KATHMANDU, NEPAL 1949

                   CHAPTER 2

     THE RISE OF THE RANA FAMILY

The unification of the entire portion of the territories now known as Nepal is a very recent phenomenon. The present king's ancestor Prithvi Narayan Shaha was responsible for this glorious achievement which was completed in about the year 1770 A. D. Previously, the country was divided into petty principalities, and even the valley of Nepal was a loose confederacy of three independent states which at times did not hesitate to draw swords against one another. Not that a united Nepal of the present size was an unknown factor in history. On the other hand, there were periods of glory from this point of view as well as from the point of view of the achievements in cultural and economic prosperity. But before 1770 for about seven hundred years Nepal had diminished much in size, and practically fractioned and therefore, when the unification re-appeared in 1770 it presented itself as a novel phase. Besides, it is to the credit of the statesmen who built the kingdom that it has successfully withstood the pressure of disruptive forces and did not suffer dismemberment in the darkest crisis.

But the descendants of the man who carved out Nepal were to disappear from the scene from the very beginning. As it happened none of them could handle reins of administration. From 1770 onward the successors to the throne were in variably minors, and as such the administration was always controlled by the Palace Aristocracy composed of the Pande, Thapa and Basnait family who were associated with the royal family from the early day of its ascendancy: Even when two of them in 1896 and l830 respectively attained majority, and exerted themselves to exercising royal prerogatives they were so ill-equipped tempera- mentally that it was more a case of bungling than of sound administration which all the more went to precipitate the crisis. In fact, it was Rajendra Bikram Shah's capricious, effeminate and weak handling of administration that prepared the way fur lung's advent into power. The succession of minors to the throne had thrown responsibility into the hands of the Queen Regents who, in turn, were guided by men of the aristocratic families. they loved or favored for reasons of intimate relationship. This had produced a very undesirable repercussion on the administration, which suffered from all the evils of instability. Only he premiership of Bhimsen Thapa was an exception for the could rule uninterruptedly for a long span of nearly 30 year, but he too fell a prey to the traditional disease as soon as the feminine power supporting him was snatched away by death in 1835.

The aforesaid four families of aristocracy changed fortune at a tidal speed in keeping with the power of the Regent whose very existence depended on chance. But nothing was so ghastly and injurious as the element of insecurity, which formed almost a general rule of administration.

It has been a special feature of the Nepalese history of the period that not one premier met a natural death. Sometimes one family after another of aristocracy faced total extinction as one superseded the other. This went on as far as 1846, when the king's power was finally taken away from him to be placed in perpetuity into the hands of the Rana Premier who rules by hereditary rights of succession. Since then, the Shah dynasty has ceased to be governing while it continues to pass as a nominal ruler.

                             THE KOT MASSACRE

Jung Bahadur rose to the position of an all-powerful ruler from a very humble situation in life by sheer energy and though often by questionable means. His father was a courtier in the palace. and this had provided for him an opportunity to enter upon a political career to push his own interest At the time he attained maturity the court presented a pitiable scene of disruption and internecine strife, wherein ambitious individuals found easy field for the most unscrupulous kind of personal advancement often using the inviolable name of the ruler who had been reduced to imbecility unknown before in the history of the Shah dynasty. The King Rajendra Bikram Shah was a weakling and was doubly controlled alternatively by the queen and the prince, her stepson. The courtiers were divided on that account and respectively owed allegiance in groups to the three personages who appeared vying with one another in power and prestige. At first the king seemed inclined towards the prince. but since March 1843 he had lent his weight to the side of the queen who was now invested with all the royal prerogatives being appointed the Supreme Regent of the Realm. Describing the condition of the court Dr. Oldfield, the then Residency Surgeon, writes -

There were three parties in the Capital, and these owed loyalty to the king, queen and the prince, respectively.

1. The party of the queen, who was anxious to secure the Crown for her own son, and meantime permanent Regency for herself. This party by far the most powerful was led by General Gagan Singh, Commander-in chief Although a parvenu, his personal demeanor was not arrogant, but his previous birth and occupation made him unpopular with the other chiefs while his notorious amour with the queen made him an object of jealousy and dislike to the king and the loyal family He always used the name and authority of the queen, whose agent he professed to be, and on whom he was constantly in advance.

2. The party of the Heir-apparent- the prince, Surendra Bikram Shah, was now comparatively quiet, and his party neither numerous nor strong. His chief partisan Jung Bahadur was growing lukewarm, and seemed ha1f-inclined to join the queen's side.

3. The party of the Raja- This included the Chautarias, and many of the more quiet and least ambitious of the chiefs. The king, though weak and vacillating, himself had hitherto succeeded in playing the rival parties so cleverly one against the other that things had, on the whole, turned out very much to his profit and advantage. His chief stay was Fateh Jung a high- minded and unambitious chief, who was then evidently waiting for events, and though nominally premier, took very little part in any business of the Government, except that belonging to the Foreign Department. General Abhiman Rana another potentate, followed the lead of Fateh Jung, and confined his attention to civil affairs. He was sensible and well disposed, but of no greater energy or ability.

