11/01/2023
King Prithvi Narayan Shah was born on Thursday 7th January 1723 AD. He spent his childhood in his hometown Gorkha. At the age of eleven, a coming-of-age ceremony was held in Maidi, Dhading according to the Hindu tradition. Shortly after his coming-of-age ceremony, at the age of fourteen, he was married to Princess Indra Kumari Sen of Makwanpur in February 1738. However, his bride was not allowed to accompany him to Gorkha by father-in-law King Hemkarna Sen and brother-in-law Prince Digbandhan Sen at the time of marriage. Again, Prince Prithvi Narayan Shah went to Makwanpur to take his bride after nearly two years, but this time also he had to return empty handed due to the disagreement of King Hemkarna Sen and his son Digbandhan Sen. This eventually led to a second marriage for Prithvi Narayan Shah in February 1740 at the age of sixteen with Narendralaxmi, daughter of Ahiman Singh, a rajput and local feudal head of Ara near Banaras.
Moving on to 1739, Prithvi Narayan Shah’s father, King Narabhupal Shah became mentally unstable, believed to be due to Gorkha’s failure in capturing Nuwakot. This mental instability led King Narabhupal to be confined inside the palace. In such circumstances, as per the advice of courtiers, Prince Prithvi Narayan Shah had to work jointly with his senior mother Queen Chandraprabhavati in the management of state affairs. In fact, Prince Prithvi Narayan Shah was brought up under the strict guidance of the senior queen who was also his political mentor. On the other hand, his own biological mother, Queen Kaushalyavati, a princess and daughter of King Gandharva Sen of Palpa, was not as involved in state affairs as the senior queen.