Sri Teen (3) Maharaja Jang Bahadur Rana

Maharaja Sir Jung Bahadur (or Jang Bahadur), GCB, GCSI, (June 18, 1816, Kathmandu, Nepal -February 25, 1877, Kathmandu) was a ruler of Nepal and founder of the Rana dynasty of Nepal. His real name was Bir Narsingh Kunwar but he became famous by the name Jang Bahadur, given to him by Mathebar Thapa, his maternal uncle. Image File history File links Jung_bahadur_1877. ... Image File history File links Jung_bahadur_1877. ... Major-General H.H. Farzand-i-Dilband Rasikh- al-Iqtidad-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Raja-i-Rajagan, Maharaja Sir Jagatjit Singh, Bahadur, Maharaja of Kapurthala, GCSI , GCIE , GBE The word Mahārāja (also spelled maharajah) is Sanskrit for great king or high king (a karmadharaya from mahānt great... Look up sir in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... GCB may stand for: In philosophy, the greatest conceivable being, used in discussion of ontology. ... The article is about the order of chivalry known as Star of India. For other items of the same name, please see disambiguation at Star of India. ... is the 169th day of the year (170th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1816 (MDCCCXVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... For the retail store chain, see Kathmandu (company). ... is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The Rana dynasty is a family who usurped control of Nepal from the mid-19th century until 1951, reducing the monarch to a figurehead and ruling through hereditary government positions. ...

During his lifetime, he eliminated the factional fighting at the court, introduced innovations into the bureaucracy and the judiciary, and made efforts to "modernize" Nepal. He remains one of the most important figures in Nepalese history, though modern historians have also blamed Jang Bahadur for setting up the dictatorship that repressed the nation for more than 100 years and left it in a primitive economic condition. In reality, it is his nephews, the Shumsher Ranas, who are to blame for Nepal's dark period of history.^{[citation needed]} The History of Nepal is characterized by its isolated position in the Himalayas and its two dominant neighbors, India and China. ...

Early life

Jang Bahadur's great-grandfather was an important military leader under King Prithvi Narayan Shah in the eighteenth century, and during the war with China (1791-1792) his grandfather was also a military leader, who became one of the four chief administrators (kaji) of the Gorkha-Nepalese state. His father, Bal Narsingh Kunwar (aka Bala Narsingh Kunwar), was in court the day Rana Bahadur Shah was murdered and killed the murderer on the spot. For this action, he was rewarded with the position of Kaji, which was made hereditary in his family. Jang Bahadur Kunwar joined the military service in 1832-33 at the age of sixteen. This is the same age he had met a young man, Sher Bahadur Kaniwa, who stood by his side until his deathbed. As maternal grandson of Bhimsen Thapa, he lost his job and his property when the latter fell. After wandering in north India for several years, he returned to Nepal as a captain in the artillery in 1840. In November 1841, he was asked by the king to join his bodyguard, and in January 1842 he began work as Kaji in the palace. When Mathbar Singh, Jang Bahadur's maternal Uncle, returned to power, Jang Bahadur rose with him but Mathbar Singh disliked his ambition and had him removed to a lesser position on the staff of the heir apparent. When Fateh Jang Chautaria came to power, Jang Bahadur became fourth in the hierarchy of the coalition government and took pains to flatter the queen while showing no signs of ambition to Gagan Singh. A career opportunist, he was ready and waiting when the time came to act at the Kot Massacre. Prithvi Narayan Shah, King of Nepal (1723 - 1775 A.D.; Nepali: पृथ्वी नारायण शाह), with whom we move into the modern period of Nepals history, was the ninth generation descendant of Dravya Shah (1559 - 1570 A.D.) , the founder of the ruling house of Gorkha. ... Gurkha Soldiers (1896) Wives and children of Gurkha Soldiers (1896) Gurkha (or Gorkha) are a people from Nepal who take their name from the former city-state of Gorkha, which went on to found the Kingdom of Nepal later on. ... Rana Bahadur Shah (1775-1805) was the third King of Nepal. ... Bhimsen Thapa (born in 1775) was the first prime minister of Nepal. ... The Kot Massacre was a bloodbath in in 1846 in which the royals of Nepal and the military clashed, ensuring in the death of thousands of noblemen. ...

