Rajendra | |||||
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Queen consort of Nepal Queen regent of Nepal | |||||
Reign | 1777–1785 | ||||
Born | Palpa Darbar | ||||
Died | 1785 Hanuman Dhoka Palace, Basantapur, Kathmandu | ||||
Spouse | Pratap Singh Shah | ||||
Issue | Nagendra Shah Rana Bahadur Shah | ||||
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Dynasty | House of Shah (by marriage) | ||||
Religion | Hinduism |
Rajendra Rajya Lakshmi Devi (died 1785), was the consort of Pratap Singh Shah, king of the Kingdom of Nepal. She was the regent of Nepal during the minority of her son Rana Bahadur Shah between 1777 and 1785. [1] During her eight years of regency, she contributed to the unification of modern Nepal begun by Prithvi Narayan Shah.
Rajendra Rajya Lakshmi Devi was born as a princess in Palpa.
Rajendra Lakshmi was the daughter of Mukunda sen. She was the mother of Nagendra Shah (died aged six months) and Rana Bahadur Shah.[ citation needed ] Her husband Pratap Singh Shah became king at the age of 23, and died when he was 26. Rajendra Rajya Lakshmi Devi then became queen regent for her son Rana Bahadur Shah.
She became regent on 17 November 1777. In 1778, she was taken prisoner in silver handcuffs.
She was restored on 20 June 1779 and continued to be queen regent until her death. During the time, the principalities of Lamjung, Kaski and Tanahun were annexed to the kingdom of Nepal, under her military leadership.[ citation needed ]
Rajendra Lakshmi died on 1785 due to tuberculosis in Hanuman Dhoka Palace of Kathmandu.
Queen Regent Rajendra Rajya Lakshmi repelled the combined attacks of the Chaubise kings, and expanded Nepal's borders up to the Kali Gandaki. She is viewed as an able administrator who extended King Prithvi Narayan Shah's unification campaign. However, her reign was not free of problems, due to her strife with her brother-in-law Bahadur Shah, her court had become a hub of intrigues and conspiracies.
The Kingdom of Nepal was a Hindu kingdom in South Asia, formed in 1768 by the expansion of the Gorkha Kingdom, which lasted until 2008 when the kingdom became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. It was also known as the Gorkha Empire, or sometimes Asal Hindustan. Founded by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha monarch who claimed to be of Thakuri origin from chaubisi, it existed for 240 years until the abolition of the Nepalese monarchy in 2008. During this period, Nepal was formally under the rule of the Shah dynasty, which exercised varying degrees of power during the kingdom's existence.
Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah Dev, was King of Nepal. Born in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, he ascended to the throne at the age of five, upon the death of his father, Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah, and was crowned on 20 February 1913 at the Nasal Chowk, Hanuman Dhoka Palace in Kathmandu, with his mother acting as regent. At the time of his crowning, the position of monarch was largely ceremonial, with the real governing power residing with the Rana family.
The unification of Nepal was the process of building the modern Nepalese state, from fractured petty kingdoms including the Baise Rajya and the Chaubisi Rajya, which began in 1743 AD. The prominent figure in the unification campaign was Prithvi Narayan Shah, King of Gorkha. On 25 September 1768, he officially announced the creation of the Kingdom of Nepal and moved his capital from Gorkha to the city of Kathmandu.
The Rana dynasty was a Chhetri dynasty that imposed authoritarianism in the Kingdom of Nepal from 1846 until 1951, reducing the Shah monarch to a figurehead and making the Prime Minister and other government positions held by the Ranas hereditary. The Rana dynasty is historically known for their iron-fisted rule in Nepal. This changed after the Revolution of 1951 with the promulgation of a new constitution, when power shifted back to the monarchy of King Tribhuvan.
Surendra Bikram Shah, , was King of Nepal. He became the king after Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana forced the abdication of his father, Rajendra Bikram Shah. Surendra was effectively reduced to a figurehead, with Rana being the de facto ruler of the country.
Pratap Singh Shah, King of Nepal, , was King of Nepal. He was the eldest son of Prithvi Narayan Shah, the king who started the unification of Nepal.
Basnyat/Basnet family or Basnyat/Basnet dynasty was a Khas-Chhetri and a warlord clan family involved in the politics and administration of the Gorkha Kingdom and Kingdom of Nepal. This family got entry into Thar Ghar aristocracy group of Gorkha at the time of King Prithvi Narayan Shah. It was one of the four noble families to be involved in active politics of Nepal together with the Shah dynasty, Pande family and the Thapa dynasty before the rise of the Rana dynasty. This family is descended from Shivaram Singh Basnyat, the commander of Gorkhali forces and a member of Shreepali Basnyat clan of Gorkha. This family was maritally linked to Kala (Black) Pande section of the Pande dynasty through Chitravati Pande who married Kaji Kehar Singh Basnyat. This family was the last Kshatriya (Chhetri) political family to be wiped out from the central power by Jung Bahadur Rana of Kunwar family during the Bhandarkhal Massacre in 1846 for the conspiracy to take the power leading to people suffering from 104 long years of the Rana rule.
Rana Bahadur Shah, King of Nepal was King of Nepal, he succeeded to the throne after the death of his father, King Pratap Singh Shah. He ruled under the regencies of his mother, Queen Rajendra Rajya Lakshmi Devi, and then of his uncle, Bahadur Shah. During this time, the kingdom was expanded by conquest to include the Garhwal and Kumaon regions, now part of India. He imprisoned his uncle, Bahadur Shah, who died in jail.
