105 Facts About Bhimsen Thapa

Bhimsen Thapa was a Nepalese statesman who served as the Mukhtiyar and de facto ruler of Nepal from 1806 to 1837.

Bhimsen Thapa is widely known as the longest-serving prime minister of Nepal and was inducted into the "National heroes of Nepal" by King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah.

Rana Bahadur's assassination by his stepbrother Sher Bahadur Shah in 1806 led Bhimsen Thapa to initiate investigations into the context in which he ordered the death penalty for ninety-three people popularly known as the 1806 Bhandarkhal massacre, after which he claimed the title of Mukhtiyar himself.

Bhimsen Thapa is remembered for being the first Nepalese statesman to fully comprehend the British system of protectorate in India carried out by Lord Wellesley and his subsequent activities to keep British authorities at bay and prevent the Kingdom of Nepal from being a part of the British Empire through long and persistent anti-British politics during both wartime and peacetime.

Bhimsen Thapa is widely remembered for bringing about a large number of social, religious, economic, and administrative reforms, as well as the modernization of the Nepalese Army on the template of the French military forces.

Widely considered one of the 19th century's most significant figures in Nepalese history, Bhimsen Thapa is seen as a patriotic, clever, and diplomatic statesman who played an important role in defending his country against then-widespread British colonial imperialism in South Asia.

Bhimsen Thapa is well praised as a reformer and for his efficient systematization and management of the state administration, programmes and policies.

Bhimsen Thapa's ancestors were members of Bagale Thapa clan from Jumla who migrated eastwards.

Bhimsen Thapa's grandfather was Bir Bhadra Thapa, a courtier in Prithvi Narayan Shah's army.

At the age of 11, Bhimsen Thapa came into contact with the Nepalese Royal Palace when his Bratabandha ceremony was held together with the Crown Prince Rana Bahadur Shah in Gorkha in 1785.

In Kathmandu, Bhimsen took up residence at Thapathali, after which he lived in Bagh Durbar near Tundikhel after becoming a Kaji.

Bhimsen Thapa joined his ailing wife, Kantavati, with his second wife, Subarnaprabha, in ascetic life and started living in Deopatan, donning saffron robes and titling himself Swami Nirgunanda or Nirvanananda.

Bhimsen Thapa received the position of personal secretary of King Rana Bahadur from the patronage of Mulkaji Kirtiman Singh Basnyat, since both his father and grandfather were in close military affiliations with Kaji Abhiman Singh Basnyat - the uncle of Kirtiman Singh.

Bhimsen Thapa then renounced his ascetic life and attempted to re-assert his royal authority.

Bhimsen Thapa contends that Bhimsen was responsible for negotiation with the British as well as responsible for writing letters in the name of the ex-King, while the ex-King was biding his time in debauchery.

Bhimsen Thapa exiled Rajrajeshwari to Helambu, where she became a Buddhist nun, on the charge of siding with Damodar Pande and colluding with the British.

Bhimsen Thapa was made a second kaji; Ranajit Pande, who was the father-in-law of Bhimsen's brother, was made the Mulkaji; Sher Bahadur Shah, Rana Bahadur's half-brother, was made the Mul Chautariya; while Ranga Nath Paudel was made the Raj Guru.

However, in 1804, Garhwal refused to pay the amount upon which Bhimsen sent an army under the command of Bada Kaji Amar Singh Thapa, Bhakti Thapa and Hasti Dal Shah to attack Garhwal and in the Battle of Khurbura in May 1804, the huge 12000 Garhwali troops fled the war after their King Pradyumna Shah was shot dead by Kaji Ranajit Kunwar, thus extending the territory of Nepal up to the Sutlej river in the west.

Bhimsen Thapa felt the need to finish off his rivals, but at the same time, felt a need to take precaution before going after immediate members of the royal household.

Now, after almost two-year, all of a sudden Rana Bahadur was made Mukhtiyar on 26 February 1806 and Bhimsen Thapa tried to implement his schemes through Rana Bahadur.

Bhimsen Thapa had secretly learned of a plot to oust Rana Bahadur.