Dr. Oldfield wrote of the situation on the eve of the famous Kot massacre of September 1846. Earlier the queen had contrived to cause the death of Premier Mathabar Singh Thapa, who though raised to the exalted position by the queen's favor, had showed tendencies to become her rival in power, and a protagonist of prince Surendra's right. Jung Bahadur was related to this man as his nephew by his sister, but participated in the plot playing the chief role as the person who shot the premier dead at the instigation of the queen. Since then Jung Bahadur was taken by the queen as her confidant, and he had cleverly managed to gain the confidence of hers and her paramour General Gangan Singh, who was then appointed Commander-in-chief of the army. Inwardly, however, he hated the queen, and thought of exploiting the situation for himself on behalf of the prince.

Summing up the situation after the death of Mathabar, Jung's biographer and son Padma Jung, writes-

Two months after the death of Mathabar, Gagan Singh, in addition to the command of his Regiments, secured the charge of all the magazines and arsenals in the country. To Fateh Jung was assigned the duty of supervising civil and military administration of Gorkha, Palpa and Doli and Foreign Department. Eastern Terai was allotted to Abiman .A new member was taken into the Council to represent the Pande interest and the choice fell on the surviving leader of that party, Dalbhanjan Pande. As to Jung Bahadur he was entrusted with the duty of improving the discipline of the army under him. "

Jung Bahadur had proved by his unscrupulous conduct in shooting his maternal uncle that he went to any length to further his self- interest. This was a strong trait in his character, which attracted British attention in him and the British Resident promptly extended his hand of assistance to him to march onwards in the glorious path to power. In the beginning all the same the then Resident Col Lawrence had a very poor opinion of his character and wanted to use him for imperialist interest not without certain amount of test of his sincerity and loyalty to British cause, which till the Sikh War had not been furnished. But in that war lung gave ample proof of his attachment to the side of the British. The British knew that but for him the Nepalese might have joined the Sikh forces to their own embarrassment. Jung had to encounter and overcome a strong anti-British party to dissuade the court from the intended course of action involving definite line up with the Sikhs. The British now more than ever before would not remain unconscious of the value of friendship of the man who had stood in good stead by their side, if at all they were to have an upper band in Kathmandu. He was too valuable a man to be left unnoticed, more particularly  in this crucial moment while the fate of Nepal was going to be decided and it was to the interest of the British that a man friendly to them come out victorious. Naturally in the circumstances the suspicions entertained by the Resident could not remain long in his heart. After sometime Jung found that the same Col. Lawrence came profusely with all out help.

Thus backed by the British arms Jung Bahadur proceeded to capture power with the most consummate skill of a conspirator. He was a shrewd and master hand in playing a double game. As he saw that he had nothing to fear from the prince who was of an unsound mind, he championed the lost cause of that personage secretly aspiring to overshadow him and he himself seated in power with the help of the party. But he was equally popular with the queen. and as we have seen from the way he killed his uncle Mathabar at her bidding, he was taking every opportunity to please her and secured a position of advantage in the palace At the beginning of that eventful year he had so ingratiated himself to the queen that she took him to be no other than her loyal collaborator. He had regulated his movement well enough to dispel any doubt about him from the side of the queen. 

Jung knew that unless he removed his opponents from the arena he would not even dream of the final capture of power. So he planned to kill Gagan Singh and use the commotion thus engendered for the end he sought. He was aware of the risks involved in the undertaking but he also could not remain blind to the state of disturbance that would ensue, which any dexterous individual might have exploited for himself The only thing he was to achieve to successfully carry the game to fruition was to disarm the queen of the least suspicion about himself so that he could very well lay the blame at the door of his opponents. This he had done by profession of loyalty to the queen and pledging his support to the design she wanted to practice upon her step sons to secure the throne for her own child.

  Exactly at 10 P.M. on the 14th of September 1846, General Gagan Singh was shot dead through a window lat while he was engaged in prayers. The queen's suspicion naturally fell on the King's party for she knew that Gagan Singh was strongly despised by the King and his associates for reason of his attachment to herself. She had not the least idea of how Jung Bahadur could be capable of double dealing being thus falsely led to believe him as her confidant. Rather she consulted Jung Bahadur at every moment of crisis as to the step to be taken to meet the situation. Jung Bahadur for  his own sake advised her to summon all the Courtiers to her presence immediately, which was complied with then and there. By 1 A.M. subsequently after, all the noblemen had assembled in the Palace Courtyard, the usual place for the meeting of the Court Assembly.

 None of them knew the cause of the queen's order.  So all of them had repaired to the court without scenting any danger for themselves; and, therefore, absolutely unarmed. Jung Bahadur alone had brought his regiments, who were lying in ambush and had kept them in readiness outside to use them to meet the contingency, which he had envisaged

While to the courtiers Jung Bahadur affected to have earnestly desired tranquility, he incited the queen to avenge the murder. He said to the queen, "Madam, I am a close friend of the late General. On that account my life is not safe. But I feel, Madam, you and your son, too, are not now out of danger. Therefore, you should act on your own responsibility according to the powers you are invested with since 1843."

