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Bhimsen Thapa ( (August 1775 β 29 July 1839)) was a Nepalese statesman who served as the Mukhtiyar (equivalent to prime minister) and de facto ruler of Nepal from 1806 to 1837. He 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.
Born into an ordinary military family in the Gorkha Kingdom, Bhimsen first came close to the Crown Prince Rana Bahadur Shah at an early age in 1785. In 1798, he was recruited as a bodyguard for the King by his father. Thereafter, he rose to influence after helping the exiled ex-King Rana Bahadur Shah engineer his return to power in 1804. In gratitude, Rana Bahadur made Bhimsen a Kaji (equivalent to a minister) of the newly formed government. Rana Bahadur's assassination by his stepbrother Sher Bahadur Shah in 1806 led Bhimsen 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 (equivalent to prime minister) himself. The death of King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah in 1816 at the immature age of 17, with his heir, King Rajendra Bikram Shah being only 3 years old, along with the support from Queen Tripurasundari (the junior queen of Rana Bahadur Shah) allowed him to remain in power even after Nepal's defeat in the Anglo-Nepalese War. After the death of Queen Tripurasundari in 1832, the intrigues of the newly adult King Rajendra, the conspiracies and infightings with the British envoy Brian Houghton Hodgson, Senior Queen Samrajya Laxmi Devi and the rival courtiers (especially the Kala Pandes, who held Bhimsen Thapa responsible for the death of Damodar Pande in 1804) finally led to his imprisonment on false charges of the murder of an infant prince and ultimately his death by suicide in 1839.
Bhimsen 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. The territorial expanse of the Gurkha empire had reached its greatest extent from the Sutlej River in the west to the Teesta River in the east during his prime ministership. However, Nepal entered into a disastrous Anglo-Nepalese War with the partially British Empire-owned East India Company lasting from 1814 to 1816, which was concluded with the Treaty of Sugauli, by which Nepal lost almost one-third of its land. He 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 Army. During his lifetime, he commissioned the construction of many temples and monuments including the highly famed Dharahara also known as Bhimsen Sthambha ("Bhimsen Tower").
Widely considered one of the 19th century's most significant figures in Nepalese history, Bhimsen 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. His foreign policy was largely motivated by rational national interest, national sustenance and nationalism. He is also well praised as a reformer and for his efficient systematization and management of the state administration, programmes and policies. However, he has been criticized for instigating an inhumane political massacre in his early political career, the elimination of his political rivals and the consolidation of political and military power within his family.
Not much detail is known about Bhimsen Thapa's early life. At the age of 11, Bhimsen came into contact with the Nepalese Royal Palace when his Bratabandha (sacred thread) ceremony was held together with the Crown Prince Rana Bahadur Shah in Gorkha in 1785. In 1798, his father took him to Kathmandu and enrolled him as a bodyguard to the king. In Kathmandu, Bhimsen took up residence at Thapathali, after which he lived in Bagh Durbar near Tundikhel after becoming a Kaji (equivalent to a minister).
Meanwhile, Rana Bahadur Shah's youth had been spent in pampered luxury. In 1794 Rana Bahadur came of age, and his first act was to re-constitute the government, with his uncle, Bahadur Shah, removed from all official position. In mid-1795, he became infatuated with a Maithili Brahman widow, Kantavati Jha, and married her on the oath of making their illegitimate half-caste son (as per the Hindu law of that time) the heir apparent, by excluding the legitimate heir from his previous marriage. By 1797, his relationship with his uncle, who was living a retired life, and who wanted to seek refuge in China on the pretext of meeting the new emperor, had deteriorated to the extent that he ordered his imprisonment on 19 February 1797 and his subsequent murder on 23 June 1797. Such acts earned Rana Bahadur notoriety both among courtiers and common people, especially among Brahmins.
That same year in 1797, Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah was born and was hastily declared the crown prince. However, within a year of Girvan's birth, Kantavati contracted tuberculosis; and it was advised by physicians that she perform ascetic penances to cure herself. To make sure that Girvan succeeded to the throne while Kantavati was still alive, Rana Bahadur, aged just 23, abdicated in favor of their son on 23 March 1799, placing his first wife, Rajrajeshwori, as the regent. He 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. This move was also supported by all the courtiers who were discontented with his wanton and capricious behavior. It was around this time that both Bhimsen Thapa and his father Amar Singh Thapa (sanu) were promoted from Subedar to the rank of Sardar, and Bhimsen began to serve as the ex-King's chief bodyguard. Bhimsen received the position of personal secretary of King Rana Bahadur from the patronage of Mulkaji Kirtiman Singh Basnyat, since both his father and Birbhadra Thapa were in close military affiliations with Kaji Abhiman Singh Basnyat - the uncle of Kirtiman Singh. Meanwhile, Rana Bahadur's renunciation lasted only a few months. After the inevitable death of Kantavati, Rana Bahadur suffered a mental breakdown during which he lashed out by desecrating temples and cruelly punishing the attendant physicians and astrologers. He then renounced his ascetic life and attempted to re-assert his royal authority. This led to a direct conflict with almost all the courtiers who had pledged a holy oath of allegiance to the legitimate King Girvan; this conflict eventually led to the establishment of a dual government and to an imminent civil war, with Damodar Pande leading the military force against the dissenting ex-King and his group. Since most of the military officers had sided with the courtiers, Rana Bahadur realized that his authority could not be re-established; and he was forced to flee to the British-controlled city of Varanasi in May 1800.
