1846 Bhandarkhal massacre

history ja バンダールカール事件 November 2021 November 2021 The Bhandarkhal massacre (ne भण्डारखाल पर्व, Bhandarkhal Parva) was a political massacre that took place on 31 October 1846 in the Bhandarkhal garden of the Hanuman Dhoka palace complex in Kathmandu, Nepal. It occurred approximately six weeks after the Kot massacre, in which Jung Bahadur Rana had emerged as the dominant military and political figure in the Nepalese court.Karmacharya Ganga Queens in Nepalese Politics: An Account of Roles of Nepalese Queens in State Affairs, 1775–1846 Educational Publishing House 2005 978-99946-33-93-7 130 The Bhandarkhal episode resulted from a conspiracy involving Queen Rajya Lakshmi and several of Jung Bahadur's political opponents. The conspirators intended to eliminate Jung Bahadur, whose rapid rise following the Kot massacre had threatened the political position of the queen and her faction. Jung Bahadur learned of the conspiracy and arrived at Bhandarkhal with armed troops. Fighting followed, resulting in the deaths of numerous members of the opposing faction.Chauhan R. S. Struggle and Change in South Asian Monarchies Chetana Publications 1977 47 The precise number of people killed varies among historical accounts. Some accounts give a figure of 23 people killed, while other sources give higher estimates. The episode nevertheless had major political consequences: Jung Bahadur eliminated another group of his principal opponents, stripped Queen Rajya Lakshmi of her political authority and forced her and King Rajendra Bikram Shah into exile in Varanasi.Whelpton John A History of Nepal Cambridge University Press 2005 43–46 The Bhandarkhal massacre, together with the Kot massacre and the subsequent Alau massacre, formed part of the series of violent political struggles through which Jung Bahadur consolidated his control over the Nepalese state and established the foundations of the Rana regime.Acharya Baburam The Bloodstained Throne: Struggles for Power in Nepal, 1775–1914 Penguin Books 2013 145–166 Background The aftermath of the Kot massacre The Bhandarkhal episode followed the Kot massacre of September 1846. During the Kot massacre, a large number of senior courtiers and military officers were killed after the murder of the powerful courtier Gagan Singh Bhandari triggered a crisis at the royal palace. Jung Bahadur Kunwar emerged from the massacre as the most powerful military figure in Kathmandu. Queen Rajya Lakshmi, who had played an important role in the political events surrounding the Kot gathering, appointed Jung Bahadur to the position of Mukhtiyar and commander of the army.Acharya Baburam The Bloodstained Throne: Struggles for Power in Nepal, 1775–1914 Penguin Books 2013 137–145 Jung Bahadur subsequently began strengthening his position by placing his brothers and other close relatives in important military and administrative positions. The political balance that had previously existed among the major aristocratic families was rapidly being replaced by the dominance of the Kunwar family.Whelpton John A History of Nepal Cambridge University Press 2005 42–44 Conflict between the queen and Jung Bahadur Although Queen Rajya Lakshmi had initially supported Jung Bahadur's rise, their political interests soon diverged. The queen wanted to strengthen the position of her own sons in the royal succession and expected Jung Bahadur to support her political objectives. Jung Bahadur, however, increasingly pursued an independent political strategy. His growing control over the army made him difficult for the queen or the king to remove. The relationship between the two consequently deteriorated.Karmacharya Ganga Queens in Nepalese Politics: An Account of Roles of Nepalese Queens in State Affairs, 1775–1846 Educational Publishing House 2005 120–132 Queen Rajya Lakshmi also sought to alter the succession in favour of her son Ranendra Bikram Shah. This brought her into conflict with Jung Bahadur, who was unwilling to allow the queen to use the monarchy to remove political figures who stood in the way of his own consolidation of power.Acharya Baburam The Bloodstained Throne: Struggles for Power in Nepal, 1775–1914 Penguin Books 2013 145–151 Conspiracy against Jung Bahadur Following the Kot massacre, surviving members of the old political factions sought an opportunity to weaken or eliminate Jung Bahadur. Some of these figures had lost relatives and political allies in the Kot killings and regarded Jung Bahadur as responsible for their loss of power. The queen became associated with a group of courtiers who opposed Jung Bahadur. Among those involved were members of the Basnyat family and other aristocratic factions that had previously exercised influence at the Nepalese court.Karmacharya Ganga Queens in Nepalese Politics: An Account of Roles of Nepalese Queens in State Affairs, 1775–1846 Educational Publishing House 2005 128–132 A gathering was arranged at the Bhandarkhal garden on the eastern side of the palace complex. According to the traditional account, the gathering was intended to provide an opportunity to assassinate Jung Bahadur. The extent to which the queen personally directed the assassination