Bhimsen Thapa managed to kill everyone who did not agree with him or anyone who could potentially become a problem for him in the future.

Bhimsen Thapa obtained a royal mandate from Tripurasundari, given in the name of King Girvan, commanding all other courtiers to be obedient to him.

Bhimsen Thapa further consolidated his power by disenfranchising the old courtiers from the central power by placing them as administrators of far-flung provinces of the country.

Bhimsen Thapa previously ordered the conquest of the Garhwal Kingdom and the preparations of the Kangra campaign.

In 1811, Bhimsen Thapa was given the title of General, thus enjoying a dual position of Mukhtiyar and General.

Kaji Ranadhoj Thapa agreed with Bhimsen's reply regarding the Nepalese strategic military advantage over British in the hills but counterargued that the expelled hill Rajas will unite against the Gorkha Empire and disclose the confidentiality of the hills to the British.

Paradoxically, the peacetime after the Anglo-Nepalese War saw the inflation and modernization of the Nepal army, which Bhimsen Thapa used to keep his opposition under control, while at the same time convincing the suspicious British that he had no intention of using it against them.

Bhimsen Thapa appointed his own family members and his most trusted men to the highest positions at the court and in the army, while members of older aristocratic families were made administrators of far-flung provinces of the kingdom, away from the capital.

Bhimsen Thapa had neglected the formal education of Rajendra, due to which he had grown to be uncritical and weak minded to the extent that he was even unaware that he was virtually a prisoner.

However, his wives were more alert and wary of Bhimsen Thapa since, according to Baburam Acharya, they received unfiltered news of the world outside the royal palace from their handmaidens, who would leave the palace compounds and go to their homes during their menstruation and gather news and rumors of the day, which they would then relate to the Queens.

British Historian Henry Ambrose Oldfield contended that Bhimsen Thapa strengthened Nepal back to the pre-British war position through the adoption of militarization, financial and economic policies.

Bhimsen Thapa who was possessed of great perseverance as well as determination, devoted almost exclusively all his time and talents to the services of the State.

Bhimsen Thapa nearly doubled her internal resources by careful attention to the state of her finances, and by judicious re-adjustment of the national taxes.

Bhimsen Thapa implemented the reorganization of Nepalese Army on the basis of European military system and the maintenance of the newly reorganized strong army was done from the confiscation of Birta funds of 1805.

Bhimsen Thapa appointed French military officials to modernize the military on the basis of French military ranks and uniforms.

Bhimsen Thapa considered Churia hills as the basic line of defense of the Kingdom of Nepal.

Bhimsen Thapa thus wanted to build communications to the western parts such as Kumaon, Garhwal and Yamuna-Sutlej region of Kingdom of Nepal and block the strategic routes to the Kathmandu valley.

The trade policy of Bhimsen Thapa was influenced from King Prithvi Narayan Shah who believed foreign traders would weaken the economy of the country and impoverish the general people.

Bhimsen Thapa brought forth the increment of custom duties leading to higher state revenue generation from eighty thousand rupees in 1816 to two and half lakh rupees in 1833.

Bhimsen Thapa put forth the principle of Equality before the law in Nepal.

Bhimsen Thapa directed the Zamindars to accept foodgrain as tax and not to harass the farmers.

Bhimsen Thapa accepted the merchants' proposal of building concrete shopping houses and allowed individual rights on the property.

Bhimsen Thapa being moved by the plight of the victims issued Lalmohar with binding instructions to write off outstanding dues at once.

In 1807 dealing with slavery, the government of Bhimsen Thapa directed revenue officials to collect outstanding taxes and fines in terms of cash and ordered the freedom of all enslaved farmers in case of defaulting taxes and no farmer would be enslaved for non-payment of taxes.

Bhimsen Thapa challenged the widespread notion of inhuman treatment of slaves.

In 1830, Bhimsen Thapa having introduced anti-slavery regulations beforehand in 1807, restricted all of the Danuwar traders in Western Nepal to acquire and sell Kariya slaves and freed slaves from the custody of their owner.

Around 1808, Bhimsen Thapa ordered the reclamation of wastelands in Terai region for increasing state revenue and offered irrigation facilities to settlers reclaiming the wastelands.

