Kot Parva (Kot Parba) of 1846 in Nepal

Nepal is an immensely diverse country by geography, ethnicity, language, religion as well as caste. In epic times, it was ruled by ethnic people of Himalayas called Kirats. The Kirat rulers were replaced by several ingenious tribes such as Thakuris, Mallas etc. For the first time in 18th century, this country was unified by king Prithvi Narayan Shah, of the Shah dynasty by defeating the minor and major principalities. He shifted his capital to Kathmandu and renamed his “Gorkha Kingdom” to Nepal. The kings of this Gorkha kingdom were very ambitious and wanted to extend their territories as far as possible. They fought with Tibet, with China as well as British India. In 1814, the two year Anglo-Nepalese war resulted into their heavy defeat and they lost the terai region to British.

The Shah dynasty lost the control over Nepal when entire generation of these people were massacred in a coup called “Kot Parba” (Court massacre) in 1846. Hence forth, the sovereign power came with “Ranas” led by Jung Bahadur Rana. The Shahs were made titular monarchs and Ranas became real rulers under the hereditary Prime Minister system they established via this coup. Junbg Bahardur Rana was able to first codify the traditional laws and proclaim the so called “Muluki Ain” (Law of the Land) in 1854. Nine rulers of this dynasty ruled for entire one century till 1951 when increased dissatisfaction against the family rule resulted in the Revolution of 1951.