The Kathmandu Durbar was willing to appease the British and agreed to sign a commercial treaty so long as the wayward Rana Bahadur and his group were held in India under strict British surveillance. This arrangement was kept a secret from Rana Bahadur and his group; but when they eventually became aware of the strictures on their movement, and hence the treaty, they were incensed at the British as well as the proponents (Damodar Pande and his faction) of this treaty in Nepal. An intrigue was set in motion with the aim of splitting the unity of courtiers in Kathmandu Durbar and fomenting anti-British feelings. A flurry of letters were exchanged between the ex-King and individual courtiers in which he tried to set them up against Damodar Pande and tried to woo them by promises of high government positions, which they could hold for their entire life, and which could be inherited by their progeny. Baburam Acharya holds Bhimsen responsible for all these schemes, reasoning that Rana Bahadur did not have the mental capacity for such negotiations and intrigues. He 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. Similarly, historian Chittaranjan Nepali considered that in addition to the realization of the motive of Nepali Bharadars to detain Rana Bahadur's retinue in Banaras, Bhimsen also had fully realized the real meaning of the system of protectorates adopted by the East India Company Government.
Meanwhile, Rajrajeshwari, perhaps due to frustration over her debauched husband, or due to political reasons, left Varanasi, crossed the border of Nepal on 26 July 1801, and taking advantage of the weak regency, was slowly making her way towards Kathmandu with the view of taking over the regency. Back in Kathmandu, the court politics turned complicated when Mulkaji (or chief minister) Kirtiman Singh Basnyat, a favorite of the Regent Subarnaprabha, was secretly assassinated on 28 September 1801, by the supporters of Rajrajeswori. In the resulting confusion, many courtiers were jailed, while some executed, based solely on rumors. Bakhtawar Singh Basnyat, brother of assassinated Kirtiman Singh, was then given the post of Mulkaji During his tenure as the Mulkaji, on 28 October 1801, a Treaty of Commerce and Alliance was finally signed between Nepal and East India Company. This led to the establishment of the first British Resident, Captain William O. Knox, who was reluctantly welcomed by the courtiers in Kathmandu on 16 April 1802. The primary objective of Knox's mission was to bring the trade treaty of 1792 into full effect and to establish a "controlling influence" in Nepali politics. Almost eight months after the establishment of the Residency, Rajrajeshwari finally managed to assume the regency on 17 December 1802.
Such open display of anti-British feelings and humiliation prompted the Governor General of the time Richard Wellesley to recall Knox to India and unilaterally suspend the diplomatic ties. The Treaty of 1801 was also unilaterally annulled by the British on 24 January 1804. The suspension of diplomatic ties also gave the Governor General a pretext to allow the ex-King Rana Bahadur to return to Nepal unconditionally.
As soon as they received the news, Rana Bahadur and his group proceeded towards Kathmandu. Some troops were sent by Kathmandu Durbar to check their progress, but the troops changed their allegiance when they came face to face with the ex-King. Damodar Pande and his men were arrested at Thankot where they were waiting to greet the ex-King with state honors and take him into isolation. After Rana Bahadur's reinstatement to power, he started to extract vengeance on those who had tried to keep him in exile. He exiled Rajrajeshwari to Helambu, where she became a Buddhist nun, on the charge of siding with Damodar Pande and colluding with the British. Damodar Pande, along with his two eldest sons, who were completely innocent, was executed on 13 March 1804; similarly some members of his faction were tortured and executed without any due trial, while many others managed to escape to India. Rana Bahadur also punished those who did not help him while in exile. Among them was Prithvi Pal Sen, the king of Palpa, who was tricked into imprisonment, while his kingdom forcefully annexed. Subarnaprabha and her supporters were released and given a general pardon. Those who had helped Rana Bahadur to return to Kathmandu were lavished with rank, land, and wealth. 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 (royal spiritual preceptor).
Bhimsen 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. For almost two years after returning to Kathmandu, Rana Bahadur had no official position in the government β he was neither a king, nor a regent, nor a minister β yet he felt no qualms in using the full state power. Not only did Rana Bahadur carry out the Baisathi Haran under Bhimsen's advice, he was also able to banish all non-vaccinated children, as well as their parents, from the town during a smallpox outbreak, in order to prevent King Girvan from catching that disease. Now, after almost two-year, all of a sudden Rana Bahadur was made Mukhtiyar (chief authority) on 26 February 1806 and Bhimsen tried to implement his schemes through Rana Bahadur. Bhimsen had also secretly learned of a plot to oust Rana Bahadur. Tribhuvan Khawas (Pradhan), a member of Sher Bahadur's faction, was imprisoned on the re-opened charges of conspiracy with the British that led to the Knox's mission, but for which pardon had already been doled out, and was ordered to be executed. Tribhuvan Khawas decided to reveal everyone that was involved in the dialogue with the British. Among those implicated was Sher Bahadur Shah.
