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Bhimsen Thapa (
Nepali: भीमसेन थापाlisten (August 1775 – 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. (
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