If the King had acted boldly on the occasion many of the lives killed that night might have been saved. But he did nothing beyond asking the queen to afford opportunity of defense to the principal suspect, Birkishore Pandey, who had been arrested and chained by order of the queen. After sometime when the matter took a serious turn, and his partisans who stood in danger of life needed him most he quietly left the place for British Legation to inform the Resident of the happening at the court, where to his profound resentment he found the doors closed. Col. Lawrence had not even the courtesy to come down and give a hearing to the Royal Visitor.

In the absence of the King and of the only checking power, the queen was given a free hand and with Jung Bahadur to influence her passion she proceeded to the most ferocious part of the game, uninterferred with and ordered for the instantaneous killing of Birkishore Pandey and Dalbhanjan Pandey, the latter for having refused earlier to execute her order of arresting Birkishore. The Prime Minister Fateh Jung Chautaria could not accept this outrageous conduct of the queen, and warned her against the consequences. Both he and General Abhiman, about whose sensibility and exemplary behavior Dr. Oldfield has highly spoken, opposed the queen with all the force they commanded.

The atmosphere was tense and passions were running high. Dr. Oldfield writes that Jung Bahadur had offered his hand of friendship to Fateh Jung just to dupe him and tried hard for his consent to securing the death of the two suspects. But the old man refused to be a party to the heinous act proposed, and as a result met his death along with Abhiman him an at the very initial stage of the massacre.

Narrating the course of events Dr. Oldfield proceeds: "Fateh Jung, however, refused to be a party to the plan and proposed that the Pandey should be fairly tried, and if found guilty, punished …………This conversation between Jung and Fateh Jung took place in the quadrangle surrounding the building of the Kot The queen was seriously offended at the attitude of Fateh Jung and herself tried to use the sword on Birkishore who was in irons. The three ministers restrained her, and trying to pacify her, followed her from the hall towards the upper story, when suddenly shots were fired, and Fateh Jung and Dalbhanjan fell dead and Abhiman Rana wounded. The last, while endeavoring to crawl out, was cut in two with one stroke of the sword by Krishna Bahadur, Jung’s brother then followed the melee when the Kot experienced a blood bath.

 Dr. Oldfield with his pro- Jung views as was natural to the officer of the British Residency justifies, the firing in the following terms:

There had been high words passing below among the Sirdars of different parties as the queen withdrew, and it is probable that in the excitement of the wrangling, one or more of Jung's younger brothers, who were present, on seeing Abhiman Rana's soldiers loading their muskets in accordance with that General's orders imagined that this was preliminary to some treachery against them and rashly gave the order to fire on Abhiman and his friends.

For Jung Bahadur in the words of the same Dr. Oldfield, “It was a moment when he felt that all who were not members of or known to be attached to his party were ruthlessly shot or cut down." In an official report made to the Resident by Jung Bahadur the number of the Sardars and military officers killed in the massacre was thirty-one and all included totaled 134. Jung Bahadur was, thereafter, made the Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief.

Jung Bahadur on no account can absolve himself of the guilt of the Kot massacre. His authorship of the tragedy has been established by circumstantial evidence, which was further supported by the admission of the King that the event was fully inspired and calculated. In the foot-note Dr. Oldfield observes: In August 1856, on the occasion of Jung refusing the premiership, the Maharaja was recounting Jung Bahadur's services to the State as a ground for conferring extra bonus on him, he declared that the Kot massacre was a premeditated affair, and was planned and carried out under written instructions from time to time issued to Jung Bahadur."

Nearly a month and a half after again on the 31st October lung Bahadur killed some more Sirdars particularly those of the Basnait family on charge of conspiracy against his regime. He also forced the queen to quit to Banaras as a punishment for her complicity in that affair.

The episode, which culminated in the banishment of the queen, is known as Bhandarkhal Parva meaning the massacre of the storeroom. It took a toll of 60 lives twenty-one of them butchered in a room in the cruelest possible manner out of a base motive of vengeance. All those people who supported the queen as against Jung Bahadur met their end in this calculated murder. Pro- Jung reports explain this tragedy as a measure of retaliation against the conspiratorial attempt of the queen to take Jung's life. It is said that the queen wanted to use Jung for the Kot massacre alone and no further and she was opposed to the idea of his continuing as the Premier of the land. But she had realized that the latter had too firmly seated in power to be unseated easily. So she had resorted to a course of conspiracy to remove him physically by an act of murder. The direct cause of her angry design is said to be Jung's refusal to install her son on the throne in super-succession of the claims of Surendra. She was asking him to murder her two-step sons while sleeping in the apartment in order to pave the way for her protégé. But Jung found it hard to oblige her if only for his own safety because she had appeared to him extraordinarily dangerous and he rightly thought that the Crown Prince's end might to be the precursor of his own downfall. According to a more accurate version the fact of Gagan Singh's murder had come to the light of the queen and she was now convinced that Jung was befooling her by playing a double game with the intention to grab power for himself. This realization had driven her to the take revenge on Jung Bahadur and finishes his life in cold blood as he had done away with Gagan Singh . The scheme prepared was that one  noon. Jung was to be called together with his six brothers in  audience to the King at the Palace and all of them  shot on the way outside or within the Palace precincts, wherever feasible, by men lying in ambush for the purpose. It would have been a surprise attack on the  persons of the queen's enemies and surely they would have been instantaneously caught and finished unawares. 

