JUNG BAHADUR, SIR, MAHARAJAH (1816-1877), prime minister of Nepal, was a
grand-nephew of Bhim sena Thapa (Bhim sen Thappa), the famous military
minister of Nepal, who from 1804 to 1839 was _de facto_ ruler of the
state under the rani Tripuri and her successor. Bhimsena's supremacy was
threatened by the Kala Pandry, and many of his relations, including Jung
Bahadur, went into exile in 1838, thus escaping the cruel fate which
overtook Bhimsena in the following year. The Pandry leaders, who then
reverted to power, were in turn assassinated in 1843, and Matabar Singh,
uncle of Jung Bahadur, was created prime minister. He appointed his
nephew general and chief judge, but shortly afterwards he was himself
put to death. Fateh Jung thereon formed a ministry, of which Jung
Bahadur was made military member. In the following year, 1846, a quarrel
was fomented, in which Fateh Jung and thirty-two other chiefs were
assassinated, and the rani appointed Jung Bahadur sole minister. The
rani quickly changed her mind, and planned the death of her new
minister, who at once appealed to the maharaja. But the plot failed. The
raja and the rani wisely sought safety in India, and Jung Bahadur firmly
established his own position by the removal of all dangerous rivals. He
succeeded so well that in January 1850 he was able to leave for a visit
to England, from which he did not return to Nepal until the 6th of
February 1851. On his return, and frequently on subsequent dates, he
frustrated conspiracies for his assassination. The reform of the penal
code, and a desultory war with Tibet, occupied his attention until news
of the Indian Mutiny reached Nepal. Jung Bahadur resisted all overtures
from the rebels, and sent a column to Gorakpur in July 1857. In December
he furnished a force of 8000 Gurkhas, which reached Lucknow on the 11th
of March 1858, and took part in the siege. The moral support of the
Nepalese was more valuable even than the military services rendered by
them. Jung Bahadur was made a G.C.B., and a tract of country annexed in
1815 was restored to Nepal. Various frontier disputes were settled, and
in 1875 Sir Jung Bahadur was on his way to England when he had a fall
from his horse in Bombay and returned home. He received a visit from the
Prince of Wales in 1876. On the 25th of February 1877 he died, having
reached the age of sixty-one. Three of his widows immolated themselves
on his funeral pyre. (W. L.-W.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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