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NepalInfighting among Aristocratic Factions
The Gorkha aristocracy had led Nepal into disaster on
the
international front but preserved the political unity of
the
country, which at the end of the Anglo-Nepalese War in
1816 still
was only about twenty-five years old as a unified nation.
The
success of the central government rested in part on its
ability to
appoint and control regional administrators, who also were
high
officers in the army. In theory these officials had great
local
powers; in practice they spent little energy on the daily
affairs
of their subjects, interfering only when communities could
not cope
with problems or conflicts. Another reason for Gorkha
success in
uniting the country was the willingness to placate local
leaders by
preserving areas where former kings and communal
assemblies
continued to rule under the loose supervision of
Kathmandu, leaving
substantial parts of the country out of the control of
regional
administrators. Even within the areas directly
administered by the
central government, agricultural lands were given away as
jagir (see Glossary)
to the armed services and as
birta (see Glossary)
to court favorites and retired
servicemen. The holder of such grants in effect became the
lord of
the peasants working there, with little if any state
interference.
From the standpoint of the average cultivator, the
government
remained a distant force, and the main authority figure
was the
landlord, who took part of the harvest, or (especially in
the
Tarai) the tax collector, who was often a private
individual
contracted to extort money or crops in return for a share.
For the
leaders in the administration and the army, as military
options
became limited and alternative sources of employment grew
very
slowly, career advancement depended less on attention to
local
conditions than on loyalty to factions fighting at court.
Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa, in collusion with the
queen
regent, Tripurasundari, remained in power despite the
defeat of
Nepal. He faced constant opposition at court from factions
centered
around leading members of other families, notably the
Pandes, who
decried what they felt was his craven submission to the
British.
Bhimsen Thapa managed to keep his opposition under control
by
maintaining a large army and modernizing its equipment and
by
convincing the suspicious British that he had no intention
of using
the army. During the minority of King Rajendra Bikram Shah
(reigned
1816-47), the prime minister kept the king in
isolation--he did not
even have the freedom to leave the palace without
permission.
Bhimsen Thapa appointed members of his own family to the
highest
positions at court and in the army, giving his brother,
Ranbir
Singh Thapa, control over the western provinces and his
nephew,
Mathbar Singh Thapa, control over the eastern provinces.
The Pandes
and other opponents were frozen out of power. Aside from
the army
and some attention to increasing trade, little effort
could be
expended on issues of national development.
The power balance began to change after the king came
of age
and Queen Tripurasundari died in 1832. The prime minister
lost his
main support at a time when the young ruler was coming
under
greater influence from the Pande faction at court. In 1833
Brian
Hodgson became British resident and began a more
aggressive
campaign to increase British influence and trading
opportunities;
because Bhimsen Thapa opposed him, Hodgson openly favored
Bhimsen
Thapa's opponents. In 1837 the king announced his
intention to rule
independently, deprived both Bhimsen Thapa and Mathbar
Singh of
their military powers, and promoted some members of the
Pande
faction. Shortly afterward the youngest son of the elder
queen
died, and Bhimsen Thapa was arrested on a trumped up
charge of
poisoning the prince. All the property of the Thapas was
confiscated. An eight-month trial led to an acquittal, but
the
Thapas were in disarray. When Rana Jang Pande, head of his
family,
became prime minister, he reimprisoned Bhimsen Thapa. The
man who
had ruled the country with an iron hand committed suicide
in prison
in August 1839. This series of events marked the end of
the longest
stable period in the early history of the Shah Dynasty of
Nepal,
dominated by the prime minister in the name of the king.
The fall of Bhimsen Thapa did nothing to solve the
factional
fighting at court. The Pandes were dismissed, and Fateh
Jang
Chautaria was appointed prime minister in November 1840.
His
ministry was unable to control renewed competition between
a
resurgent Thapa coalition and the disgraced Pandes, who
preferred
the abdication of the king in favor of the heir apparent.
The king
became increasingly attentive to the advice of his wives.
Under
intense pressure from the aristocracy, the king decreed in
January
1843 that he would rule the country only with advice and
agreement
of his junior queen, Lakshmidevi, and commanded his
subjects to
obey her even over his own son, Surendra. The queen,
seeking
support of her own son's claims to the throne over those
of
Surendra, invited back from exile Mathbar Singh Thapa, who
was
popular in army circles. Upon his arrival in Kathmandu, an
investigation of his uncle's death took place, and a
number of his
Pande enemies were executed. By December 1843, Mathbar
Singh was
appointed prime minister, but he proved no more capable of
extinguishing court intrigues than had his predecessors.
Against
the wishes of the queen, he supported heir apparent
Surendra. Once
Mathbar Singh had alienated the person who officially
wielded state
authority, his days were numbered. On May 17, 1845, he was
killed,
most likely on the queen's orders. The assassin apparently
was Jang
Bahadur Kunwar, his nephew, then a minor but rising star
in court
politics.
Data as of September 1991
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