Queen Lakshmidevi, the favorite wife of King Rajendra Bikram Shah was not pleased by the new prime minister. She conspired to eliminate Jang Bahadur Kunwar and elevate her son to the throne. The Basnyat Conspiracy, so called because many of its participants belonged to one of the last leading noble families, the Basnyat's, was betrayed, and its ringleaders were rounded up and executed in 1846. A meeting of leading notables packed with Rana supporters found the queen guilty of complicity in the plot, stripped her of her powers, and sent her into exile in Banaras along with King Rajendra. The king still had delusions of grandeur and began plotting his return from India. In 1847 Jang Bahadur informed the troops of the exiled king's treasonous activities, announced his dethronement, and elevated Rajendra's son to the throne as Surendra Bikram Shah (1847-81). Rajendra was captured later that year in the Tarai and brought back as a prisoner to Bhadgaon, where he spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Rajendra Bikram Shah (1813-1881) was King of Nepal from 1816 to 1847. ... The Basnyat family or Basnet family is considered to be one of the four noble courtier (Bhardar) families of Nepal which also includes the Thapa, Pandey and Kunwar families. ... , Varanasi (Sanskrit: वाराणसी VārāṇasÄ«, IPA:  ), also known as Benares (Hindi: , Urdu: , IPA: ), or Kashi (Hindi: ), is a famous Hindu holy city situated on the banks of the river Ganges (Ganga) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Surendra Bikram Shah was king of Nepal between 1847 and 1881. ... Bhadgaon is a place in Nepal. ...

By 1850 Jang Bahadur had eliminated all of his major rivals, installed his own candidate on the throne, appointed his brothers and cronies to all the important posts, and ensured that major administrative decisions were made by himself as prime minister. At this point, he took the unprecedented step of traveling to Britain, leaving from Calcutta in April 1850 and returning to Kathmandu in February 1851. Although he unsuccessfully tried to deal directly with the British government while he was there, the main result of the tour was a great increase in goodwill between the British and Nepal. Recognizing the power of industrialized Europe, he became convinced that close cooperation with the British was the best way to guarantee Nepal's independence. From then on, European architecture, fashion, and furnishings became more prevalent in Kathmandu and among the Nepalese aristocracy in general. This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... For the retail store chain, see Kathmandu (company). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...

Muluki Ain

As part of his modernization plans, Jang Bahadur Kunwar commissioned leading administrators and interpreters of texts on dharma to revise and codify the legal system of the nation into a single body of laws, a process that had not been carried out since the seventeenth century under Ram Shah of Gorkha. The result was the 1,400-page Muluki Ain of 1854, a collection of administrative procedures and legal frameworks for interpreting civil and criminal matters, revenue collection, landlord and peasant relations, intercaste disputes, and marriage and family law. In contrast to the older system, which had allowed execution or bodily mutilation for a wide range of offenses, the Muluki Ain severely limited-- without abolishing--corporal punishment. For example, the old system gave wide scope for blood vengeance by aggrieved parties, such as cuckolded husbands, but the Muluki Ain restricted such opportunities. Substitutions included confiscation of property or prison terms. Torture to obtain confessions was abolished. Strict penalties were set down for the abusers of judicial positions and also for persons maliciously accusing judges of corruption. There were statutes of limitations for judicial actions. Caste-based differences in the degree of punishments remained throughout, with higher castes (for example, Brahmans) exempt from the corporal punishments and heavy fines that lower-caste members incurred for the same crimes. This distinction was in keeping with the traditional approach of the dharma shastras, or ancient legal treatises. For other uses, see Dharma (disambiguation). ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Gurkha Soldiers (1896) Wives and children of Gurkha Soldiers (1896) Gurkha (or Gorkha) are a people from Nepal who take their name from the former city-state of Gorkha, which went on to found the Kingdom of Nepal later on. ... This page deals with the Hindu concept of The Supreme Reality. ...

