Saha Kings In Nepal - Historical Profile

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10. Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev

Generally seen as a benevolent monarch, King Birendra ruled absolutely for 18 years before being shot to death by his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, in a massacre that nearly wiped out the entire royal family. His wife, Queen Aiswarya; their daughter, Princess Shruti; and another son, Prince Nirajan, were also killed. Dipendra died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was born on December28, 1945 at the Narayanhity Royal Palace, Kathmandu. His Majesty was the eldest son of The king Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah and The Late Crown Princess Indra Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah.

Birendra, believed to be the reincarnation of Vishnu, acceded to the throne in 1972. In 1990, a pro-democracy movement led to the first free election in three decades and a new role for Birendra as constitutional monarch. His 18 years of rule under the Panchayat dispensation were those many years of development neglect. Most importantly, the self-esteem of the Nepali people was slowly sanded down to cynicism and apathy, which afflicts Kathmandu's elite even today. If Nepal lacks brilliance in social, economic or political spheres, it can be attributed to the intellectual stagnation fostered during that period by a regime incapable of looking beyond the security of the crown. King Birendra, who was both the fount and executor of all power in those decisive years, must be considered responsible for the lost decades, and for its legacy today.





King Birendra’s coronation 1972 AD











Birendra - Germany in 1984




Funeral procession of King Birendra

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11. Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev



Dipendra was kind of King of Nepal by default for three days in 2001. On June 1, he murdered his family at a royal dinner, including his father who was the King of Nepal at the time. The story is that Dipendra was angry that his mother would not let him marry the bride of his choice due to ages-long feuding between the two families. After killing his parents, brother and sister, he turned the gun on himself. He lingered in a coma for three days and was officially proclaimed King of Nepal in his hospital bed. He died three days later and his uncle, Prince Gyanendra, became King. Some people believe that Gyanendra actually slaughtered the whole family so he could become King. His wife and son were in the same room as the royal family during the massacre, but managed to escape without mortal wounds.











So had the Shah dynasty died out on schedule?

According to the fable, Gorakh Nath took on the form of a sadhu and met Prithvi Narayan, the first Shah King. The King gave him some curd as bhiksha.

The sadhu vomited the curd and asked the King to eat it as prasad. Unsurprisingly, the King refused.

In some versions of the story, the vomit fell on his feet. In all versions, what happened next remains the same: the sadhu was revealed to be Gorakh Nath and he told the King that his line would last only for ten generations (in some versions: because it fell on his ten toes) as a consequence of the insult to the sadhu.

If you exclude the Queens who ran Nepal as Regents and the Kings who reigned under the thumb of the Ranas, then, on some calculations, Birendra was the tenth Shah King. So had the Shah dynasty died out on schedule? It's beginning to look that way.

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King Gyanendra

Born on 7 July 1947, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was the last King of Nepal, from 2001 to 2008.

He was also been made a king in his childhood. That was in November 1950 A.D.


And again in June 2001 A.D.





Until he was forced to quit



He succeeded to the throne upon the death of his nephew Prince Dipendra, who was King for only three days while in a coma, following the massacre of the preceding king (Gyanendra's brother, Birendra) and other members of the royal family. Gyanendra has been skeptically and persistently viewed as a culprit of this massacre although Dipendra was officially declared responsible for all those killings in a rage, over Queen's refusal to his choice of bride. .

In February 2005 King Gyanendra finally took complete control of the government, after dismissing the elected parliament and a series of prime ministers. This move accelerated the Maoist movement, who had been fighting to replace monarchy with a Communist Republic since 1996.

Royal coup also raised concerns among the international community, who criticised his actions. The United States, Britain and India responded by stopping the supply of arms to the Royal Nepalese Army, others suspended aid commitments and pressurised the king to reconcile with political parties to resolve the country's political crisis.

Following opposition to his direct rule he was forced to return power to parliament in April 2006, which in turn reduced the king's status to that of a ceremonial monarch. He continued as such until May 28, 2008 when he was peacefully deposed and Nepal became a federal republic.

His business interests - which will become much more important to him now he is no longer king - have included a hotel in Kathmandu, a tea estate in the east of Nepal and a cigarette factory. The deposed king is a leading figure in the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation in Nepal and has worked closely with the World Wildlife Fund.


Father:      Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah
Mother:    Indra Rajya Laxmi Devi
Wife:    Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah
Born:    B.S.23 Ashad 2004 (7th July 1947 A.D.)
Ruled:    22 Jestha 2058-till date

Major Works And Events

    * He has been crowned twice.He was declared King by then Rana Prime Minister in 7th November 1950 till 7 January, 1951, at the age of four after King Tribhuvan and then Crown Prince Mahendra secretly left Kathmandu for India to return in 1951.
    * Studied in St. Josheph College, Darjeeling, India and Graduated from Tribhuwan University on 2026 B.S.
    * Married Queen Komal on B.S 2027(1970 AD).
    * One Son(Paras Shah) and One Daughter(Prerana Rajya laxmi Shah).
    * King Gyanendra is well known in Nepal for his conservation works.
    * He is a leading figure in the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation and has worked closely with the World Wildlife Fund.
    * King Gyanendra is known as G. Shah in the literary world.



