Jang Bahadur Rana

Jang Bahadur Rana

Jang Bahadur Rana (born June 18, 1817 as Bir Narsingh Kanwar (वीर नरसिंह कुँवर); died February 25, 1877 near Bagmati ) was Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Gorkha (present-day Nepal ). Substantial reforms were initiated in the kingdom under his long reign, while the king continued to lose power. As the founder of the Rana dynasty , which provided the authoritarian prime ministers of Gorkha from 1846 to 1951, his role is also viewed critically.

Life

Bir Narsingh Kanwar (also Kunwar ) belonged to the Chhetri caste , his mother Ganesh Kumari was influential at court: his maternal grandfather was a brother of Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa (1775–1839), his maternal uncle was Prime Minister Mathabarsingh Thapa (1798–1845 ). His father Bal Narsingh Kanwar was honored with the title of Kaji for the revenge of the regicide of Rana Bahadur Shah in 1806 and served on various governor posts from 1828 to 1837. All these relationships gave Bir Narsingh Kanwar influence and privileges early on.

He became known under the name Junga or Jan (ga) Bahadur ; Bahadur has the meaning of a ruler title. Variants of the name also include his previous family name: Jan Bahadur Kanwar. He came to power in May 1845 through intrigues, whereby in addition to his origins the favor of various wives of the king played a role. He killed his uncle, Prime Minister Mathabarsingh Thapa, on May 17, 1845, and took his place, which was not uncommon in Nepal. In the following years he consolidated his rule. He became notorious through a massacre in the war council building ( Kot ) of more than 30 members of the Pandi family, which took place on September 14, 1846: The influential Pandi party was responsible for the overthrow and death of his grandfather Bhimsen Thapa and had itself again against him and his family. In 1847 he installed a king who weighed in on him and filled important government posts with his brothers, relatives and favorites.

Remembering the visit of Maharajah Jang Bahadur to London in 1850

From April 1850 to February 1851 Maharajah Jang Bahadur undertook a trip to Europe, which took him through the British colonies in India , Egypt to London ; but he also stopped off in France . This made him the first head of government of the Indian subcontinent to visit Europe during his tenure. His brother Bam Kanwar represented him at home . After this trip he undertook reform efforts in Nepal, in particular the bureaucracy and the judiciary concerned. Traditional forces condemned him for his trip to Europe and tried to expel him from his caste because of it. In order to secure his own rule, Jang Bahadur exiled various conspirators against him in the following years and thus renounced the traditional punishments such as blinding and beheading . To secure its own independence, nominal cooperation with Great Britain was intensified, for example through the Gurkha troops, which Nepal had provided since 1816. Jang Bahadur continued to seal off his country from the colonial nations, and British envoys were only allowed to enter the country under constant supervision. In particular, photographs, measurements and the making of maps were strictly prohibited and only approved by the ruler himself in exceptional cases.

Triggered by the abuse of the Nepalese embassy in Tibet and as a result of the weakened influence of China as a result of the Taiping uprising , Nepal attacked Tibet in the Nepalese-Tibetan War in 1855/56 and, after the victory in March 1856, achieved the payment of tributes and the establishment of free trade stations and an embassy. In return, Nepal renounced the occupied territories, which, however, could not have been kept logistically.

From August 1856 to May 1857 Bam Kanwar led the office of Prime Minister, after his death Jang Bahadur again took power. In 1858 he was given the title of Rana by the king . The lifestyle of the unrestricted Prime Minister of Nepal corresponded to that of an Indian rajah until the end of his life, with the difference that the Indian princes were already dependent on Great Britain at that time. The agricultural economy of Nepal suffered under these conditions, as most of the luxury goods at the court had to be imported and few goods were exported. Jang Bahadur was married thirteen times (mostly to high-ranking Nepalese and Indian princely daughters) and had thirteen sons and several daughters. Two of his wives are known to have died of puerperal fever when they were 18 .

As the only Nepalese ruler in the 19th century, Jang Bahadur died of natural causes in 1877 during a hunting excursion on the Bagmati River south of Kathmandu . Three of his wives committed sati at his cremation . None of his sons inherited the office of prime minister, which was instead passed on to his brothers and nephews.

Honors (selection)

• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (1858)
• Knight Grand Commander des Order of the Star of India (1873)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Kurt Boeck: Through India into the closed country of Nepal. Ethnographic and photographic study sheets. Ferdinand Hirt & Son, Leipzig 1903
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Royalark.net