But just a few hours before the appointed time Jung  was informed of the impending catastrophe by one  Vijayaraj Pandey, tutor to the queen's sons, who had  learnt it from her maid-servant. In those days palace secrets often leaked out through the harem girls who confided in the men they carried clandestine relationship with, which was not uncommon in the filthy atmosphere of the palace where sex starved women sought amour indiscriminately. Vijayaraj naturally used to obtain his share of secrets through such relationship. It is said that Vijayraj and Jung Bahadur were old friends from the day the latter was a truant in Banaras and the former was thrust into the Palace on the latter's commendations to serve as private tutor in which capacity he was also to trace and report to him all overt and covert movements of the queen. As soon as the news was broken to him, Jung promised the highest religious post of the land to Vijayaraj to be enjoyed in perpetuity by him and his descendants, and himself proceeded on a precipitate course of action to depose the queen. He had no time to lose, because the information had reached him at the eleventh hour. It as sheer presence of mind and balance of head that came to his aid and carried him through the crisis triumphant. The regiments would not be prevailed upon to march on to the Palace,-he had not possessed that much command over them as to demand exclusive loyalty, so he had to make a dash with only a few rifle- men and his brothers as his fate willed it rose to the occasion. Jung Bahadur passed in a palanquin well shielded from an attack of bullets, and the others followed him in all guardedness with muskets loaded and kept in readiness to fire. The shot fired from behind a bush near the Jorganesh temple in the vicinity of the Palace by one of the miscreants did not hit any one of them, but gave them a provocative cause to respond to the royal summons with incessant shots fired from their muskets, which continued till they met the queen. At the gate Prince Upendra and the Royal Body Guard of one hundred men, which made it easy for lung to overpower Kazi Birdhoj Basnait and twenty-one men who were furtively waiting for his arrival from inside the storeroom joined them. Before Jung confronted the queen ,the twenty men including the Kazi had been killed outright.

Jung Bahadur then proceeded straight to demand from the queen the cause of the royal summons. As the original plan of murder at the gate was foiled, there was no further trouble in between the gate and the queen's apartment. The conspirators had left the preparation complete at that point, and once Birdhoj collapsed the queen's cause was as good as lost. It was really  a painful surprise for the queen to have seen her inveterate enemy facing herself in a triumphant mood at the time she hoped to see his head to be brought to her. Fate was never more unkind to its victim than when it made a prisoner of the queen in the hands of Jung Bahadur.

The queen was immediately ordered to make way to Banaras as a punishment for her criminal deeds. She was charged with the offence of causing bloodshed of a large number of innocent people at the Kot massacre and with the intention of releasing a murderous plan of action to deprive the prince and his partisans of their lives in the present instant. lung Bahadur felt very much relieved when this sentence was served on her. It was going to automatically put an end to all the inimical maneuverings directed against him, and had the king preferred to forsake the queen there was also an opportunity to free him from her influence. The King, however, would not consent to live in Nepal without his wife. lung Bahadur had to let him go along with the queen at a regular risk to himself. The King was evading his surveillance and making himself open to approaches by disgruntled elements and to incitement to rebellion against the newly established order under their influence. But he had had the satisfaction that within Nepal he was the master of the situation having got rid of the mistress whose stealthy practices and evil designs were determining his mental , peace, and haunted him with a feeling of insecurity.

 Thus lung Bahadur eliminated all his rivals and with the exit of the queen assumed on himself the guardianship of the Heir-apparent now openly taking up his cause to function in his name. A year after he  maneuvered to discredit the king. and enthroned the man of his choice on the Royal seat as will appear front the following paragraphs. Prince Surendra easily became his tool. As he was of an unsound wind and too weak to handle the intricate machinery of administration, Jung Bahadur became the sole authority of the kingdom of Nepal. He further secured a Sanad from the insane king, which gave him all powers of a hereditary  ruler. :j

 As long as king Rajendra lived with the queen in Banaras he was ever a source of annoyance to Jung Bahadur. His presence in Banaras was utilized by his opponents to rally anti-Rana forces and the queen in these dealings as in others played the most prominent part to vitiate the atmosphere and plots and attempts on her account at dislodging the usurper were numerous. Jung Bahadur for his part was assiduously trying to call back the king to Kathmandu in order to sterilize him and free him from the evil influence of the queen, but the king could not consent to go alone and the Prime Minister, even if he desired for reasons of his own would not agree to his being accompanied by the queen

