. Still no evidence against Bhim Sen or any of the accused could be extorted even by these horrible atrocities, which were perpetrated not only by the order, but in the presence of the king.On the 20th of July 1839, driven to desperation, Bhim Sen attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a kukri, of which wound he died nine days afterwards. His enemies refused even to his corpse the ordinary funeral rites; it was dismembered and exposed about the city, and afterwards the manged remains were thrown on the river-side as food for vultures and jackals. His very bones were not allowed to be removed that they might be buried. His family and relatives were imprisoned, and their property confiscated. A decree was also issued that none of the Thapa class should receive public employ for seven generations.
It is believed that he killed himself when he was told that his wife would be dragged through the streets naked.
After Math
The fall of Bhimsen Thapa did nothing to solve the factional fighting at court. The Pandes were dismissed, and Fateh Jang Chautaria was appointed prime minister in November 1840. His ministry was unable to control renewed competition between a resurgent Thapa coalition and the disgraced Pandes, who preferred the abdication of the king in favor of the heir apparent. The king became increasingly attentive to the advice of his wives. Under intense pressure from the aristocracy, the king decreed in January 1843 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. The queen, seeking support of her own son's claims to the throne over those of Surendra Bikram Shah, invited back from exile Mathbar Singh Thapa, who was popular in army circles. Upon his arrival in Kathmandu, an investigation of his uncle's death took place, and a number of his Pande enemies were executed. By December 1843, Mathbar Singh was appointed prime minister, but he proved no more capable of extinguishing court intrigues than had his predecessors. Against the wishes of the queen, he supported heir apparent Surendra. Once Mathbar Singh had alienated the person who officially wielded state authority, his days were numbered. On May 17, 1845, he was killed, most likely on the queen's orders. The assassin apparently was Jang Bahadur Kunwar, his nephew, then a minor but rising star in court politics.The death of Mathbar Singh set the stage for one of the crucial sequences of events in modern Nepalese history--the destruction of the old aristocracy and the establishment of a dictatorship of the prime minister. These events provided the long period of stability the country needed but at the cost of political and economic development.
Achievements
Gurkha War
The Gurkha War , sometimes called the Gorkha War or the Anglo–Nepalese War, was fought between the Kingdom of Nepal and the British East India Company as a result of border tensions and ambitious expansionism...
on the English East India Company in 1816 as the commander of the army and as the Prime Minister. However due to the ill preparation, long standing internal unification campaign, lack of foreign assistance, as well as previous military confrontation with China, Nepal lost the war which precipitated his downfall. However it was his skill as a diplomat that saved Nepal from complete annexation by the British. Despite the defeat in Anglo-Nepalese war, he continued to rule for another 13 years whence he brought about several military, judicial, social and economic reforms in Nepal. The army was modernized in European style. He arranged facilities for guns and other explosives for the army. He also gave the army of Nepal more salary and training. His view was that the stronger the army of a country, the stronger will be the country. Several ill social practices were abolished, unused land were brought under cultivation and the administration was updated. The Dharahara
Dharahara
Dharahara , also called Bhimsen Tower, is a nine story tall tower at the center of Kathmandu sundhara. It was built in 1832 by the Prime Minister of the time, Bhimsen Thapa of Nepal. Thapa built the tower under the orders of Queen Lalit Tripura Sundari.The tower has a spiral staircase inside...
and Sundhara
Sundhara
Sundhara is a village development committee in Tanahu District in the Gandaki Zone of central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 7242 people living in 1187 individual households.-External links:*...
of Kathmandu, the Bagdurbar and Teku bridge were constructed by him.
King Rana Bahadur Shah said of him "If I die the nation will not die, but if Bhimsen Thapa dies the nation will collapse". Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Punjab)
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...
of Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
said of him "If I had Bhimsen on my service, I know what many things I would have achieved". Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
praised Bhimsen Thapa by referring him the only man in Asia who braved to protest submission to the colonists.
Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa was the maternal grandfather of Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana who was driven to kill the Pandeys and the Basnets to avenge Bhimsen Thapa. This brought the chapter of Nepalese history known as the Ranas.