plot remains a matter of historical interpretation. Later accounts differ in their description of her precise role, and much of the surviving narrative was written after Jung Bahadur had established political dominance.Whelpton John A History of Nepal Cambridge University Press 2005 43–45 The Bhandarkhal confrontation Jung Bahadur learned that his opponents were planning against him. Rather than attending the gathering unprepared, he approached Bhandarkhal accompanied by armed troops. The conspirators had expected Jung Bahadur to arrive without a substantial military force. His appearance with soldiers transformed the situation. The anti-Jung Bahadur faction was unable to organize an effective resistance and several of its members attempted to flee. According to historical accounts, Jung Bahadur's forces attacked the conspirators and killed a number of them. One of the prominent figures associated with the conspiracy was Bir Dhoj Basnyat. Other members of the opposing faction were also killed during the confrontation.Karmacharya Ganga Queens in Nepalese Politics: An Account of Roles of Nepalese Queens in State Affairs, 1775–1846 Educational Publishing House 2005 130 Some accounts state that 23 people were killed and approximately 15 escaped from the garden. Other sources give a higher death toll, and the exact number remains uncertain. Deaths and casualties The number of people killed at Bhandarkhal is disputed. The commonly cited figure is 23 deaths, while some secondary sources describe the event as having killed at least 30 people. The discrepancy results from differences in the sources concerning people killed during the confrontation and those executed or killed in the immediate aftermath. +Reported casualties and survivorsNo.KilledNo.Escaped1Bir Dhoj Basnyat1Ranabhadra Basnyat2Man Singh Basnyat2Samarajit Basnyat3Dalmardan Thapa3Kanak Singh Khatri4Bir Kesar Basnyat4Kalu Thapa5Purandar Thapa5Gothu Basnyat6Singhbir Thapa6Narser Khatri7Keshar Singh7Bajir Singh Thapa8Shakti Hamal8Samman Thapa9Bagh Singh Mehat9Bakht Singh Basnyat10Umed Singh Basnyat10Ranbir Rana Magar11Narjit Rana12Kokil Man Singh Khatri Political purge The significance of Bhandarkhal extended beyond the deaths at the garden itself. Jung Bahadur used the failed conspiracy to remove a wider network of opponents. The property of people accused of involvement in the conspiracy was confiscated. Political opponents were arrested, executed or driven into exile. The purge further weakened the old aristocratic families that had competed for influence at the Nepalese court.Acharya Baburam The Bloodstained Throne: Struggles for Power in Nepal, 1775–1914 Penguin Books 2013 145–158 The political consequences were particularly significant for the Basnyat family and other groups that had opposed Jung Bahadur. After the Kot massacre had already destroyed much of the previous political leadership, Bhandarkhal removed another important group of potential challengers. The two massacres therefore worked together to transform the political structure of the Nepalese state. Fall of Queen Rajya Lakshmi The Bhandarkhal episode destroyed Queen Rajya Lakshmi's ability to challenge Jung Bahadur. Jung Bahadur subsequently convened a council of leading officials and accused the queen of involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate the prime minister and Crown Prince Surendra Bikram Shah. The political establishment accepted the charges against her and stripped her of her political authority.Karmacharya Ganga Queens in Nepalese Politics: An Account of Roles of Nepalese Queens in State Affairs, 1775–1846 Educational Publishing House 2005 130–136 The queen was subsequently allowed to leave Nepal for Varanasi in British India. King Rajendra Bikram Shah accompanied her. The exile of the king and queen was a crucial development because it removed the principal royal figures who might otherwise have challenged Jung Bahadur's growing authority. Jung Bahadur's consolidation of power The Bhandarkhal massacre left Jung Bahadur without a major organized opposition within Kathmandu. After the massacre, Jung Bahadur strengthened his control over the army and bureaucracy and appointed members of his own family to senior positions. The traditional political families that had competed for power during the preceding decades were progressively displaced by members of the Kunwar family and their allies.Whelpton John A History of Nepal Cambridge University Press 2005 44–55 The political system that emerged was not created in a single event. Rather, the Kot massacre, the Bhandarkhal massacre, the exile of the royal couple and the subsequent defeat of King Rajendra's supporters formed a sequence of events through which Jung Bahadur transformed himself from a military commander into the effective ruler of Nepal. Exile of the royal family After leaving Kathmandu, King Rajendra and Queen Rajya Lakshmi remained in Varanasi. Rajendra subsequently sought support for an attempt to recover his throne and overthrow Jung Bahadur. Jung Bahadur regarded the king's activities in India as a serious threat. In 1847, he moved against Rajendra's supporters in Nepal and used the king's