Dr. Niranjan man Singh Basnyat
Kathmandu, Nepal
Victory of Nuwakot:
King Prithvi Narayan Shah set about to attack on Nuwakot with newly acquired modern weapons after a six-months of preparations. One Kalu Jaisi Adhikari of Gorkha, pretending to be the adversary of King Prithvi Narayan Shah, had entered into Nuwakot and placed a “Tantric pole” in Nuwakot soil before the attack and came back safely. The superstitious Gorkhalis believed that this act would give victory to Gorkha. King Prithvi Narayan Shah had given some birta land to Adhikari for this courageous act. The preparations and months of training succeeded and Gorkha won this important battle on Sunday 27 September 1744. Nuwakot was a part of Malla Kingdom of Kantipur (currently known as Kathmandu). The battle of Nuwakot was Prithvi Narayan Shah’s first victory for him and his military. This victory eventually led to the trade route to Kerung (Tibet) from Kathmandu (via Nuwakot) annexed to Gorkha. This route promised to be beneficial as it collected a significant amount of revenue through trade. King Prithvi Narayan Shah himself led the attack on Nuwakot and almost all military and political leaders participated in the battle.
One of the well-known leaders of that time was Kazi Kalu Pandey who supported the king whole-heartedly in capturing the towns of Mahamandal and Belkot in Nuwakot. Other prominent leaders of that time namely Shivaram Singh Basnyat, Tularam Pandey, Biraj Bakheti, Mohaddamkirti Shah, Chandraprakash Shah, Bali Panth, Dalmardan Shah, Laxmi Narayan Pandey, Chamu Basnyat, Bishe Nagarchi, Banadar Damai, Maniram Gainya, Birbhadra Basnyat and many others participated in the attack. Shankhamani Rana, son of Jayant Rana, who was in-charge of Nuwakot in the absence of his father was killed in Mahamandal by the stroke of the sword by Dalmardan Shah, younger brother of the king. Dalmardan Shah was only 14 years and 4 months old at that time. Bali Panth had assisted him in this act. Some days later when Jayant Rana returned from Kantipur, he was captured alive in the battle of Belkot. In this battle, King Prithvi Narayan Shah went to attack single handedly with only a few troops.
Later Kalu Pandey went with the additional forces and assisted him when he found that many Gorkhalis were killed and the king was losing the battle.
Betrayal by Bhaktapur in Sanga chowk Battle:
After the inclusion of Nuwakot in the Gorkha territory with the Kerung route under Gorkhali control, King Prithvi Narayan Shah called a meeting of trusted courtiers to discuss capturing another route to Tibet (Kuti) by which Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur were engaged. It was decided that Sankhu, Changu, Naldum and Mahadevpokhari needed to be captured. In view of blocking the trade routes, Gorkha wanted to besiege Kathmandu and other principalities by subjecting them to an economic blockade. During that discussion, the king wanted to know who was ready among the courtiers to lead the Gorkhali troops to conquer those areas. Nobody dared to speak up. There was complete silence for some minutes. Then, a 32-year-old Shivaram Singh Basnyat stood up and offered his services to the king and Gorkha.
The delighted king immediately appointed Shivaram Singh Basnyat as Senapati for attacking those areas. The king already knew about the qualities of Shivaram Singh as an able leader during his visit to Banaras and during the battle of Nuwakot. Thus, he became the first Commander in Chief of the Gorkhali Army at the beginning of campaign of Nepal’s unification. He led the Gorkhali troops of 900 soldiers and left for the region towards the end of November 1746. At the same time, King Prithvi Narayan Shah also went with these Gorkhali troops on his way to Bhaktapur to live with his foster father King Ranajit Malla.
Shivaram Singh crossed the Taadi River from Nuwakot and arrived at Patibhanjyang. Then he came to Sangachowk via high altitude of Jhule Lekh, Shivpuri and to Changu, Sankhu and Mahadevpokhari. He established a Tharpu (a temporary military camp) with his 900 soldiers in Sangachowk (presently Dware Tole), which is located at the place now called Jahar Singh Pauwa on the highway to Melamchi some 24 km north-east of Kathmandu. He captured Naldum.
Shivaram Singh is believed to have lived more than three months in and around these areas to control and capture various places.
The Gorkha military was not always victorious. The Gorkha king lost a battle in Sangachowk.