On the night of 25 April 1806, Rana Bahadur held a meeting at Tribhuvan Khawas's house with rest of the courtiers, during which he taunted and threatened to execute Sher Bahadur. At around 10 pm, Sher Bahadur in desperation drew a sword and killed Rana Bahadur Shah before being cut down by nearby courtiers, Bam Shah and Bal Narsingh Kunwar, also allies of Bhimsen. The assassination of Rana Bahadur Shah triggered a great massacre in Bhandarkhal (a royal garden east of Kathmandu Durbar) and at the bank of Bishnumati river. That very night members of Sher Bahadur's faction β Bidur Shah, Tribhuvan Khawas, and Narsingh Gurung β and even King Prithvipal Sen of Palpa, who was under house arrest in Patan Durbar, were swiftly rounded up and killed in Bhandarkhal. Their dead bodies were not allowed funeral rites and were dragged and thrown by the banks of Bishnumati to be eaten by vultures and jackals. The next few days, all the sons of Sher Bahadur Shah, Bidur Shah, Tribhuvan Khawas and Narsingh Gurung, aged 2 to 15 were beheaded by the bank of Bishnumati; their wives and daughters were given to the Untouchability, their bodyguards and servants were also put to death, and all their property seized. Bhimsen managed to kill everyone who did not agree with him or anyone who could potentially become a problem for him in the future. In this massacre that lasted for about two weeks, a total of ninety-three people (16 women and 77 men) lost their lives.
Almost one and half months before the massacre, upon Bhimsen's insistence, Rana Bahadur, then 31 years old, had married a 14-year-old girl named Tripurasundari on 7 March 1806, making her his fifth legitimate wife. Taking advantage of the political chaos, Bhimsen became the Mukhtiyar (1806β37), and Tripurasundari was given the title Lalita Tripurasundari and declared regent and Queen Mother (1806β32) of Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah, who was himself 9 years old. Thus, Bhimsen became the first person outside the royal household to hold the position of the Mukhtiyar. All the other wives (except Subarnaprabha) and concubines of Rana Bahadur, along with their handmaidens, were forced to commit sati. Bhimsen obtained a royal mandate from Tripurasundari, given in the name of King Girvan, commanding all other courtiers to be obedient to him. Bhimsen 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. The courtiers were instead replaced by his close relatives, who were mere yes-men. On the spot where Rana Bahadur Shah drew his last breath, Bhimsen later built a commemorative Shiva temple by the name Rana-Mukteshwar.
Kaji Ranadhoj Thapa also agreed with Bhimsen's reply regarding the Nepalese strategic military advantage over British in the hills but counterargued that the expelled hill will unite against the Gorkha Empire and disclose the confidentiality of the hills to the British. Similarly, Kaji Amar Singh (Bada) also opined that hill Rajas will defect to the British side. Based on intelligence reports, Bhimsen predicted that the first point of British attack would be the Dehradun, which later proved to be correct. The British launched two successive waves of invasion campaigns. The Nepalese army was commanded largely by the members and relatives of the larger Thapa caucus that includes the Thapa dynasty and Family of Amar Singh Thapa. During the war, Bhimsen tried to form a coalition with Ranjit Singh of Sikh Empire and Daulat Rao Scindia of Gwalior State and launch a collective war against the British; thus opening multiple geographical frontiers of combat. Both rulers did not wish to see the Nepalese lose; however, they also did not want to commit themselves to the losing side. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Sugauli in 1816, which ceded around one-third of Nepal's territory to the British. Furthermore, according to the treaty, Nepal had to agree that accredited Ministers from each shall reside at the Court of the other to secure and improve the relations of amity and peace between the two States. During the war, Bhimsen Thapa served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Nepalese army; and thus he had to bear the direct responsibility of Nepalese defeat.
On 20 November 1816, King Girvan Yuddha died of smallpox, aged nineteen. Girvan had two wives β the first wife committed sati with Girvan, while the second wife also died of smallpox after 14 days of Girvan's death. Thus, Girvan was succeeded by his only son, Rajendra Bikram Shah, an infant of two years old, after 18 days of his father's death on 8 December 1816. Therefore, Bhimsen Thapa, in collusion with the queen regent, Tripurasundari, remained in power despite the defeat of Nepal in the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814β16. There was a sustained opposition against Bhimsen from factions centered around leading members of other aristocratic families, notably the Pande dynasty, who denounced what they felt was his cowardly submission to the British. Paradoxically, the peacetime after the Anglo-Nepalese War saw the inflation and modernization of the Nepal army, which Bhimsen 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 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.
Thus, Bhimsen was able to continue making all the administrative decisions of the country, while the Regent Queen Tripurasundari would unquestioningly approve these decisions by stamping the royal seal issued in the name of King Rajendra on these government orders. The Regent never dared to express any doubts regarding Bhimsen's decisions. Nevertheless, to make sure that the King, his wives β Samrajya Laxmi Devi (senior) and Rajya Lakshmi Devi (junior) β and the Regent were insulated from influences of people other than Bhimsen and his closest relatives, Bhimsen had instated his youngest brother, Ranvir Singh Thapa, in the royal palace to keep a watch on the royal family and to keep guard against any outside person. Any priest or courtier who wished to be granted an interview with the King, the Queens, or the Regent, had to get approval from Ranbir Singh and the interview had to be conducted under his watchful presence. Similarly, the royal family was not allowed to leave the palace without Bhimsen's permission either. Bhimsen had also 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 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.
