Nepal's unifier scouted his rivals while travelling incognito to Varanasi
When Prithvi Narayan Shah became king of Gorkha in 1743, it was a minor hill state among dozens. Before expanding, he slipped away incognito to Varanasi, then one of India's great trading hubs, to talk with all kinds of people and study his neighbours' weaknesses. His father-in-law also obtained firearms and modern ammunition for him there.
He was born prematurely in 1723 in the Gorkha Palace, the first child of King Nara Bhupal Shah. Palace astrologers taught him from age five, but Queen Chandra Pravawati took charge of his character, deliberately keeping him from the comforts she saw spoiling neighbouring princes. At 14 he was matched with a princess of Makwanpur, and early on he dreamed of recapturing Nuwakot, a town his father had lost to the Malla kings of Kathmandu.
Before unification, the region held 54 separate states. Nuwakot mattered because it sat between Gorkha and Kathmandu, a commercial gateway to Tibet. His first attack in 1743 failed, so he changed tactics: he secured neutral alliances with rival chiefs, then attacked from three directions and took Nuwakot in 1744. His broader strategy was to ring the Kathmandu valley and strangle it with an economic blockade.
Progress was slow and costly. His first assault on Kirtipur in 1757 was a heavy defeat, costing him his trusted prime minister, Kalu Pande, and it took until 1763 before the Gorkhas could resume expanding. That year they captured Makwanpur, a key route from Bengal, and repelled a force sent by Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal, capturing modern weapons and artillery. Kirtipur finally fell on his third attempt in 1765.
He became ruler of a unified Nepal in 1768 and made Kathmandu the royal capital, reigning until his death in 1775. As king he was known for talking directly with ordinary people about their concerns, and he kept friendly relations with hill neighbours while guarding his borders, notably against the East India Company, which refused fair trade terms. Nepalis honour him as Father of the Nation, and scholars have compared his role to that of George Washington or Otto von Bismarck.
Source: Prithvi Narayan Shah