Bhaktapur was supposed to provide military support to Gorkha in its battle to win the territories of Mahadevpokhari, Sankhu and Changu areas from the possession of Kathmandu. This was also another major trade route from Kathmandu Valley to Tibet through Kuti. Prior to the battle, King Ranajit Malla and his Military Chief Parshuram Thapa had agreed with King Prithvi Narayan Shah that they would come to help the Gorkhali forces in case Kantipur and Patan mounted a defensive attack. However, at the last minute King Ranajit Malla and his military did not show up to support Prithvi Narayan Shah’s army. The Gorkhali army of 900 troops was attacked by a combined force of 3000 soldiers from Kathmandu and Lalitpur led by Taudhik, a Kazi of Kathmandu. The betrayal of Bhaktapur is attributed to this Gorkhali defeat The king of Gorkha also lost his dependable Military Chief Shivaram Singh Basnyat in this battle of Sangachowk on Monday 13 February 1747.1
Annexation of Lamidada:
In September 1747, Lamidada (previously called Lamudada), located south of Nuwakot, was captured by the Gorkhalis. The territory belonged to Patan. Lamidada was sparsely populated with dense forests.
When King Prithvi Narayan Shah sent Kazi Kalu Pandey with some troops to Lamidada, this news caused panic in Patan. King of Patan Rajya Prakash Malla wrote a letter to Kalu Pandey asking him not to attack Lamidada because there will be a shortage of timber in his kingdom. Kalu Pandey agreed that Patan would be allowed to take away any quantity of timber it wanted. As a result, Patan took a large quantities of timber, after which Kalu Pandy captured Lamidada.
In order to have surveillance of Kathmandu valley, Kalu Pandey kept some Gorkhali soldiers under the command of one of his military leaders at the eastern tip of Lamidada. Subsequently, he returned to Nuwakot.
Dahachowk:
Many courtiers suggested King Prithvi Narayan Shah that he should capture Dahachowk hill first and thus the route to enter into the valley from the west could be blocked. King Prithvi Narayan Shah sent Kazi Tularam Pandey with some troops to capture Dahachowk. According to historian Baburam Acharya, Gorkha troops led by Kazi Tularam Pandey and prominent fighters such as Sardar Mannu Shahi, Sardar Shaktiballav (Joshi) Arjyal, Jethabudha Bali Panth, Najiki Bangya Basnyat, Najiki Motya Khatri, Najiki Birbhadra Basnyat and Najiki Harbansha Upadhyaya Adhikari attacked and captured Dahachowk. The date of this annexation is the third week of July 1754. After this victory, it was easy to attack Makwanpur and block the route to the Valley. But before directly attacking Dahachowk, Tularam Pandey took into confidence the people of Tistung, Palung, Kunchhha and Chitlang.
Then finally he attacked Dahachowk Gadhi where some troops of Patan were guarding the security post. When Gorkhalis came, troops of Patan vacated that post paving the way for Gorkhali victory. Dahachowk area was an important transit point from Kathmandu for the traders and pilgrims to go to Patna and Banaras, particularly in the winter season.
Kazi Tularam Pandey and Haribansa Upadhyaya were appointed as protectors of Dahachowk.
Final Victory on Sangachowk, Naldum, and Mahadevpokhari:
King Prithvi Narayan Shah finally conquered Sangachowk, Mahadevpokhari and Naldum, and annexed them to Gorkha on Thursday 1 August 1754 by sending the troops under the military leaderships of Tularam Pandey and late Shivaram Singh’s second son Kehar Singh Basnyat. After the victory, Tularam Pandey appointed Jahangir Shah and Mannu Shahi to protect Naldum. He appointed Mannu Shahi and Ashajit Bhandari for the protection and security of Mahadevpokaheri as this place was strategically important one.
Special Mission Assigned to Jhagal Gurung:
Betrayal and big conspiracies against Gorkha by King Ranajit Malla and Parshuram Thapa were also evident from another incident mentioned in the Counsel. King Prithvi Narayan Shah found out that Parshuram Thapa had sent a letter with some money and material support to Chaubisi states. Some of his men with his own brother left for Kaski to persuade them to fight against Gorkha. They had already reached Hatiya Pass in Pokhara. King Prithvi Narayan Shah sent one Gorkhali soldier named Jhagal Gurung in the disguise of a fisherman to Pokhara. Gurung killed Parshuram’s brother Bir Man Thapa, the leader of this group, in Dhungasanghu Hatiya of Pokhara.