''Mohi'' ([[tenant farmer]]s) felt it easier to pay taxes in kind to their [[Zamindars]] due to cash shortage. He directed the [[Zamindars]] to accept foodgrain as tax and not to harass the farmers. The regulation further directed that it was the responsibility of Zamindars to make arrangements for cash and not of the farmers. The [[anti-bribery]] regulations were issued due to reports of Zamindars, Amalis, and regional officials taking up bribery from people in the far-flung provinces. Bhimsen through his regulations declared it illegal to give or take any form of bribes or gifts from people. Merchants at Ridi in 1829 and Tansen in 1830 lost their [[thatched]] shopping houses to fire. The affected merchants demanded individual rights on property and allowance of building concrete shopping houses. He accepted the merchants' proposal of building concrete shopping houses and allowed individual [[rights on the property|property rights]]. Due to long ongoing unification campaigns of Nepal, there was anarchy in Nepalese administration before Bhimsen's Mukhtiyari. In [[Achham Province|Achham district]], Zamindars, Amalis, and traders perpetrated great injustice to farmers by increasing heavy interest on loans, to which farmers revolted. Bhimsen being moved by the plight of the victims issued ''Lalmohar'' with binding instructions to write off outstanding dues at once.
British historian William Hunter also remarked about his comprehension of British system of protectorate. Historian Nayaraj Panta considered that Bhimsen's action to suppress British influences on Nepal and strengthening of Nepalese military forces was important to save the fate of the only [[Hindu]] Kingdom in the world. British Resident Hodgson on his 19 December 1833 report lauded how Bhimsen successfully defied the British colonial powers that succeeded over all of India:
After the 1816 war, Bhimsen had been preventing direct communications between the British Residents and the King, which Resident Brian Houghton Hodgson had reacted negatively. On his report dated 18 February 1833 to Governor General of India, Resident Hodgson wrote:
In 1811, he also constructed Bagh Durbar after being appointed General reside near to Basantapur Palace. He initially moved from Gorkha district to Thapathali Durbar and further to Bagh Durbar. It had a spacious Janarala Bag (General's Garden), pond and many temples glorifying the Mukhtiyar General. Later when Thapa rule was revived again, Mathabar Singh recaptured the lost palace and began to reside for two more years. The National Museum of Nepal at Chhauni was once a residence of Bhimsen. The building has collection of bronze sculptures, paubha paintings and weapons including the sword gifted by the Emperor of the French Napoleon Bonaparte.
Sensing Samrajya Laxmi's ambition, Ranbir Singh started to stroke her dislike of Bhimsen in the hopes of becoming the Mukhtiyar himself. Mathabar Singh, who had enjoyed an ardent support from the military, strongly supported Bhimsen to check Ranbir Singh's aspirations. A quarrel occurred between Mathabar Singh and Ranbir Singh regarding the latter's shift of loyalty towards the Senior Queen Samrajya Lakshmi, resulting in Mathabar Singh resigning from the command of Sri Nath Regiment Historian Hunter remarked that Mathabar Singh resigned from two battalions after getting moderations from Ranbir Singh in 1834, to which all the soldiers of both battalions except 200 troops, "laid down their arms" in protest and declined to serve under any other officers; the frightened King harmonized the situation by appointing Mathabar Singh as General Commander of the Eastern districts with 3000 troops under his command in November 1834. Getting a whiff of Ranbir Singh's ambitions, Bhimsen strongly reprimanded Ranbir Singh which caused him to resign from his position and live in retirement in his house at Bhotsipa. However, Bhimsen later managed to placate his brother, by giving him the title of Chota (Little) General, and send him to Palpa as its governor. To counter the opposition arising in Darbar after the incident, he appointed young Kaji Surath Singh Thapa, a grandson of Bada Kaji Amar Singh Thapa to a very high administrative position in the Darbar and made him joint chief signatory. Since he could find nobody that he could trust to keep watch over the royal palace, Bhimsen from then on started to live in an ordinary rented house located near the palace premise.
This forced Bhimsen to share the administrative burden between Rajendra, Samrajya Laxmi, and himself, and ask for their opinions on administrative matters, in order to reduce further friction between himself and the royalty. Rajendra was put in charge of defense, finance, and foreign relations; while Samrajya Laxmi was put in charge of justice, accountancy, and civil administration. Nevertheless, Rajendra's activities were heavily influenced by the advice of Samrajya Laxmi, while the Junior Queen Rajya Laxmi had no say in any matter; furthermore, the King and the Senior Queen did not dare yet to outright dismiss Bhimsen's plans and advice, fearful of the large army under his command. This arrangement worked well for the next three years; for instance, on 26 August 1833, Nepal was struck by a great earthquake, and all three power holders were able to coordinate with each other and provide emergency relief to the citizens.
