Bhimsen Thapa

Bhimsen Thapa Chhetri listen  (Nepali: भीमसेन थापा क्षेत्री; August 1775 – 5 August 1839) was the Mukhtiyar^{[note 1]} (equal to prime minister) and real ruler of Nepal from 1806 to 1837.

Sri Mukhtiyar General Saheb Bhimsen Thapa Chhetri
श्री मुख्तियार जर्नेल साहेब भीमसेन थापा क्षेत्री
Bhimsen Thapa Chhetri, the Mukhtiyar (equal to Prime Minister) of Nepal from 1806 to 1837
Monarch	[Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva] [Rajendra Bikram Shah]
Preceded by	[Rana Bahadur Shah] as Mukhtiyar
Succeeded by	Rana Jang Pande Chhetri
Commander-in-Chief
Preceded by	Damodar Pande Chhetri
Succeeded by	Rana Jang Pande Chhetri
Personal details
Born	(1775-08-00)August 1775 Pipal Thok village, [Gorkha district], Nepal
Died	5 August 1839(1839-08-05) (aged 64) Bhim-Mukteshowr, Kathmandu, Nepal
Spouse(s)	Satya Rupa Gaha
Relations	Nain Singh Thapa Chhetri (brother) Ambika Devi Kunwar Chhetri (sister) Bhaktabar Singh Thapa Chhetri (brother) Ranabir Singh Thapa Chhetri (brother) Balbhadra Kunwar Chhetri (nephew) Queen Tripurasundari of Nepal (niece) Ujir Singh Thapa Chhetri (nephew) Mathabarsingh Thapa Chhetri (nephew) Jung Bahadur Rana Chhetri (grand-nephew) Ranodip Singh Kunwar Chhetri (grand-nephew)
Father	[Amar Singh Thapa Chhetri (sardar)|Amar Singh Thapa Chhetri (sanu)].
Military service
Allegiance	Nepal
Branch/service	[Nepal Army]
Rank	Commander-in-Chief
Unit	Pung Paltan
Commands	Commander-in-Chief
Battles/wars	[Anglo-Nepalese War]

Bhimsen was appointed as Hajuriya (personal secretary) of King Rana Bahadur Shah in 1797. Bhimsen went together with Rana Bahadur Shah to Varanasi, India on 1800 after the King was forced by the general people to leave Nepal. In Varanasi, Bhimsen helped the former King Rana Bahadur to prepare for his return to power in 1804. Later, Rana Bahadur dismissed and ordered death penalty to the existing Nepalese mimisters on 1804. He made Bhimsen a kaji (equivalent to a minister) of the newly formed government in 1804. Rana Bahadur's murder by his step brother Sher Bahadur in 1806 allowed Bhimsen to kill ninety-three people as criminals. After that, he was given the title of the mukhtiyar (equivalent to prime minister).

He ordered various unification campaigns in the West to increase Nepalese boundary. Kangda, Kumaon and Gadhwal kingdom was won by Nepal in the battle. His second brother General Kaji Nain Singh Thapa Chhetri died in the battle. In 1811, he was made the Commander-in-Chief of Nepalese army for the first time. In November 1814, his father General Sanukaji Amar Singh Thapa died who was defending the His niece Queen Lalita Tripurasundari was the youngest wife of King Rana Bahadur Shah and the ruling Queen Mother. In 1814, he accepted the British India company challenge to start Anglo-Nepalese War. He lost the war but remained independent from British. He built the Dharahara (Bhimsen Tower), watertaps, ponds, pavements and many temples.

References

Footnotes

1. The position of Mukhtiyar was nearly equal to a prime minister. The first Mukhtiyar to title himself as a prime minister, as per the British tradition, was Bhimsen's nephew, Mathabar Singh Thapa.^[1]