Rajendra, however, was forced by circumstances to quit Banaras without the queen, because lung had threatened to dethrone him if he did not reach Kathmandu soon after. He could not entertain the prospect of dethronement by Jung. But entered the Nepalese territory too late to find himself a little later a prisoner in the hands of Jung Bahadur after his design of an invasion thwarted. Two assassins hired by his wife to precede him were caught before they could lay hands on Jung Bahadur, who deliberately made capital of their suspicious presence to expose Rajendra's designs and on their confession of guilt enthroned Prince Surendra forthwith. Jung Bahadur had scored a tactical victory

taking advantage of the situation and then alone it was clear to the monarchists that the royal cause was lost. Rajendra had collected a loosely united body of mercenaries, which was to accompany him to Kathmandu but this was no match to lung's army. It was clear that he was depending too much on the allegiance of the state forces at Kathmandu, in whose loyalty he had confidence enough to cherish an ardent hope that they would come over to him as soon as he made appearance in Nepal. But Providence devised otherwise. The detachment sent from Kathmandu made him prisoner at the instance of Jung Bahadur. A skirmish occurred near Parevabhir on the outskirt of the great Terai forest. In this engagement his regiment was completely routed, which culminated in his defeat and surrender. Rajendra was treated as an honored guest while he reached Kathmandu, but Jung would not leave him free. The throne would not be restored to him, and he was also not to enjoy the Royal dignity now fallen to his son. He was treated no better than a virtual prisoner under Government surveillance as far as his movement went, and be could also not contact the queen. Rajendra might have repented his coming back home, because while he had run for gauntlets to Kathmandu, distress and grief lay in waiting for him there and he found himself in their close grips in total isolation from all congenial forces. His indiscreet act had only allowed Jung Bahadur to strengthen his position, and free his administration from all the embarrassments which would have often ensued had the ex-king been .living in Banaras with his consort ever busy to cook up plots and conspiracies for him. Rajendra Bikram Shah had ceased to be a problem for Jung Bahadur as soon as the latter got hold of his person

Rajendra had miscalculated his resources in making a bid for power in Kathmandu. He had obviously in mind the example of his grandfather who by his bold entry into the forbidden land had been able to get back his throne, the opponents having fled or resigned for sheer lack of courage to face him in front of the army. But Jung Bahadur seated firmly in power appeared a formidable barrier and no amount of threat short of actual physical overpowering was to unseat him. Rajendra lacked that sort of strength and found that the event almost repeated ended in a farce with himself a virtual prisoner of a comical type in the larger internment camp of Kathmandu. Having had his own choice of the man on the throne whom he had subsequently after turned into a puppet and made prisoner of the rightful occupant on charges of immoral conduct, lung found himself under the most propitious circumstances. He had already crushed his opponents in the aristocratic circle, in a series of murderous assaults, and now with the royal personages in his captivity he obtained the most unchallengeable powers Within six years of the Rot massacre he had attained the almost supreme position in the realm, and of a dictator at that, whose power was unequalled by similar personages in the past. How wide and sweeping his authority had been and how the same consolidated can be seen with reference to his superb courage in venturing a voyage to England at a time when in any other circumstances his absence even for a moment would have entailed irreparable injury to his person and family. Had his position been not secure lung might not have dared to be away from his country and )eave his position to full exposure of the play f clandestine forces. But having suppressed them he had little to be afraid of these forces or of any coup d' etat in their hands It was a unique venture of courage he undertook, which Indian Princes before his time would not even dream, and undertaking might have courted disaster. It goes certainly to testify the organizational and consolidational ability of the man who could afford to be absent from a place which was only a little earlier a hot-bed of intrigues, yet to come back and be installed without any untoward incidents. But more than that we can read his almost unbelievable self-confidence the nature of the situation then obtaining, which was in no way of the sort to give cause or anxiety. Jung's self-confidence sprang from the realization that he had done away with all the foes in the arena. In the circumstances when his brothers and relations occupied all key-posts in the state, and the throne reduced to imbecility, this self-confidence was simply natural. As long as he retained loyalty of his brothers he had nothing to be worried about his security It may be remembered that after 1848 all the cases of conspiracies have direct connection with one or another member of the Rana family, which proves that Jung's calculation was perfectly justified. As for him his brothers stood as one man in all the periods of stress or normalcy and it was is statesmanship, which contributed to the mastery of the situation and controlled and kept his not uncommonly meek soldier brothers in a state of unequivocal and contented loyalty.

But within ten days of his arrival from England his equanimity was suddenly disturbed by the revelation made by his second brother Bam Bahadur then acting in his place that Prince Upendra, the king's brother, had hatched up a conspiracy to dislodge the Rana family from their position of vantage and the whole scheme was scheduled to be put into operation with his own and Badrinarsinha's co-operation. Then Jung Bahadur felt that he had but one lacuna in his consolidated structure, which as the opportunity presented itself was to be now rectified. He at once set himself on the task of removing the Prince and his associates from the field, which he had not done so far for not being able to detect such rebellious tendencies in the Prince as were revealed at that time. Although he had also to part with his brother Badrinrsinha, his satisfaction was that the resultant situation was quite satisfactory. He had succeeded in crippling another leg of the Royal family just at the time when even with one leg lame it was desiring to move on a crusade.