Queen Samrajya Laxmi was very frustrated by King Rajendra's failure to remove Bhimsen from power. On 8 November 1835, she caused a turmoil by leaving the Durbar at midnight, angered by King Rajendra's inability to stop Bhimsen from dealings with the Governor General, with whom she felt the King should be directly dealing with. Meanwhile, she demanded the King to establish a new regiment; however the King failed to obtain the required financial allocation from the Mukhtiyar. Instead, King Rajendra authorized Bhimsen with a Sunnad in favour of the Mukhtiyar. Upon learning this, the Queen Samrajya Laxmi shouted angrily at King Rajendra:
She also demanded an allocation of Nepalese Rupee 50,000 for her children from the Terai revenues. If her demands were not to be met, she threatened to part from the state affairs. However, despite all her efforts to pressurize King Rajendra, she achieved no success.
Hodgson began to portray Bhimsen as an immoral person in his reports to his superior, Governor General of India, on 18 February 1833. Hodgson reported to the Governor General that the Pande family who deserved the high ranks of the state was sidelined from the Court by Bhimsen and Bhimsen's relatives were installed in every offices monopolizing "all the loaves and fishes". But in fact, a lot of Pande politicians had occupied high ranks in the Bharadari Sabha (Council of State) and other ranks in the government offices which includes Dalabhanjan Pande, Ranajit Pande, Karbir Pande, Rana Jang Pande and Bhotu Pande. In fact, Bhimsen even called back his arch rivals like Rana Jang Pande and Karbir Pande to assume some position in the government offices. Furthermore, Bhimsen 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 (1827 CE) which also stressed on the principles of equality before the law. Thus, Historian Chittaranjan Nepali considers this writing of Hodgson to Governor General as a libel attempt against Bhimsen.
Hodgson also fabricated details about Bhimsen to the Governor General, that "mere children of his kindred hold high commands" and gave two fictional names "Colonel Shamsher Singh, aged 13, and Colonel Bahadur Jang, aged 12 years" without any details of their relationship with Bhimsen. Historian Chittaranjan Nepali counters Hodgson's assertion by assuming Bhimsen's adoptive son ('Dharmaputra') Sher Jung Thapa as an original intent of Hodgson, who was also, however, not promoted to the position of Colonelship at the time of issuance of this report. Sher Jung was initially given a minor rank of Captain in 1825 (1882 Bikram Samvat) and was promoted to Colonelship only after a long period of 10 years in 1835 (1892 Bikram Samvat). Historian Nepali further contends that Bhimsen 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. Hodgson further fabricated a story to the Governor General of India that King Rajendra rejected treatments from court physicians during his illness on the context of them being Bhimsen's men and the King further blamed Bhimsen to have poisoned both his father and grandfather to death; which he further alluded that the King's allegations against Bhimsen was true and popular general belief among the Nepalese public. However, King Rajendra never mentioned that he rejected treatments on the pretext of possible poisoning by Bhimsen's alleged court physicians, however, in his 1839 letter to Chinese Amban wrote that both of his parents were poisoned to death by Bhimsen's alleged court physicians during their illness. Also, later in 1839 during the revival of poisoning cases against Bhimsen, two new additional fabricated cases of death by poisoning of King Girvan and his wife was brought. Furthermore, it was widely known that King Rajendra's grandfather King Rana Bahadur Shah died from the sword assault by his step-brother Sher Bahadur Shah during an open court discussion while his father King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah along with his wife died from the smallpox to which historian Chittaranjan Nepali contends as another attempt of libel against Bhimsen by Hodgson.
In August 1834, Hodgson proposed to conduct a new commercial treaty between Nepal and Britain, which Bhimsen in principle agreed to but disagreed with several of the clauses. At a time when his authority was diminishing, Bhimsen could not afford to antagonize the Resident; but at the same time, he could not accept his proposals and be seen as subservient to the British by the Nepalese court. Nevertheless, he tried to maintain a friendly and conciliatory attitude toward the Resident, in order to win him as his ally, by loosening the restrictions on his movements and granting direct access to the King.
In the meantime, a royal letter was received from the Maharaja Ranjit Singh, ruler of Sikh Empire in Punjab, addressed to King Rajendra. The Nepalese court seized this opportunity to re-establish diplomatic contact with Punjab as well as other states such as Burma and Gwalior. In April 1835, Bhimsen also hatched a plan to make a state visit to Britain, hoping to force Britain to acknowledge the sovereignty of Nepal; but since he could not make the visit himself, his nephew Colonel Mathabar Singh Thapa was chosen as the representative of Nepal, bearing a few gifts and a letter from King Rajendra addressed to King William IV. The idea was initially received favorably by Hodgson as well as the Governor-General, who hoped that the mission could increase the trust between the two nations. In this process, Mathabar Singh was promoted to Chota General; his brother, Ranbir Singh, the governor of Palpa, was made Full General; and Mathabar's nephew, the sixteen-year-old Sher Jung Thapa, was made Commanding Colonel. Thus, Bhimsen managed to consolidate his military powers. Both Rajendra and Samrajya Laxmi were also pleased with this plan, and on 1 November 1835, Bhimsen was conferred the title of Commander-in-Chief. On 27 November 1835, Mathabar Singh left Kathmandu with a retinue of two thousand men, including 200 officers and 600 soldiers, for London via Calcutta.