Control of Nepal

After his return from Europe, Jang Bahadur took steps to increase his hold over the country. He reduced the king to a prisoner in his own palace, surrounded by agents of the prime minister and restricted and supervised at all times. No one outside the king's immediate family could see the king without permission from the prime minister. All communications in the name of the king were censored, and he was allowed to read only approved literature. In 1856 the king issued a royal decree (sanad) that formalized the dominance of the Kunwar family. There were three main provisions in this crucial document. First, the prime minister had complete authority over all internal administration, including civil, military, and judicial affairs, and all foreign relations, including the powers to make war and peace. Second, Jang Bahadur was made great king (maharajah) of Kaski and Lamjung districts, in effect serving as their independent ruler. The Shah king retained the title of maharajadhiraja (supreme king) and the right to use the honorific term shri five times with his name. The prime minister could use shri three times with his name. In this way, Jang Bahadur stopped short of taking the throne outright but elevated his family to a level second only to the royal house, which remained as a symbol of the nation. Finally, provisions were established for hereditary succession to the post of prime minister. Brothers and then sons would inherit the position in order of seniority. These provisions meant that the dictatorship of the Kunwar family, a virtual monarchy within the monarchy, would be passed down in the family for generations, with no legal mechanism for changing the government. Later, Jang Bahadur established official Rolls of Succession that ranked all his descendants in relation to their hereditary rights to the office of prime minister.

Jang Bahadur sealed the arrangement with the Shah Dynasty by arranging marriages between his heirs and the royal house. In 1854, his eldest son Jagat Jang (aged eight) married the eldest daughter (aged six) of Surendra Bikram Shah. In 1855 his second son married the second daughter of the king. The ultimate test was passed in 1857, when heir apparent Trilokya Bir Bikram married two daughters of Jang Bahadur. A son of this union, Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah, ascended to the throne in 1881. 1854 (MDCCCLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1855 (MDCCCLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah (d. ...

Foreign relations

Nepal began to experience some successes in international affairs during the tenure of Jang Bahadur. To the north, relations with Tibet had been mediated through China since Nepal's defeat in 1792, and during the early nineteenth century embassies had to make the arduous journey to Beijing every five years with local products as tribute to the Qing emperor. By 1854, however, China was in decline and had fallen into a protracted period of disturbances, including the Taiping Rebellion (1851-64), revolts by Muslim ethnic groups north of Tibet, and war with European powers. The Nepalese mission to Beijing in 1852, just after the death of the sixth Panchen Lama, was allegedly mistreated in Tibet. Because of this slight, the Nepalese government sent a protest letter to Beijing and Lhasa outlining several grievances, including excessive customs duties on Nepalese trade. In 1855 Nepalese troops overran the Kuti and Kairang areas. Hostilities lasted for about a year, with successes and failures on both sides, until a treaty negotiated by the Chinese resident and ratified in March 1856 gave Nepalese merchants duty-free trade privileges, forced Tibet to pay an annual tribute of 10,000 rupees to Nepal, and allowed a Nepalese resident in Lhasa. In return, Nepal gave up territorial gains and agreed that it, as well as Tibet, would remain a tributary state subject to China. As the Qing Empire disintegrated later in the century, this tributary status was allowed to lapse, and even Tibet began to shake off its subordination. This article is about historical/cultural Tibet. ... Peking redirects here. ... Combatants Qing Empire United Kingdom France (United Kingdom and France join the war later) Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Commanders Xianfeng Emperor Tongzhi Emperor Empress Dowager Cixi Charles George Gordon Frederick Townsend Ward Hong Xiuquan Yang Xiuqing Xiao Chaogui Feng Yunshan Wei Changhui Shi Dakai Li Xiucheng Strength 2,000,000-5... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Khedrup Je, the 1st Panchen Lama The Panchen Lama (often transliterated as Pänchen Lama) or the Panchen Erdeni, is the one of the two highest ranking lamas (together with the Dalai Lama) in the Gelugpa (Dge-lugs-pa) sect of Tibetan Buddhism (the sect which controlled Tibet from the... For other uses, see Lhasa (disambiguation). ... The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: ching chao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of...