The plot had failed because the conspirators wanted to complete the task with the acting Premier on their side, which was a fatal mistake they committed fore- shadowing failure the moment it was conceived. Badri Narsinha's grievances can be understood as he happened to be the last on the line, and his aspiration to stage a coup was natural. But Bam with his chance coming immediately next and the formidable position he had attained as the confidant of his elder brother was the least desirable person from the point of view of the plotters. Even for his interest a conspiracy on Jung's life was the last thing he could afford to do. The conspirators committed another blunder in postponing the seizure of power till lung's return to Kathmandu. Perhaps they had unduly banked on the co-operation of Barn Bahadur who had been asked not to hand over charges of administration to his brother on his return and continue in that state throughout his life. But this programme provided ample scope for lung Bahadur to put up resistance even by throwing the weight of his immense prestige and popularity: It is possible that only on Barn's suggestion the scheme was detailed to be consummated after lung's return. Barn Bahadur, however, instead of obliging his associates proceeded to betray them just in the nick of time and turn the scale against the Prince and his co-plotters. The account says that Jung Bahadur's presence acted so overwhelmingly on the mind; of the acting Premier that the latter was forced to make a clean breast of everything in fulfilment of his pledge of loyalty Pro-Jung narratives attribute the confession to a mental break down sustained by Bam Bahadur. But another version makes out a case for a calculated betrayal saying that Barn was bent on betraying and for that purpose was waiting for his brother's arrival. The plot was given out  as an attempt at restoration of royal power with Upen- dra Vikram on the throne and his associates as  commanders on the Pre-Kot massacre level. Had Barn acted according as the royal personage wished, the history of the Rana family would have come to an end.  But he had saved the family and the over-all effect of Jung's victory over the opponents was to endow his regime with all proof stability and himself with unusual self-confidence and courage. After the banishment of the Prince and General Badrinarsinha, the last bulwark of anti-Rana opposition, had fallen to the ground.

According to Dr. Wright, the Residency Surgeon, who had succeeded Dr. Oldfield in 1865, the following  gives the exact nature of the position of lung Bahadur as the de facto ruler of Nepal: “Jung Bahadur .has been the undisputed ruler of the country The old king is a prisoner in the palace. The present king is kept under strictest surveillance and not allowed to exercise any power whatever. The Heir-apparent is also kept in a state of obscurity, being never permitted to take part in any public business or even to appear in the Durbar to which the British Resident is invited. In fact, one may live for years in Nepal without either seeing or hearing of the king." This observation is as true of today as it was of a century earlier. Jung Bahadur belonged to a clan of Khasa Kshatriyas, but as soon as he proclaimed himself the Maharaja of Lamjung, a principality in the western Nepal, he elevated his status, called himself a Rajput by falsely connecting his lineage to the Chittor stock, and inter-married with the king's family-he had given his two daughters in marriage to the Crown Prince, and himself had wooed the hands of a distant cousin of the king. Since then the family of Jung Bahadur has been known as the Rana family of Nepal. Today his grand nephew passes as the Maharaja of Nepal. Such is the start of the Rana family. Nobody can refuse to admit the duplicity and dishonesty with which Rana Jung Bahadur proceeded to play the game. In fact the history of the Kot massacre by which he waded to power is a record of the outrageous and immoral nature of the origin of the Rana regime. Frankly speaking it has been resting solely on an edifice of mischievous devices the Ranas are consistently practicing.

                                     THE FATE OF THE KING

The Sanad by which the King signed away his absolute powers to the Rana family made him a ruler all but in name. After being so totally replaced in all the spheres of royal life he passed as a figurehead more as a relic of monarchy than as a monarch in person.

About the king of Nepal it is quite impossible to say  which function he retains. He is certainly taken to appear in religious ceremonies, but there he has to line himself up with the lifeless images of deities, which is equally expressive of the impotent nature of royalty he held. Quite in contrast stands the hereditary premier with the title of Maharaja who makes himself felt in all aspects of social intercourse by wielding real power  The amazing part of the story is that he is being allowed to exist, which, if not a burden in other ways, is surely financial encumbrance on the exclusively personal rule of the family. He could have been easily dispensed with and the Rana Premier would not have encountered much difficulty to replace him The present anomalous position of the king may be explained by attributing a desire on the part of Jung Bahadur not to molest the personality of the king as far as practicable. Perhaps he so thought that it would provoke public revolt as the king was looked upon as the incarnation of the God Vishnu. Another consideration, which might have weighed with him was that by reducing the king to a position of a non-functioning puppet he attained the objective aimed at. All forces working, the king 1846 has been completely eclipsed. He is not even a king of the type of a constitutional monarch as the king of England. For all practical purposes his existence is anomalous. The middle man is the single   and de facto force controlling the destiny of the eight  million Nepalese, who, today, not only overshadows the throne but also emaciates the people with the weapon of his most irresponsible and cruel rule.  