Mathabar was given a grand welcome in Calcutta by the acting Governor-General Charles Metcalfe; and while there, Mathabar started to indulge in needless luxuries and show offs. Meanwhile, Hodgson sent a secret letter to Metcalfe asking him not to allow Mathabar to make a state visit to Britain. Hence, Metcalfe was only willing to grant him the visa of an ordinary traveler, and not the diplomatic visa of a state representative. Mathabar thus returned to Nepal in March 1836, having wasted a vast sum of money, without accomplishing any of his goals. The deliberate sabotage of Mathabar's mission was Hodgson's diplomatic attack against Bhimsen. Until that time, it was widely believed by both the royal family as well as the common people that Bhimsen's good relationship with the high ranking British officials, since he was the only one allowed to communicate with them, was responsible for preventing the East India Company to take full control of Nepal. The mission's failure unambiguously revealed to everyone that this was not the case, and severely undermined Bhimsen's political credibility. Mathabar Singh spent a sum of one lakh and fifty thousand in Calcutta on the fruitless mission. Mathabar's extravagant expenditure was also heavily criticized by Samrajya Laxmi, since at that time the state coffer was in dire condition; and to pacify her, Bhimsen had to reimburse the extra expenses from his own pockets.
Taking advantage of Mathabar's absence in Kathmandu, the military battalions under his command were distributed to other courtiers during the annual muster at the beginning of 1837. Nevertheless, Bhimsen managed to secure his and his family members' positions in the civil and military offices. An investigation was also started to check Bhimsen's expenditures in establishing various battalions. Such events led the courtiers to feel that Bhimsen's Mukhtiyari would not last very long; thus Ranbir Singh, in the hopes of becoming the next Mukhtiyar, wrote a letter to the King asking him to be recalled to Kathmandu from Palpa. His 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. But in truth, Bhimsen had gone to Gorkha to placate his nephew and bring him back to Kathmandu.
In Bhimsen's absence, King Rajendra established a new battalion, Hanuman Dal, to be kept under his personal command. By February 1837, both Ranajang and his brother, Ranadal Pande, had been promoted to the position of a kaji; and Ranajang was made a personal secretary to the King, while Ranadal Pande was made the governor of Palpa. Ranjang was also made the chief palace guard, the position formerly occupied by Ranbir Singh and then Bhimsen. Thus, this curtailed Bhimsen's access to the royal family. On 14 June 1837, the King took over the command of all the battalions put in charge of various courtiers, and himself became the Commander-in-Chief.
There is a general consensus among historians that Bhimsen was not behind the poisoning. Bhimsen 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's imprisonment. It was a general practice among the physicians of the time to check the strength of their medicine by first letting the mother taste it, before giving it to their newborn. It was later rumored that it was the Junior Queen who had actually contrived to kill the Senior Queen by poisoning the medicine intended for her newborn. While the poison did not express itself on the intended Queen, it managed to kill the infant prince, and the powerless Bhimsen was made a convenient scapegoat. Historian Gyanmani Nepal contends this to be closer to the truth. Historian William Wilson Hunter contended that "the whole charge was an invention trumped up by the Pande dynasty to secure Bhim Sen's overthrow as they themselves confessed six years later". Hodgson on his reports to Governor General of India dated 18 September 1837 revealed that in fact King Rajendra knowingly held Bhimsen in the false charges because of his personal enmity.
King Rajendra, due to the fear of a possible rebellion, restricted the Bhimsen established Singhanath battalion, to move out of the Kathmandu valley through a Rokka issued in March 1838 (Chaitra 1894 Bikram Samvat). Thereafter, Bhimsen's case was re-opened and heard in the royal court. Fearful that the Pandes would re-establish their power, Fatte Jang Shah, Mukhtiyar Ranga Nath Poudel, and the Junior Queen Rajya Laxmi Devi obtained from the King the liberation of Bhimsen, Mathabar, and the rest of the faction, in March 1838 about eight months after they were incarcerated for the poisoning case. British historians William Hunter and Henry Oldfied both asserted that Bhimsen fell into the King's feet and begged for mercy before receiving the pardon which is counterargued by Nepalese Historian Chittaranjan Nepali as a "mere mockery of his great personality". Some of the Thapa family's confiscated land, as well as the Bagh Durbar, was also returned. Upon his release, the soldiers loyal to Bhimsen crowded behind him in jubilation and followed him up to his house; a similar treatment was given to Mathabar Singh and Sher Jung Thapa. Though only some of their confiscated properties were returned by the initial Lalmohar, the second Lalmohar issued at the end of 1838 (Marga month of 1895 Bikram Samvat) completely returned all of their confiscated properties. Although pardon had been granted to Bhimsen, his former office was not re-instated; thus he went to live in retirement at his patrimony in Borlang, Gorkha district.