Some of his songs are posted in Poem section - http://forum.xnepali.com/index.php/topic,5956.0.html

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Faces of the last king

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The Shah Kings of Gorkha (Ancestors of Prithivi Narayan Shah)

Dravya Shah (1559-1570)

Purendra Shah (1570-1605)

Chatrapati Shah (1605-1606)

Ram Shah (1606-1633)

Dambar Shah (1633-1642)

Krishna Shah (1642-1658)

Rudra Shah (1658-1669)

Prithvi Pati Shah (1669-1716)

Nar Bhupal Shah (1716-1743)

Son of Nar Bhupal Shah was Prithivi Narayan Shah



Tenures in years, months and days of Kings of Modern Nepal

Prithvi Narayan Shah 5-2-0, Pratap Singh Shah 2-10-1, Rana Bahadur Shah 21-3-14, Girwan Yuddha Bikram Shah 17-7-10, Rajendra Bikram Shah 30-5-5, Surendra Bikram Shah 34-0-0, Trailokya Bikram Shah 0, Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah 30-6-24, Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah 43-3-5, Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah 16-10-16, Birendra Bir Bikram Shah 29-4-2, Deependra Bir Bikram Shah 0 and Gynendra Bir Bikram Shah 7-1-24, including two months and two days for the first time as a baby king from November 7, 1950 to January 8, 1951. 



One of the earliest confederations of South Asia was that of the Shakya clan, whose capital was Kapilavastu, near the present-day border with the Republic of India. One of its princes was Gautama Buddha, Siddharta Gautama (563–483 BCE), who renounced his royalty to lead an ascetic life and came to be known as the Buddha ("the enlightened one"). By 260 BCE, most of North India and southern Nepal were ruled by the Maurya Empire. It was during this period that Buddhism first came to Nepal; it is claimed that Buddha and his disciple Ananda visited the Kathmandu Valley and stayed for a time in Patan. Although not all of Nepal was under Maurya occupation, there is evidence of at least the influence of Maurya Emperor Ashoka the Great, the legendary Buddhist proselytiser and ruler from 273 BCE to 232 BCE. Ashoka was a visitor to Kathmandu in this period and, as a follower of Buddhism, he visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, and erected stupas in Kathmandu. His daughter married a local prince and further spread the religion. The remains of a Buddhist convent have been found in the Kathmandu Valley.

As the Kirat dynasty came to an end in the valley, parts still remained in the eastern mountains, where they are considered to be the forefathers of today's Limbu and Rai castes.

By 200 CE, Buddhism had waned, and was replaced by Hinduism, brought by the Licchavis, who invaded from northern India and overthrew the last Kirati king. The Hindus also introduced the caste system (which still continues today) and ushered in a classical age of Nepalese art and architecture.

Magar Empire

Magar is a warrior and marital race that first established it's kingdom in present day western Nepal. They were animistic and shamanic in their religious practices. The Kham Magar of upper Karnali basin and their brethren of mid hills of Nepal had a flourishing and empirical kingdoms. Much archaeological proof of their existence can be found in the western mid hills of Nepal.

Magar have a strong military and warrior traditions. However, their hospitality and concern for the fellow human being is also legendary. The two waves of immigrants became the undoing for Magar empire.

Firstly, the Khasas were welcomed and assimilated within Magar empire. Secondly, following the rout of fundamentalist Brahmin Hindus of the Gangetic plains of India by the advancing Mugal forces, the traditionalist Brahmin Hindus entered Magar empire as refugees. They brought with them Hindu religion.

It is the misfortune of Magar empire and the whole Magar people that these two groups were given sanctuary in Magar empire. The latter group of refugees started to impose their fundamentalist view of Hindu religion upon Magars in Magar kingdoms whereas the former group were given the status of Chettri by the latter group in accordance to their fundamentalist view of Hindu religion.

This left the once glorious and gallant warriors of Magar race to be boxed into the third tier of their own kingdoms. (The first being the fundamentalist refugee Brahmin, the second being newly elevated Chettri, previously the Khasas)

This meant that the once rulers of the Nepali mid hills became the ruled upon. Thus starts the degradation of Magar empire. The introduction of Hinduism in itself became the cataclysmic event in the undoing of the Magar empire.


Before Nepal's emergence as a nation in the latter half of the 18th century, the designation 'Nepal' was largely applied only to the Kathmandu Valley. Thus up until the unification of the country, Nepal's history is largely the history of the Kathmandu Valley. References to Nepal in famous Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata, Puranas and also Buddhist and Jain scriptures, establish the country's antiquity as an independent political and territorial entity. The Vamshavalis or chronicles, the oldest of which was written during the 14th century, are the only fairly reliable basis for Nepal's ancient history. The Vamshavalis mention the rule of several dynasties the Gopalas, the Abhiras and the Kiratas -- over a stretch of centuries. However, no extant historical evidence has yet authenticated the rule of these legendary dynasties. The documented history of Nepal begins with the Changu Narayan temple inscription of King Manadeva I (C 464-505 A.D.) of the Lichavi dynasty.