Rajendra Bikram Shah was King of Nepal. His reign saw the rise of the Ranas; in 1846, Jung Bahadur Rana came to power as prime minister and the next year, Rajendra was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Surendra, by Junga Bahadur Rana.
Mathabar Singh Thapa was the Prime Minister of Nepal and the Commander-In-Chief of the Nepalese Army from 25 December 1843 – 17 May 1845, until he was murdered by his nephew Jung Bahadur Rana. He was the first Mukhtiyar to title himself as a prime minister, as per the British convention. He was the nephew of Bhimsen Thapa, who was sentenced to prison after falsely being accused of killing King Rajendra's six months old son. Mathabar Singh Thapa fled to Shimla after the execution of Bhimsen Thapa, to avoid his own execution as he was Bhimsen's nephew. Four years later, the second queen of Rajendra, Queen Rajya Lakshmi, called him back and installed him as the Mukhtiyar, paving the way for him to eventually title himself as the Prime Minister. Mathabar Singh, however, enraged the queen by refusing to make her son, Ranendra Bikram, the king. The queen, in turn, had him shot by his own nephew Janga Bahadur Rana and thereby making him the last dynast of the Thapa dynasty. Mathabir Singh Thapa was killed by his own nephew.
Prince Bahadur Shah was the youngest son of King Prithvi Narayan Shah of modern Nepal. He became the regent of Nepal for a brief period after the death of his predecessor Queen Rajendra Laxmi and accelerated his father's campaign for the conquest of the small and scattered Hindu nations of the Himalayas into modern-day Nepal. Despite his many conquests, he also started the tradition of beheading fellow courtiers against his father's advice which would eventually lead to him meeting the same fate. This, along with the political turmoil created in Nepal after his death eventually led to the rise of Bhimsen Thapa and the Anglo-Nepal War.
General Gagan Singh Bhandari (1796-1846) was a Nepalese General. He was born in a Chettri family of Gorkha Kingdom. He was the commander-in-chief of the most powerful party headed by Queen Rajya Lakshmi Devi, the favourite wife of King Rajendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev. She was anxious to secure the crown for her own son, and meantime permanent regency for herself. At the height of his power during 1845, general Gagan Singh controlled seven regiments in the army compared to only three by the prime minister Fateh Jung Shah, making him the one holding the real power behind the throne of Nepal. His notorious affair with the queen also made him an object of jealousy and dislike to the king and the royal family. Little is known about his early days. He was shot to death from behind while offering evening prayers at his private temple on the night of September 14, 1846. His assassination remains mysterious, and is considered by historians as one of the untold stories which led to a turnaround of events in the History of Nepal, and eventually the establishment of the Rana dynasty.
Narendra Rajya Lakshmi Devi was queen consort to Prithvi Narayan Shah, king of the Kingdom of Nepal. She was the mother of future King Pratap Singh Shah and Princes Vedum Shah and Bahadur Shah. She was the daughter of Abhiman Singh, a Rajput chief from Varanasi.
Rajya Lakshmi Devi was a queen consort of Nepal as the junior wife of King Rajendra of Nepal.
Vamsharaj Pande was a Nepalese politician, military officer and minister of state. He was a significant army commander of Kingdom of Nepal in the second half of the 18th century. He was a follower of Bahadur Shah of Nepal and had a significant rivalry with Swaroop Singh Karki.
Swarup Singh Karki or Swaroop Singh Karki, was a Nepali politician, courtier, military commander and minister. He was popular for his singing prowess and court conspiracies. He was selected as Dewan in the reign of King Pratap Singh Shah and a significant politician in the regent rule of Queen Rajendra of Nepal. He was one of the most influential court politician in the rule of King Pratap Singh and Queen Rajendralaxmi, others being his rival Bahadur Shah of Nepal and Vamsharaj Pande. Vamsharaj was his perceived career rival. His life and career ended when Prince Bahadur Shah was appointed as regent in 1785.
Kaji Sarbajit Rana Magar or simply Sarbajit Rana was a Nepalese politician, minister and courtier in the Kingdom of Nepal. He became a prominent minister during the regency of Queen Rajendra Laxmi and was a significant personality in central politics in the Kingdom of Nepal. He was assassinated by opponents of Rajendra Laxmi on the charges of having illicit relationship with the Queen.
Rajguru Gajraj Mishra also spelled Gajaraj Mishra was a Nepalese politician, ambassador, diplomat and a royal priest of Shah dynasty. He was always inclined to his disciple Prince Regent Bahadur Shah of Nepal. Gajraj Mishra was disfavoured by his disciple King Pratap Singh Shah due to his support to Prince Bahadur Shah. He was also disfavoured by Pratap Singh's son Rana Bahadur Shah.
Pandit Vrajanath Poudyal or Vrajanath Pandit was a Nepalese courtier, politician, minister and royal priest of the Shah dynasty. He played political rivalry against the traditional Gorkhali courtiers i.e. Tharghars as well as against the Prince Bahadur Shah of Nepal and Queen Rajendra Laxmi. His son Pandit Ranga Nath Poudyal became Mukhtiyar of Nepal.
Bilas Kumari Devi was the Queen of Salyan State. Born to King Prithvi Narayan Shah and Indra Kumari Devi, she is best remembered for her contributions to her father's Unification of Nepal campaign.