However, Ranganath Poudel, finding himself unsupported by the King, resigned from the Mukhtiyari, which was then conferred on Pushkar Shah; but Pushkar Shah was only a nominal head, and the actual authority was bestowed on Ranjang Pande. In March 1838, King Rajendra sent Mathabar Singh on a confidential mission to Sikh Emperor Ranjit Singh; initially he was arrested in May 1838 by the British during night time at Sutlej river, later allowed to proceed to Sikh capital but ultimately deported back to the British surveillance in Shimla by the Sikh Emperor on the suspicion of anti-British activities. Sensing that a catastrophe was going to befall the Thapas, Ranbir Singh gave up all his property and became a sannyas, titling himself Abhayanand Puri but Bhimsen Thapa preferred to remain in his old home in Gorkha. The Pandes were now in full possession of power; they had gained over the King to their side by flattery. The Senior Queen had been a firm supporter of their faction, and they endeavored to secure popularity in the army by promises of war and plunder.
By this time, Bhimsen's furious nephew Mathabar Singh was living at the Sikh court in Punjab which caused fear among King Rajendra and Rana Jang that he would bring British support or wreak havoc in the case Bhimsen was attacked. Therefore, secret assassins were sent by the Nepalese royal court to poison him at Punjab. After assassins failed to poison him, with a desire to eliminate both uncle and nephew together, Rana Jang attempted to call him back to Nepal by making "specious promises" which Mathabar Singh thwarted after getting a hold of Rana Jang's intentions. In April 1839, the accusation of poisoning the young prince in 1837, along with two other fabricated cases, was revived against Bhimsen and his faction, and forged papers and evidence were produced professing to incriminate him. The date when Bhimsen was charged on the alleged crime was 18 May 1839, according to then Assistant British Resident J.R. Tickell. The two fabricated cases were the poisoning of the King Girvan's wife and King Girvan Yuddha himself who was widely known to have died from smallpox. Bhimsen 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. Only Rana Jang spoke against him in the Darbar. The Assistant British Resident J.R. Tickell observed that "...Not a voice raised in his (Bhimsen's) behalf throughout the Darbar, the chiefs sat by in dejected silence." Bhimsen appealed for justice and tried to defend himself, but the King, blindly believing the forgeries, denounced him as a traitor and put him in house arrest in a room at the ground floor of his own Bagh Durbar. Although pardon had already been given, based on these forged evidences, the court physicians, Ekdev and Eksurya Upadhyay were again arrested and tortured. Except for Mathabar Singh, who was under British surveillance in India, rest of the Thapa family were again arrested, their properties confiscated, were declared outcasts, and were proclaimed to be expelled from every public office for seven generations.
While under house arrest, Bhimsen smuggled a letter to the Resident Hodgson appealing him to intervene on his behalf, which Hodgson refused at that moment but sought permission from his superiors to do so. Bhimsen was given brutal treatment at the orders of Rana Jang during the arrest. He was kept "almost starved" in a dark underground cell which was "less a prison than a ditch of filth". Rana Jang did not choose direct assassination of Bhimsen but some strong calculated savage measures to make Bhimsen commit suicide. One of the savage measures was that the false rumours on the method of punishment to Bhimsen was circulated every day. Meanwhile, Bhimsen's third wife, Bhakta Kumari, happened to insult the Senior Queen Samrajya Laxmi, who upon hearing about this insult, was so angered that she order Bhakta Kumari to be removed from Bagh Durbar and put in a common jail. After this, the rival faction spread a rumor around Kathmandu that Bhakta Kumari would be stripped of her clothes and paraded through the streets of the city and he would be forced to watch it while being dipped into a mound of human faeces. This rumor also fell on Bhimsen's ears; and unable to bear such indignity, Bhimsen attempted suicide by slitting his throat with a khukuri. The news of this attempted suicide further angered the King and the Queen, who came to look at his body, and instead of feeling sympathy for the old minister and ordering immediate medical care, Bhimsen's blood-soaked, unconscious body was ordered that same day to be dragged through the streets and dumped by the same bank of Bishnumati river, where Bhimsen had dumped the dead bodies of 45 people 33 years ago during the Bhandarkhal massacre. Bhimsen finally died nine days later, surrounded by vultures, jackals, and dogs. Since suicide was considered a grave crime, soldiers were stationed at his death spot so that his body would not be removed and given ordinary cremation rites; and his body was allowed to be devoured by scavenging animals. On the spot where Bhimsen drew his last breath, a Shiva temple by the name Bhim-Mukteshwar was later constructed by his nephew Mathabar Singh Thapa, The road to Bhim Mukteshwar Temple is named after Mathwar and now known as Math Mukteshwar Marga.
While there is a general consensus on the cause and circumstances of Bhimsen's death, there is a disagreement on the exact date of his death. Baburam Acharya contends that Bhimsen attempted suicide on 28 July in his house and died nine days later on 5 August by the banks of Bishnumati; while Henry Ambrose Oldfield, William Wilson Hunter and Perceval Landon, contend that the suicide was attempted on 20 July and the death occurred nine days later on 29 July in his house, only after which his dead body was disposed by the banks of Bishnumati. Historian Kumar Pradhan and Gyanmani Nepal claimed the date to be 28 July. British Resident Hodgson's report of the event to the Governor General of India was dated 30 July 1839 where he reports the death on 29 July and precisely around 4pm on that date.