political activity as a justification for further consolidating his authority.Acharya Baburam The Bloodstained Throne: Struggles for Power in Nepal, 1775–1914 Penguin Books 2013 158–166 Alau massacre and the deposition of Rajendra The political conflict continued into 1847 when forces loyal to King Rajendra attempted to challenge Jung Bahadur. The confrontation culminated in the Alau massacre near Birgunj. Jung Bahadur's forces defeated Rajendra's supporters, and Rajendra was subsequently captured and brought back to Nepal. Jung Bahadur then declared Rajendra incapable of continuing as king and confirmed Surendra Bikram Shah as monarch. Rajendra spent the remainder of his life under confinement in Nepal.Whelpton John A History of Nepal Cambridge University Press 2005 46–48 The defeat of Rajendra removed the final major political challenge to Jung Bahadur's dominance. Establishment of Rana rule The political order created through the crises of 1846–1847 eventually developed into the Rana regime. Jung Bahadur concentrated executive authority in the office of the prime minister while preserving the Shah monarchy as the formal institution of kingship. His brothers and other members of his family occupied important military and administrative positions. In 1856, Jung Bahadur secured the hereditary title of Maharaja of Kaski and Lamjung, further strengthening the political distinction between the Shah monarchy and the Rana prime ministership.Whelpton John A History of Nepal Cambridge University Press 2005 48–55 The Rana family subsequently controlled the office of prime minister for more than a century. Rana rule ended only after the 1950–1951 Nepalese revolution, when King Tribhuvan, the Nepali Congress and other political forces challenged the Rana system. Historical significance The Bhandarkhal massacre was one of the decisive events in the establishment of Jung Bahadur's political dominance. The Kot massacre had eliminated many of the leading members of Nepal's established political factions, but it did not completely eliminate opposition to Jung Bahadur. Bhandarkhal removed another group of opponents and destroyed the political position of Queen Rajya Lakshmi, who had initially helped Jung Bahadur rise to power. The subsequent exile of the king and queen and the defeat of Rajendra's supporters allowed Jung Bahadur to transform the temporary authority he had gained in 1846 into a durable political system. For this reason, the Bhandarkhal massacre is generally treated as a major turning point in nineteenth-century Nepalese history. It was not, by itself, the establishment of the Rana regime, but it was an essential stage in the destruction of the political order that had preceded Jung Bahadur's rise. Historical interpretations Traditional accounts portray Bhandarkhal as a planned attempt by Queen Rajya Lakshmi and her supporters to assassinate Jung Bahadur, followed by Jung Bahadur's successful counterattack. Modern historical scholarship treats the political context more cautiously. The queen was certainly involved in a struggle against Jung Bahadur, but the precise degree of her involvement in planning the violence, the intentions of individual conspirators and the sequence of events are not equally well established in all sources. The episode should therefore be understood within the broader factional politics of the Nepalese court rather than simply as an isolated assassination attempt. The massacre was part of a sequence of political violence through which Jung Bahadur destroyed rival factions and established control over the army, government and monarchy. Legacy The Bhandarkhal massacre remains closely associated with the rise of Jung Bahadur Rana and the establishment of the Rana political order. Together with the Kot massacre, it became one of the defining episodes of the violent political transition of 1846. The events demonstrated the decisive importance of control over the army in Nepalese court politics and marked the destruction of much of the old aristocratic political order. The massacre also had a lasting effect on the relationship between the Shah monarchy and the Rana prime ministers. After the political crises of 1846–1847, the Shah kings retained their formal position but the Rana prime ministers exercised effective control over the government for more than a century. See also Kot massacre Jung Bahadur Rana Rana dynasty Rajendra of Nepal Rajya Lakshmi Devi Fateh Jung Shah Gagan Singh Bhandari Basnyat family Pande dynasty Thapa dynasty History of Nepal List of massacres in Nepal References Further reading Acharya Baburam The Bloodstained Throne: Struggles for Power in Nepal, 1775–1914 Penguin Books 2013 9780143416371 Karmacharya Ganga Queens in Nepalese Politics: An Account of Roles of Nepalese Queens in State Affairs, 1775–1846 Educational Publishing House 2005 9789994633937 Whelpton John A History of Nepal Cambridge University Press 2005 9780521804707 Chauhan R. S. Struggle and Change in South Asian Monarchies Chetana Publications 1977 Category:1846 in Nepal Category:Jung Bahadur Rana Category:Massacres in Nepal Category:Rana regime Category:October 1846 Category:Massacres in 1846