In 1808 during the premiership of Bhimsen Thapa, it was reported that minors were engaged in Hulaki services in the villages with small Hulaki households.

The regulation issued by Bhimsen Thapa's government was to increase the number of relays in the villages consisting low Hulaki households and person forcing minors and females for personal Hulaki services would be severely punished.

Bhimsen Thapa saw one Native State after another come within the net of British subsidiary alliances, and his policy was steadily directed to save Nepal from a similar fate.

Bhimsen Thapa was widely known to have resorted to a negative political stance against the British imperialism throughout his life.

Bhimsen Thapa was an advocate of "Asian Unity" against the British Imperialism.

Bhimsen Thapa issued restrictions on the British Resident refraining him to interfere on the national politics and national administration, and prohibited the Resident maintaining any secret relationship with Nepalese citizens.

Bhimsen Thapa worked to reduce the British Resident to a mere ambassador of a friendly state.

Bhimsen Thapa viewed the British Residents as disturbances in the local administration, who would encourage factional fightings with a motive to colonize such factional chaos ridden states.

Bhimsen Thapa had fully realized the main motive of the system of protectorates adopted by the East India Company Government.

Bhimsen Thapa was the only man in Asia who braved to protest submission to colonists.

British Resident Hodgson on his 19 December 1833 report lauded how Bhimsen Thapa successfully defied the British colonial powers that succeeded over all of India:.

The original Dharahara Tower built by Bhimsen Thapa was 225 feet tall and was completely destroyed in the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Bhimsen Thapa initially moved from Gorkha district to Thapathali Durbar and further to Bagh Durbar.

Later when Bhimsen Thapa rule was revived again, Mathabar Singh recaptured the lost palace and began to reside for two more years.

Bhimsen Thapa lost his main support and the court became a stage for a power struggle, which even though started off as an attempt to assert the King's authority from the Mukhtiyar, spread to various aristocratic clans and their attempt to secure total authority.

In 1833, Bhimsen Thapa established a new battalion "Singha Nath" under the command of his nephew Mathabar Singh.

Bhimsen Thapa's death has relieved Runbeer Singh of the restraint which her authority imposed upon him, and as he is constantly about the person of the Rajah he naturally looks forward to an increase of his own influence at the expend of his brother's.

However, Bhimsen Thapa later managed to placate his brother, by giving him the title of Chota General, and send him to Palpa as its governor.

Bhimsen Thapa had known the motives of British colonial policies of engulfing native states in India carried by Lord Wellesley and therefore he considered them as the detrimental force that encourages the factional fightings to turn states into chaos and ultimately colonizes them.

Bhimsen Thapa had been keeping the British Residents out of any direct communications with the King since 1816.

Bhimsen Thapa even called back his arch rivals like Rana Jang Pande and Karbir Pande to assume some position in the government offices.

Furthermore, Bhimsen Thapa did not retain the judiciary powers in his family and had entrusted it to the Pande family member Dalabhanjan Pande through a Lalmohar traditionally dated Roj 5 Sudi 3 Falgun 1883 Bikram Samvat which stressed on the principles of equality before the law.

Historian Nepali further contends that Bhimsen Thapa didn't promote his other minor relatives to high commands based on the fact that even the closest relatives like Sher Jung was not promoted, and contends that it was a political intrigue on the part of Hodgson to defame Bhimsen Thapa.

However, King Rajendra never mentioned that he rejected treatments on the pretext of possible poisoning by Bhimsen Thapa's alleged court physicians in his 1839 letter to Chinese Amban wrote that both of his parents were poisoned to death by Bhimsen Thapa's alleged court physicians during their illness.

Mathabar's extravagant expenditure was heavily criticized by Samrajya Laxmi, since at that time the state coffer was in dire condition; and to pacify her, Bhimsen Thapa had to reimburse the extra expenses from his own pockets.

Bhimsen Thapa was aware of the disunity between Samrajya Laxmi and Bhimsen, and thus he had secretly expressed his loyalty to Samrajya Laxmi and had vowed to help her in bringing Bhimsen down for all the wrongs he had committed against his family.

