The valley's three kings spent the 18th century betraying one another over ritual slights and tiny territories — while a king 80 kilometres west was taking notes. Prithvi Narayan Shah (पृथ्वीनारायण शाह) of Gorkha inherited a small kingdom but a decisive strategic position: the routes to the valley's western trade corridor.उपत्यकाका तीन राजाले अठाह्रौं शताब्दीभर एकअर्कासँग ठूला-साना विषयमा युद्ध गरिरहे — जबकि असी किलोमिटर पश्चिम गोरखाका राजाले अवसर हेरिरहेका थिए।
Nuwakot, 1744नुवाकोट, १७४४
His father had failed to take Nuwakot in 1736. Prithvi Narayan captured it on 26 September 1744 — a Kantipur protectorate on the trans-Himalayan trade route. Kathmandu's lifeblood was cut. Jaya Prakash Malla sent his general Kashiram Thapa to retake it; the campaign failed, and in fury the king executed his own commander — shattering his army's loyalty.उनका बुबा १७३६ मा नुवाकोट जित्न असफल भएका थिए। पृथ्वीनारायणले २६ सेप्टेम्बर १७४४ मा नुवाकोट कब्जा गरे — र काठमाडौंको मुख्य व्यापार-मार्ग काटियो। जयप्रकाश मल्लले आफ्नै सेनापति काशीराम थापालाई रीसमा मृत्युदण्ड दिए — सेनाको मनोबल भत्कियो।
The Encirclementघेराबन्दी
Rather than storm fortified cities, Shah closed the trap: Kirtipur's campaigns, then Makwanpur (1762) and Dhulikhel (1763) sealed the valley on the west, south and east. Then came the economic strangulation — a total embargo on the India–Tibet trade. Runners caught carrying salt or cotton were hanged from roadside trees. The valley starved; the three kings, chronically at odds, failed to form a common front.किल्ला तोड्ने साटो शाहले घेराबन्दी गरे: कीर्तिपुर, फर्कि मकवानपुर (१७६२) र धुलिखेल (१७६३) — र अन्ततः भारत-तिब्बत व्यापार पूर्ण प्रतिबन्ध। नुन वा सूत बोक्दै भागेका दूतहरूलाई रूखमा झुण्ड्याइयो। उपत्यका भोकले पिरोलियो; तीन राजाले एकता जुटाएनन्।
Britain Tries — and Failsअङ्ग्रेजको पहिलो असफल प्रयास
The starving Kathmandu court appealed to the East India Company. Captain George Kinloch marched from Patna in August 1767 with roughly 2,400 men, took the forts of Sindhuligadhi and Hariharpur — and was then routed at Sindhuli by Gorkhali guerrilla tactics, mutiny, sickness and supply failure. He retreated on 17 October 1767. The first British military attempt in Nepal had failed completely — a humiliation the Company would repay in 1814.भोकाले थिचोमिचो बेहोरेको काठमाडौंले इस्ट इन्डिया कम्पनीलाई पत्र लेख्यो। कप्तान जर्ज किन्लोक २४०० जना लिएर आयो, सिन्धुलीगढी जिते — तर सिन्धुलीमा गोरखाली गुरिल्ला तरिकाले पूर्ण पराजित भयो। १७ अक्टोबर १७६७ मा फर्कियो। नेपालमा अङ्ग्रेजको पहिलो सैन्य प्रयास सम्पूर्ण असफल भयो।
"Jaya Prakash Malla's overbearing manner, haughty temper and suspicious mind made him largely responsible for the conquest.
जयप्रकाश मल्लको अहङ्कारी स्वभाव र सन्देही मनै विजयको मुख्य कारण बन्यो।
— Dilli Raman Regmi, Medieval Nepal
Indra Jatra Night — 25 September 1768इन्द्रजात्राको रात — २५ सेप्टेम्बर १७६८
On the night of Indra Jatra, with the city absorbed in festival and the king watching the chariots from his palace, Gorkhali troops attacked Kantipur in the dark. Seized by surprise, Jaya Prakash fled to Lalitpur. The chronicle tradition preserves the cry that ran through the streets that night — the Gorkhalis announcing, again and again, that the city had fallen. The palace, the mint, and the Taleju establishment fell to Gorkha in a single night.इन्द्रजात्राको रात, शहर चाडपर्वमा मग्न र राजा रथ हेरिरहेको बेला, गोरखाली सेना अन्धकारमा कान्तिपुर आक्रमण गर्यो। जयप्रकाश पाटन भागे। वंशावलीले त्यो रातको चिच्याहट सम्झौटा गर्छ — 'यो शहर लिइयो!' — दरबार, टक्सार र तलेजु स्थापना एकै रात गोरखाको हातमा गयो।
Patan fell within weeks. Bhaktapur held out for over a year — until November 1769, when treacherous nobles opened its gates to the ~20,000-strong Gorkhali army. The monastery chronicle of Jana Baha records the cost: 2,001 killed, 501 houses burned. With Bhaktapur's fall, the independent Nepal Mandala ended.पाटन केही सातामै लिइयो। भक्तपुरले एक वर्षभन्दा बढी प्रतिरोध गर्यो — अन्ततः नोभेम्बर १७६९ मा विश्वासघाती भारदारहरूले ढोका खोले। जनबहाल मठको अभिलेखले क्षति लेख्छ: २००१ मृत्यु, ५०१ घर जले।
The Fates of the Last Kingsअन्तिम राजाहरूको अन्त्य
- ◆Jaya Prakash Malla of Kathmandu — died of a bullet wound; tradition holds he was cremated at Pashupatinath, where he had predicted he would die
- ◆Ranjit Malla of Bhaktapur — spared for his age; allowed to depart for Kashi. Looking back at his kingdom from the Chandragiri pass, he composed a famous lament of a defeated ruler
- ◆Tej Narasimha Malla of Patan — held in chains until his death