Notes

1. Kandel 2011, p. 10.

Books

• Acharya, Baburam (Nov 1, 1974) [1957], "The Downfall of Bhimsen Thapa", Regmi Research Series, 6 (11), Kathmandu: 214–219, retrieved Dec 31, 2012
• Acharya, Baburam (2012), Acharya, Shri Krishna (ed.), Janaral Bhimsen Thapa : Yinko Utthan Tatha Pattan (in Nepali), Kathmandu: Education Book House, p. 228, ISBN 9789937241748
• Acharya, Baburam (1967), Sri Panca Badamaharajadhiraja Prthvinarayana Saha: Samdipta Jivani, I. Sam.1723-75 (in Nepali), vol. 2–3, Kathmandu: Sri Panca Maharajadhiraja Press Sachivalaya
• Amatya, Shaphalya (1978), "The failure of Captain Knox's mission in Nepal" (PDF), Ancient Nepal (46–48), Kathmandu: 9–17, retrieved Jan 11, 2013
• Hunter, William Wilson (1896), Life of Brian Houghton Hodgson, London: John Murry
• Joshi, Bhuwan Lal; Rose, Leo E. (1966), Democratic Innovations in Nepal: A Case Study of Political Acculturation, University of California Press, p. 551
• Kandel, Devi Prasad (2011), Pre-Rana Administrative System, Chitwan: Siddhababa Offset Press, p. 95
• Karmacharya, Ganga (2005), Queens in Nepalese politics: an account of roles of Nepalese queens in state affairs, 1775–1846, Kathmandu: Educational Pub. House, p. 185, ISBN 9789994633937
• Nepal, Gyanmani (2007), Nepal ko Mahabharat (in Nepali) (3rd ed.), Kathmandu: Sajha, p. 314, ISBN 9789993325857
• Oldfield, Henry Ambrose (1880), Sketches from Nipal, Vol 1, vol. 1, London: W.H. Allan & Co.
• Pemble, John (2009), "Forgetting and remembering Britain's Gurkha War", Asian Affairs, 40 (3): 361–376, doi:10.1080/03068370903195154, S2CID 159606340
• Pradhan, Kumar L. (2012), Thapa Politics in Nepal: With Special Reference to Bhim Sen Thapa, 1806–1839, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, p. 278, ISBN 9788180698132
• Prinsep, Henry Thoby (1825), History of the political and military transactions in India during the administration of the Marquess of Hastings, 1813–1823, Vol 1, vol. 1, London: Kingsbury, Parbury & Allen
• Rana, Rukmani (Apr–May 1988), "B.H. Hogson as a factor for the fall of Bhimsen Thapa" (PDF), Ancient Nepal (105), Kathmandu: 13–20, retrieved Jan 11, 2013
• Regmi, Mahesh Chandra (1976), Landownership in Nepal, University of California Press, p. 252, ISBN 9780520027503
• Regmi, Mahesh Chandra (June 1987), "Rana Bahadur Shah's Expense in Banaras", Regmi Research Series, 19 (6): 84–89, retrieved Dec 31, 2014^{[permanent dead link]}
• Regmi, Mahesh Chandra (July 1987), "Rana Bahadur Shah's Expense in Banaras", Regmi Research Series, 19 (7–8): 92–98, retrieved December 31, 2014^{[permanent dead link]}
• Regmi, Mahesh Chandra (March 1988), "Rana Bahadur Shah's Expense in Banaras", Regmi Research Series, 20 (3): 31–37, retrieved Dec 31, 2014^{[permanent dead link]}
• Savada, Andrea Matles, ed. (1993), Nepal and Bhutan : country studies (3rd ed.), Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, ISBN 0844407771
• Stiller, Ludwig F. (1973), The rise of the House of Gorkha: a study in the unification of Nepal, 1768–1816, Manjusri Publication House, p. 390
• Uprety, Prem (June 1996), "Treaties between Nepal and her neighbors: A historical perspective", Tribhuvan University Journal, 19 (1), Kathmandu: 15–24, doi:10.3126/tuj.v19i1.3970, archived from the original on 2013-10-19, retrieved Oct 19, 2013
• Waller, Derek J. (2004) [1990], The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia, University Press of Kentucky, p. 327, ISBN 9780813191003
• Whelpton, John (2004), "The Political Role of Brian Hodgson", in Waterhouse, David (ed.), Origins of Himalayan Studies: Brian Houghton Hodgson in Nepal and Darjeeling, Royal Asiatic Society Books (1 ed.), Taylor & Francis, p. 320, ISBN 9781134383634
• Whelpton, John (1991), Kings, soldiers, and priests: Nepalese politics and the rise of Jang Bahadur Rana, 1830-1857, Manohar Publications, p. 315, ISBN 9788185425641