With the loss of the power of the king his collaterals, the Chautarias, also got themselves denuded of all privileges. They were suffered to live in Kathmandu only as a too infirm and depending class, otherwise the like of those suspected to be troublesome had no chance to profit by that sufferance. In fact, for a long time their lot has been to pass life in the plains of the Terai. Even the nearest collaterals not excluding his brothers are forced to share this mishap. The Rana family's rise to power had sealed for all times the fate of the king's family, which was now a family, dethroned and in actuality disgraced.

The morning of the 15th September, 1846, also saw the Rana family in a superb position of vantage and without a rival in the field. In the Kot massacre had fallen all the adult members of the aristocracy. Which meant the capture and control of the court by the Rana family without a challenge. A year later when Jung Bahadur passed a decree concentrating the power, privilege and prestige of the state in the Rana family and made it an exclusive concern of his, there was no other family or person to question his claim, all being resigned to accept the result  in total submissiveness. Thenceforward the Nepalese aristocracy meant the Rana family and none else.

Previously while the king ran the administration no one family monopolized the services. Although in practice the king appointed the ministers from amongst the favorites belonging to the Thapa, Basnait, Panday or the Royal family these four constituted the aristocracy before 1846, there was no legal bar to or any kind of pressure on his discretion to selecting. them from out. side these families. lung Bahadur, however, changed the whole texture of administration by endowing his family with royal prerogatives. which meant filling up the posts by them alone on hereditary rights in order of succession. This was an insurmountable barrier to those who were unprivileged and pushed further brought about their ejectment from comparatively minor posts also. which, with the increase in Dumber of the Rana family, came to be occupied by them on the same basis. The change of 1846 so fur as the aristocracy was concerned was to declass them and merge them with the plebian. while it raised the Rana family to the enviable position of Royalty, which not even the king’s family vied.

Those who laud the establishment into power of the Rana family as heralding an era of peace forget the fact that the Rana Family had introduced a grave like tranquility in the realm while putting an end to the capricious rule of the autocratic king. Whatever might have been the disadvantages of the internally fighting court, the very feature of it characterized by flexibility guaranteed a flow of life, which the following regime stopped by making it rigid. The price which Kathmandu paid for the so-called reign of order was certainly too dear.

The same people again never care to think that the event contributed mainly to a shift of emphasis rather than stress basical change in that it was a case of fractional minority holding power in subjugation of the minority of the same character, and the change did, in no way, affect the mass of life outside the four corners of the Court compound It is absurd and mischievous at that to say that Jung Bahadur gave to Nepal the blessings of a stable and strong rule free from internal disturbances.

                    VICTORY FOR BRITISH DIPLOMACY

Jung Bahadur's success in the Nepal Durbar was a triumph for British diplomacy. Thereafter they had nothing to be apprehensive about developments in Nepal. Their opponents, the erstwhile anti-British Pandays, Thapas and Chautarias were totally eliminated and with Jung Bahadur at the helm of affairs Nepal was rendered safe for the British It is said that Jung Bahadur entered into a secret pact with the then British Governor General renouncing the previous policy of distrust. Henceforth the Nepal Government became not only the faithful ally of the British Imperialists, but bean to function as a collaborator in the act of subjugating the Indian Subcontinent. Some clauses of the treaty of 1835 had already placed Nepal in a subordinate position with the British as regards foreign affairs Its ruler could not seek external contact without the permission of the British. This process was completed by lung Bahadur who now definitely allied himself with the British, and willingly allowed himself to be dictated by them even in matters of internal administration. ( 77 )

The Pandays and Thapas had got never tired of conspiring against the British and the whole history between 1816-43 is replete with instances of deals and efforts at conspiratorial maneuvering. Nepal at the time indulged in conspiracies with several Princes in India and a broad to make the rapidly growing British influence infructuous. In 1840, certain border skirmishes were deliberately provoked to take advantage of the situation arising out of Anglo-Sikh disputes. The British dared not open war with Nepal at that time and Lord Ellenborough's proposal to invade the Terai was turned down as impracticable and inopportune. At another place the British had exploited the fear, which Ranjit Singh had felt on account of the Gurkha aggression in the early decade of the century. Under their influence the Sikh Ruler had even gone to the extent of handing over the Nepalese conspirator General Mathabar Thapa to the British.

         Ranjung Panday who was entrusted with the sole charge of political affairs during the fateful period was no  friend of the British. To his credit he could unite all the rival parties in his country on the issue of fighting the Imperialist intruders. It was he who had largely influenced the policy to send out agents in foreign courts for negotiating a united front to meet the British challenge. So long as he remained in power the British Government in India had no peace of mind.

