The Nepal Weekly 
January 17, 2023In honour of Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723 AD – 1775 AD), ancestor of the Shah kings of Nepal was remembered on his 301st birthday on January 11. The Federal Government had declared the day as a public holiday. The day was also observed as National Unity Day. But official celebration was not organised for several years.
It may be noted that the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, which has been demanding the reinstatement of the institution of monarchy and a Hindu state, succeeded in convincing the government to announce a holiday on the occasion of Prithvi Jayanti.
Prithvi Narayan Shah became king of Gorkha in 1742 after demise of his father Narabhupal Shah. In his ruling duration, Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered many participates. In 1769, he had conquered three kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley – Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur. He consolidated them to found the modern state of Nepal utilising Kathmandu as the capital of the extended state.
After conquering the three Kathmandu Valley kingdoms, he turned his attention to the eastern and western kingdoms. He had successfully extended his territory to Darjeeling, now in India.
His health was worsened and died at the age of 56.
Although he gave most of his time to the expansion of his territory, he also laid out the guidelines for governance, nationalism and foreign policy in his Divya Upadesh (Thoughtful Advices). He also had recognised the ethnic mosaic of the country saying it as a garden of four caste and 36 sub-castes.