Beforehand, Karbir Pande and his three brothers including Rana Jang, were already called back from Terai region and were given the governmental posts by Bhimsen Thapa himself based on the directives issued on traditionally dated 1872 Bikram Samvat, Poush Sudi 12 Roj 6.

Nevertheless, Bhimsen Thapa managed to secure his and his family members' positions in the civil and military offices.

Bhimsen Thapa's wish was granted; and Bhimsen, pleased to see his brother after many years, made Ranbir Singh the acting Mukhtiyar and decided to go to his ancestral home in Borlang Gorkha for the sake of pilgrimage.

Bhimsen Thapa had nothing to gain by killing an infant less a year old, and the accusation was simply a ruse to answer foreign inquiries on Bhimsen Thapa's imprisonment.

King Rajendra, due to the fear of a possible rebellion, restricted the Bhimsen Thapa established Singhanath battalion, to move out of the Kathmandu valley through a Rokka issued in March 1838.

Thereafter, Bhimsen Thapa's case was re-opened and heard in the royal court.

Some Bhimsen Thapa family's confiscated land, as well as the Bagh Durbar, was returned.

Bhimsen Thapa suggested some of the battalions under Ranjang's command to be given to other courtiers, thus severely weakening Ranjang's military power, and in the process convincing the British that Nepal was not on the path to war.

The date when Bhimsen Thapa was charged on the alleged crime was 18 May 1839, according to then Assistant British Resident JR Tickell.

Bhimsen Thapa pleaded and asked the proof of these additional crimes for which he had been charged and asked that why these accusations were not brought when he was dismissed and imprisoned.

Except for Mathabar Singh, who was under British surveillance in India, rest of the Bhimsen Thapa family were again arrested, their properties confiscated, were declared outcasts, and were proclaimed to be expelled from every public office for seven generations.

Bhimsen Thapa was given brutal treatment at the orders of Rana Jang during the arrest.

Bhimsen Thapa was kept "almost starved" in a dark underground cell which was "less a prison than a ditch of filth".

One of the savage measures was that the false rumours on the method of punishment to Bhimsen Thapa was circulated every day.

Bhimsen Thapa finally died nine days later, surrounded by vultures, jackals, and dogs.

Bhimsen Thapa's was a life of contrast and no Greek tragedy has ever presented a more dramatic catastrophe than his fearful end.

The death of Bhimsen Thapa did not resolve the factional fighting at court.

The resurgent Bhimsen Thapa coalition succeeded in sowing animosity between Fateh Jung's ministry and the Pande coalition, who were swiftly imprisoned.

Bhimsen Thapa had three wives as per the stone inscription of Bhimbishwar Mahadev temple at Bungkot.

Bhimsen Thapa later died on the month of the Ashadh 1877 Bikram Samvat and the ancestral property partition was done on the month of Shrawan 1877 Bikram Samvat.

Bhimsen Thapa was a military leader and a de facto ruler of Nepal.

Bhimsen Thapa is regarded as one of the national heroes of Nepal.

Bhimsen Thapa was considered a clever, farsighted, politically aware and practically diplomatic politician.

Bhimsen Thapa was indeed a man born to exercise dominion over his fellows alike by the means of his command and of persuasion.

Bhimsen Thapa considered Bhimsen to be a nationalist with personal interest and a very cruel temperament.

Bhimsen Thapa termed Bhimsen as a military dictator who had control over 6000 armed forces.

Pradhan asserts that Bhimsen Thapa did not manipulate the Army which could be seen when he was not backed up by any soldiers after his removal from Mukhtiyarship.

British historian Henry Ambrose Oldfield contended that Bhimsen Thapa was extremely concerned about the independence of his country "Nothing was nearer and dearer to his heart than the independence of his country".

Bhimsen Thapa contends that despite being a powerful historical personality for three decades, Bhimsen was a mere politician of the court for the most portion of his period and his power was limited.

Nepalese-Canadian author Manjushree Bhimsen Thapa had written a column about him.

The folk legend stated that Bhimsen Thapa had cursed then King of Nepal with a fate to consume from a Mana vessel.