But the Pandays were not destined to control the destiny of the country for long. No sooner Lord Ellenborough could read their design on various information reaching him than he applied himself to his best capacity to bring about a fall of the Panday Ministry raising even personal issues for that purpose, which was the usual game the British played in such contingencies The old rivalry which divided the two families of the Pandays and the Thapas was exploited and British support was pledged to the party in opposition. It so happened that the elder Queen who was the main stay behind the Panday Ministry died of poisoning, and the British could thus witness an automatic collapse of the agency, which they dreaded. Ranjung Panday was immediately after dissmissed to be replaced by a coalition of the Chautarias and the Brahman Preceptor much to the satisfaction of the Company's Government.

It, however, failed to serve the purpose that the British had in view The Pandays continued to be in influential position though not holding the reins of power. The Thapas, too, did not put up any hopeful attitude, for although they were divided from the Pandays on personal issues, they were least inclined to make a deal with the British at the cost of their country's interest, Dr. Oldfield writes how after the withdrawal of the Oliver's Brigade the same kinds of disturbances were renewed, and on more than one occasion the Nepal Durbar did not hesitate to cause annoyance to the British authorities. This didn’t subside with Mathabar Thapa's return, which is expressive of the fact that the British were equally shunned by the Thapas. The British might have been very much pleased when lung Bahadur later on appeared in the scene as the man to favor British alliance to the complete reversal of the old policy of distrust. In  1846 accordingly both the Pandays and the Thapas were dispensed with in favour of Jung Bahadur who had pledged his loyalty to them .

If one could call Jung's accession to power as a triumph for British diplomacy it may not be far from the correct assessment of facts, for as we said above, it  was British diplomacy, which had helped him to carry the day. 

Jung's friendship was an asset, which was assiduously utilized by the British. During the ensuing period when the British fought some decisive battles Jung Bahadur's policy of detachment, which kept Nepal away from the main current of political events in India was a great factor facilitating British conquest. The British could easily deal with the Sikhs in 1848 now that Nepal had been totally sterilized. Not only that Jung Bahadur kept his country neutral in the Anglo- Sikh wars, but he also offered himself to join the British expedition with eight battalions of Gorkhas, which, however, the British refused for want of that much confidence in his sincerity so as to invite him to India with a contingent of troops, which they had not tested so far. During the ten years which followed, Jung Bahadur had given ample proof of his loyalty by acting on British counsel in all matters of common interest and so in the Mutiny when he proved the best friend of the British by personally leading an attack on  the rebels, they had felt justified in trusting him to march to India at the head of the eight thousand Gorkha troops on that occasion.

According to Dr. Oldfield, Jung Bahadur always behaved in a manner to draw British attention to him- self and to convince them of his friendly intentions. By being looked upon as their friend he thought his own position at Kathmandu maybe strengthened. It was, therefore, the fault of the British themselves that they did not trust him to come to their help earlier in their Punjab wars.

This developed in course of time to an attitude of servility, and though he did not formally accept British suzerainty by way of treaty provisions he unabashedly went near to it to call himself in private conversations the most loyal servant of the British Queen. His threat of resignation and retirement over Ramsay affairs, he had complained to the British that the Resident Ramsay was not courteous to him, provides a clear proof of the fact that he always owed allegiance to them and regarded them as the ultimate repository of power. It was true to say that by helping Jung Bahadur to capture power the British had successfully brought to materialization the fifty-year-old ambition of theirs which was to place Nepal in a position to move at their bidding.

For the first time in the history of Nepal the Prime Minister received British titles and insignias, and the first of them knighted him. This was probably to anoint him in the order of British aristocracy, and virtually to mark the dependent status of the Nepal autocracy which thence forward leaned on their patronage By making a sea voyage with the single purpose of personally paying homage to the British throne, Jung Bahadur had also betrayed his weakness to over zealously act the part of a British protected loyal princeling. To one who views the undercurrent of motive in his remiss conduct in breaking caste rigidity involved in sea voyage which was a taboo at that time and for which no other prince was prepared, the ordinary explanation which capitalizes the fact of bold initiation on his part does not appear acceptable. His boldness was inspired by enthusiasm to overdo his loyal self, his conduct in undertaking the prohibited sea voyage only showed that he would not hesitate to disregard the most sanctimonious injunction of the society if the same has to be done in the performance of his duty towards the British Monarch. Whatever might have been the conduct of the Indian princes in other respects, this must be admitted to their credit that as far as practicable all of them with few exceptions shunned the British and the strict observance of caste rigidity had enabled them to achieve the purpose without provoking the wrath of the ruling race. It is not a fact that the  Nepalese were immune from the touch of such a feeling. In Nepal this feeling died out only during the time of Chandra Shumsher. Caste rigidity is not a virtue, but in those days it was mixed up with an attitude of distrust and hate as far as the Europeans were concerned, which all well-meaning and aggrieved persons felt without exception.

When a man who looses in private life in his country behaves the cruelest task master in respect of enforcing caste rigidity, and shows open hostility to the system as only to suit his convenience, there is much to doubt the much vaunted progressive views of his, which had only taken him to the feet of the Imperialist mistress.