Lichavi Dynasty

The Lichavis are said to have migrated into Nepal from north India in around 250 A.D. The first Lichavi king of historical importance was Manadeva 1. Another important Lichavi monarch was Anshuverma who opened trade routes to Tibet. One of his daughters, Bhrikuti, who was married to Tibetan ruler Tsrong-tsong Gompo, was instrumental in spreading the Gospel of the Buddha in Tibet and China. Anshuverma has been referred to as a man of many talents in the accounts of the Chinese traveler Huen Tsang, who had visited India in the 7th century AD.

Narendradeval another Lichavi king, initiated friendly relations with China and his successors laid the foundations of friendship with India by entering into matrimonial alliances with the Indian royal families. The Lichchhavi rule spanned over a period of about 630 years, the last ruler being Jayakamadeva.

Malla Dynasty

After the fall of the Lichchhavis came the Malla period during which the foundation of the city of Kantipur (later Kathmandu) was laid. The early Malla rule started with Ari Malla in the 12th century and over the next two centuries grew into a large empire before disintegrating into small principalities which later became known as the Baisi (i.e. the twenty-two principalities). This was more or less coincidental with the emergence of the Chaubisi (i.e. twenty-four principalities). The history of these principalities remains shrouded up until the time when they joined other kingdoms, both large and small, to form the unified Kingdom of Nepal.

Jayasthiti Malla, with whom commences the later Malla period in the Kathmandu Valley, reigned towards the end of the 14th century. Though his rule was rather short, his place among the rulers in the Valley is eminent for the various social and economic reforms such as the 'Sanskritization' of the Valley people, new methods of land measurement and allocation etc. Yakshya Malla, the grandson of Jayasthiti Malla, ruled the Kathmandu Valley until almost the end of the 15th century. After his demise, the Valley was divided into three independent Valley kingdoms -- Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan -- in about 1484 A.D. This division led the Malla rulers into internecine wars for territorial and commercial gains. Mutually debilitating wars gradually weakened them and by the time of King Prithvi Narayan ShahÕs invasion of the Valley, they had by themselves reached the brink of political extinction. The last rulers were Jaya Prakash Malla, Tej Narsingh Malla and Ranjit Malla of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur respectively.

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Time line before Prithivi Naryayan Shah

ca. 563 B.C. The Buddha born in Lumbini, in Tarai Region of Nepal

268-31 B.C. Ashoka establishes empire in north India

ca. A.D. 353-73 Samudragupta establishes empire in north India

400-750 Licchavi kingdom in power in Kathmandu Valley

750-1200 "Transitional" kingdom in power in Kathmandu Valley

1100-1484 Khasa Malla kings rule in western Nepal

1200-16 Arimalla, first monarch of the Malla Dynasty, rules in Kathmandu Valley

1312 Khasa king Ripumalla leads raid in Kathmandu Valley

1345-46 Sultan Shams ud-din Ilyas of Bengal leads raid in Kathmandu Valley

1382-95 Jayasthitimalla rules as king of united Malla kingdom in Kathmandu Valley

1428-82 Yakshamalla reigns--height of united Malla kingdom

1484 Malla kingdom divided; three kingdoms of Kathmandu, Bhadgaon, and Patan expand

1526 Mughal Empire established in north India

1559 Gorkha kingdom established

1606-33 Ram Shah of Gorkha reigns; Gorkha kingdom experiences first expansion. 1728 Chinese influence established in Tibet


The Shah Dynasty that unified and ruled Nepal for the last 240 years, often through bloodshed, came to a peaceful end on MAY 28, 2008. If the rise of the Shahs was spectacular, so was their downfall. In modern history, hardly any monarchy has been abolished either through the ballot or so peacefully.

The story of the Shah Dynasty, stretching over a period of over 450 years, is a saga of both triumph and tragedy.

After Drabya Shah, a prince of the royal house of the adjoining principality of Lamjung and progenitor of the Shah Dynasty, wrested Gorkha from local tribal chiefs in 1559, the Shahs remained confined to this impoverished, hilly principality for the next 183 years.

But that changed once and for all after an audacious prince, Prithvi Narayan Shah, ascended to the throne of Gorkha in 1742AD at the age of 20.

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mahendra and ratna



Birendra - signature

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The Prince Of Nepal
10  x  8  Colour Glossy NASA Photograph
1 July 1968
George S. Trimble, Deputy Director, Manned Spacecraft Centre, discusses a model of an Apollo/Saturn V space vehicle with Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva, Crown Prince of Nepal, during a tour of the Manned Spacecraft Centre.


(commercial photograph)