Historian Landon also posthumously expressed the brutality of death of Bhimsen in his book titled "Nepal":
The death of the Senior Queen Samrajya Laxmi allowed the emergence of the Junior Queen Rajya Laxmi and Crown Prince Surendra onto the political stage. To consolidate her political influence and see her own son, rather than the heir apparent, Surendra, succeed on the throne, Rajya Laxmi had obtained pardon for Sher Jung Thapa and other jailed members of Thapa family. It was only after this that Bhimsen Thapa managed to get a symbolic funeral rite in August 1841. Thus, the Nepalese court was split into three factions centered around the King, the Queen, and the Crown Prince. Fatte Jung and his administration supported the King, the Thapa dynasty supported the Junior Queen, while the Pande family supported the Crown Prince. The resurgent Thapa coalition succeeded in sowing animosity between Fateh Jung's ministry and the Pande coalition, who were swiftly imprisoned. During his two years in power, Fatte Jung was able to maintain a rule of law in the country; however, after the incarceration of the Pandes, nobody could rein in the worsening sadistic tendencies, sometimes with fatal consequences, of Surendra, who was then still a minor. Under immense pressure from the Queen and the nobility, along with the backing from army and the general populace, the King in January 1843 handed the highest authority of the state to his Junior Queen, Rajya Laxmi, curtailing both his own and his son's power.
The Queen, seeking the support of her own son's claims to the throne over those of Surendra, invited Mathabar Singh Thapa back after almost six years in exile. Upon his arrival in Kathmandu, an investigation of his uncle's death took place, and a number of his Pande enemies were massacred. As for Ranajang Pande, he had by that time contracted mental illness and would not have posed any threat to Mathabar. Nevertheless, Ranajang was paraded through the streets and made to witness the execution of his family members, after which he was forced to commit suicide by poison. By December 1843, Mathabar Singh was appointed prime minister; but after a year in power, he alienated both the King and the Queen by supporting Surendra's claim over the throne. On 17 May 1845, he was assassinated, on both the King and Queen's orders, by his nephew, Jang Bahadur Kunwar. The death of Mathabar Singh ended the Thapa hegemony and set the stage for Kot massacre and the establishment of Rana Dynasty, a dictatorship of hereditary prime ministers, which was founded on the basic template provided by Bhimsen Thapa. These events provided the long period of stability the country needed but at the cost of political and economic development.
On the month of Magh 1876 Bikram Samvat (1820 CE), Bhimsen's mother Satyarupa Maya issued a Dharmapatra prohibiting the partition of her five sons and the partition of the ancestral properties until her death. She later died on the month of the Ashadha 1877 Bikram Samvat (1820 CE) and the ancestral property partition was done on the month of Shraavana 1877 Bikram Samvat.
Historian Baburam Acharya considered Bhimsen as an "unjust" but "devoted patriot" who developed and rewarded agricultural innovations in Nepal. He considered Bhimsen to be a nationalist with personal interest and a very cruel temperament. He termed Bhimsen as a military dictator who had control over 6000 armed forces. However, historian Kumar Pradhan negates that Bhimsen could not be termed as military dictator because he himself was dependent on Pajani System (annual renewal) for renewal of his every tenure of office. Pradhan also asserts that Bhimsen did not manipulate Nepal Army which could be seen when he was not backed up by any soldiers after his removal from Mukhtiyarship. Pradhan asserts that administrative system of Nepal was people-centric and upward mobility. Most of the Thapa Kaji were appointed before 1816 and there was no monopoly of any single family in the inner circle of court. Similarly, Pradhan explains that there was no monopoly of Bhimsen because the regulations were all issued in the name of Maharaja. Historian Chittaranjan Nepali in his 1956 book Janaral Bhimsen Thapa Ra Tatkalin Nepal argued that Bhimsen was as powerful as Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana but he never initiated any rolls of Succession to hereditary premiership within his family like Jung Bahadur did. Resident Hodgson, one of the arch rivals who brought the downfall of Bhimsen, ultimately expressed tribute to Bhimsen on 30 July 1839 and went on to laud Bhimsen as one of the most able contemporary statesman in all of native South Asian states beside Ranjit Singh. British historian Henry Ambrose Oldfield contended that Bhimsen was extremely concerned about the independence of his country "Nothing was nearer and dearer to his heart than the independence of his country". Historian Ludwig Stiller considered Bhimsen as a mere politician than a ruler and criticizes the excessive positive or negative representation used by Bhimsen's primary biographers: Historian Chittaranjan Nepali who "lionized him" and Historian Baburam Acharya who labelled him as a "mere schemer". He 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. Thus, he contends that Bhimsen used to negotiate and convince other courtiers to capitalize the political crisis into his advantage.
Nepalese-Canadian author Manjushree Thapa had written a column about him. She wrote:
The Bhimsen Thapa Memorial Day is celebrated on 25 July. Historian John Whelpton was awarded the 2018 Bhimsen Thapa Memorial Award by the Bhimsen Thapa Memorial Foundation on the 243rd Bhimsen Thapa Memorial Day in Kathmandu.
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