A Century of the Shumshers

On 21–22 November 1885, the Shumsher brothers of the Jung Bahadur line murdered the Maharaja Ranodip Singh and installed Bir Shumsher — beginning the Shumsher era of the Rana dynasty (not to be confused with the 1882 plot, a separate conspiracy led by Colonel Amar Bikram Shah). The succession line that followed — Bir, Dev, Chandra, Juddha, Padma, Mohan — is the Rana era as most Nepalis experienced it.२१–२२ नोभेम्बर १८८५ मा शम्शेर दाजुभाइहरूले रणोद्दिप सिंहको हत्या गरेर वीर शम्शेरलाई बसाए — शम्शेर युग सुरु भयो।

Dev Shumsher — the 114-Day Liberalदेव शम्शेर — ११४ दिनका उदार राणा

Dev Shumsher (देव शम्शेर), Maharaja from 5 March to 27 June 1901 — exactly 114 days — was the dynasty's anomaly: he founded Gorkhapatra (गोरखापत्र), Nepal's first national newspaper, in May 1901; proposed universal education; opened Durbar High School to non-Rana children; and studied Japan's Meiji model for sending Nepali students abroad. The Rana council deposed and exiled him; he died in Mussoorie in 1914.देव शम्शेर — ५ मार्चदेखि २७ जुन १९०१, ठ्याक्कै ११४ दिन — वंशकै अपवाद थिए: गोरखापत्र सुरु गरे, सर्व-साधारण शिक्षा प्रस्ताव गरे, दरबार हाई स्कूल राणाभरेबाट खोले। परिषद्ले उनलाई निर्वासित गर्‍यो।

Chandra Shumsher — the Iron Maharajaचन्द्र शम्शेर — फलामे महाराजा

Chandra Shumsher (चन्द्र शम्शेर, 1901–1929), the first prime minister with a matriculation, ran Nepal for 28 years under the maxim Nepalis coined for him — "चन्द्रे हाँस्यो त नास्यो" ("if Chandra laughs, you are destroyed"). He abolished sati (~1920) and slavery (1925–26, funded from the Pashupatinath treasury), founded Tri-Chandra College (1918), built Singha Durbar (1907) — at 1,200+ rooms, the largest palace in Asia — and sent over 200,000 Nepali troops and ten million rupees to Britain's side in the First World War. His reward: the Treaty of 1923 (21 December), the first treaty concluded by mutual discussion between the two states, in which Britain formally recognized Nepal's complete independence and the Resident became an Envoy.चन्द्र शम्शेर — पहिला एमेच्युरिट पास प्रधानमन्त्री — 'चन्द्रे हाँस्यो त नास्यो'को प्रतिष्ठा लिएर २८ वर्ष शासन गरे। उनले सती अन्त्य गरे, दास प्रथा अन्त्य गरे, त्रि-चन्द्र कलेज खोले, सिंहदरबार बनाए, र प्रथम विश्वयुद्धमा ब्रिटिशलाई सहयोग गरे। त्यसको पुरस्कार: २१ डिसेम्बर १९२३ को सन्धि, जसमा ब्रिटेनले नेपालको पूर्ण स्वतन्त्रता स्वीकार्‍यो।

⤢ Zoom

Juddha, Padma, Mohanजुद्ध, पद्म, मोहन

Juddha Shumsher (जुद्ध शम्शेर, 1929–1945) presided over the 15 January 1934 Great Earthquake — magnitude 8.0, over 10,000 dead, Kathmandu Valley devastated, though Pashupatinath famously stood. His successor Padma Shumsher (पद्म शम्शेर, 1945–48) attempted Nepal's first constitutional reform; Mohan Shumsher (मोहन शम्शेर, 1948–51) was the last Rana prime minister, holding the office while the dynasty collapsed around him.जुद्ध शम्शेर १५ जनवरी १९३४ को महाभूकम्प — तीव्रता ८.०, १०,०००+ मृत्यु, उपत्यका विध्वस्त, तर पशुपतिनाथ अक्षत — को पालामा बसे। पद्म शम्शेरले पहिलो संवैधानिक प्रयास गरे; मोहन शम्शेर अन्तिम राणा प्रधानमन्त्री बने।

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A regime that owned the army, the land and the law — and could not survive the twentieth century's simplest question: why?

सेना, जमिन र कानून सबै आफ्नो भएको शासन — तर विंश शताब्दीको सोझो प्रश्न 'किन?' सामु नटिक्‍यो।