The outbreak of disorder to the south also allowed the Nepalese army to take a more active role in international affairs. Beginning in May 1857, a series of related uprisings throughout north India-- known as the Sepoy Rebellion--threatened to topple the power of the British East India Company. The uprisings began with widespread mutinies in the company's army and spread to include peasant revolts and alliances of the old Mughal aristocracy against the foreigner. Most of the major cities west of Bengal fell into rebel hands, and the aged Mughal emperor was proclaimed the leader of a national revolution. Initially there was some fear in British circles that Nepal would side with the rebels and turn the tide irrevocably against the British East India Company, but Jang Bahadur proved to be a loyal and reliable ally. At that point, immediately following hostilities in Tibet, the army of Nepal had grown to around 25,000 troops. Jang Bahadur sent several columns ahead and then marched with 9,000 troops into northern India in December 1857. Heading an army of 15,000 troops, he fought several hard battles and aided the British in their campaigns around Gorakhpur and Lucknow. The prime minister returned to Nepal triumphantly in March 1858 and continued to aid the British in rooting out "rebels" who had been dislocated during the chaos and sought refuge in the Tarai. An engraving titled Sepoy Indian troops dividing the spoils after their mutiny against British rule gives a contemporary view of events from the British perspective. ... The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as John Company, was the first joint-stock company (the Dutch East India Company was the first to issue public stock). ... For other uses, see Bengal (disambiguation). ... Gorakhpur (Hindi: गोरखपुर, Urdu: Ú¯Û‹Ú™Ú©Ú¾ پور) is a city in the eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. ... , Lucknow ( , Hindi: लखनऊ, Urdu: لکھنؤ, ) is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India. ...

After the Sepoy Rebellion had been crushed and Britain had abolished the British East India Company and taken direct control of India in 1858, Nepal received a reward for its loyalty. Western sections of the Tarai that had been ceded through the Treaty of Sagauli in 1816 were returned. Henceforth, the British were firm supporters of Jang Bahadur's government, and Nepal later became an important source of military recruits for the British army.^[1]

In 1858 King Surendra bestowed upon Jang Bahadur Kunwar the honorific title of Rana, an old title denoting martial glory used by Rajput princes in northern India. He then became Jang Bahadur Rana, and the later prime ministers descended from his family added his name to their own in honor of his accomplishments. Their line became known as the house of the Ranas. Jang Bahadur remained prime minister until 1877, suppressing conspiracies and local revolts and enjoying the fruits of his early successes. He exercised almost unlimited power over internal affairs, taking for his own use whatever funds were available in the treasury. He lived in the high style of an Anglicised native prince in the British Raj, although unlike the Indian princes he was the ruler of a truly independent nation, an ally rather than a subordinate of the British. He died beside his best friend, Sher Bahadur. It is said that when he died, Sher Bahadur had asked him how he had been such a majestic, loyal, and powerful Maharaja. Jang Bahadar's last word on his deathbed was "Imaan", meaning trust in Muslim.

Lineage

Presently if someone carries the name Shumshere Jang Bahadur Rana, then they come from Dhir Shumshere's lineage (Jang Bahadur's younger brother) who committed the coup d'etat of 1885 murdering most of Jang Bahadur's sons and forcing the remaining sons, as well as, Prince General Dwaj Narsingh Rana (son of Sri Teen Maharaja Ranodip Singh) to seek refuge in India. The descendants of Jang and Ranodip live today in North India (mainly Dehra Dun, Allahabad and Udaipur) and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In the early 1980's, however, a true royal bloodline was sought in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, but had not been conquested. A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ... Dehradun (देहरादून) is a capital city of Uttaranchal state of India nestled between the Himalayas and Shivaliks ranges. ... The Lake Palace in Udaipur Udaipur (उदयपुर) is a city in Rajasthan, India. ...

See also

• Gurkha

Gurkha, also spelled as Gorkha, are people from Nepal and parts of North India, who take their name from the eighth century Hindu warrior-saint Guru Gorakhnath. ...

References

• Library of Congress
• http://www.mmcfindia.org/mewar_history.asp
• http://www.4dw.royalark.net/Lamb3