This incident was believed to have happened in October 1754.
Annexation of Dolakha:
In March 1755, King Prithvi Narayan Shah sent the same team of Tularam Pandey and Kehar Singh Basnyat to Dolakha. He had written a letter to the local leaders of Dolakha on Wednesday 7 August 1754 prior to possible future attack. In the letter, he had promised to the people of Dolakha that he would continue to protect their lives and properties if they would agree to surrender to Gorkha. Similarly the negotiation and persuasion adopted by these two military leaders were commendable. They negotiated with Dolakhali leaders at Dolalghat. Leaders of Dolakha agreed to come under Gorkha. On Saturday 8 March 1755, it was annexed to Gorkha without any bloodshed thanks to the policy of King Prithvi Narayan Shah to persuade the local leaders before attacking in any region. Thus Gorkha’s expansion reached to Dudhkosi River in the east. Kazi Tularam Pandey remained in Dolakha as its Chief Administrator until 1763.
Victory of Siranchowk battle with the support of female fighters:
On Saturday 26 July 1755, a big battle was fought between Gorkha and Chaubisi states (See Annex-IV) in Siranchowk. The combined forces of Chaubisi states Lamjung, Parbat, Kaski and Tanahun attacked Siranchowk of Gorkha out of jealousy because Gorkha was successful in capturing the eastern regions of Kantipur like Naldum, Mahadevpokhhari, Sankhu and Changu.
Chautaria Mohaddamkirti Shah, Kazi Ranarudra Shah, a half-brother of King Prithvi Narayan Shah and Kazi Kalu Pandey were leading the Gorkhali forces in this battle. The battle started early in the morning.
In the meantime, news came from the battlefront to the Gorkha Palace that Gorkhali forces were losing the war due to the shortage of food and water for the warriors. They were hungry and exhausted after the whole day of battle. There were almost no male members in Gorkha at that time to send reinforcements with food and water, because they were all engaged in the battle of the eastern region of Kathmandu. A group of about twenty courageous women led by the wife of Kazi Ranarudra Shah and Birangana Shoorprabha Basnyat, wife of late Military Chief Shivaram Singh Basnyat, with swords went to the battlefield in Siranchowk to distribute food and water to the hungry and exhausted fighters. According to Bhasha Vansabali (Combined Chronicles written by Sherman Singh and Buddhiman Singh and first volume published in 1963 and second volume published in 1966 by the Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal), this group of women went up to Chhoprak to distribute eleven sacks of beaten rice, molasses sugar and water to the fighters. The fighters rejoined the battle with new vigour after having food and water. Ultimately,Gorkha won the battle in the evening on that day. This event exemplifies the role of Gorkhali women the unification campaign.
Later it was found that King Ranajit Malla of Bhaktapur and his commander Parshuram Thapa were behind this game of inciting Chaubisi States to attack Gorkha in its western border with Lamjung. According to historical accounts, a great warrior Abhiman Singh Basnyat was only ten and a half years old at that time but he participated in that battle for the first time. His elder brothers Nahar Singh Basnyat and Kehar Singh Basnyat had also participated in this battle. Shoorprabha Basnyat was the mother of these three warriors and was whole-heartedly assisting in the victory of Gorkha along with her sons. Her youngest son Dhaukal Singh was a minor at that time. It was for the first time that Gorkhali women came openly with swords in their hands in support of fighting Gorkha forces. A noted historian Yogi Naraharinath has commended the actions and courage of Gorkhali women at that difficult hour.
In this battle, Kazi Kalu Pandey let the fighters of Chaubisi states go after the victory by seizing their weapons, but he captured their leaders Sardar Balibhanjan Malla of Parbat and Sardar Mahidhar Shahi of Lamjung. Balibhanjan Malla was released, probably due to his help during King Prithvi Narayan Shah’s visit to Banaras. But Mahidhar Shahi was ordered to walk beneath the undergarments of Bishe Nagarchi just to humiliate him as a defeated enemy leader. (To be continued).
# Thanks the distinguished author Ambassador Dr.
Basnyat for the book on the Unifier of Nepal-the Great: Upadhyaya. N. P.
# Our contact email address is: editor.telegraphnepal@gmail.com