page_title: Prithvi Narayan Shah
section_title: Unification of the kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Prithvi Narayan Shah / Unification of the kingdom
caption_attribution_description: English: King of then Gorkha later Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723-1775) with Senapati Shivaram Singh Basnyat (died 1747)
context_page_description: Maharajadhiraja Prithivi Narayan Shah was the last ruler of the Gorkha Kingdom and first monarch of Kingdom of Nepal in the Indian subcontinent. He claimed to be a Gorkhali monarch of Rajput origin from medieval India. Prithvi Narayan Shah is credited for starting the campaign for the unification of Nepal.
  Maharajadhiraja Prithvi Narayan Shah self proclaimed the newly unified Kingdom of Nepal as Asal Hindustan due to North India being ruled by the Islamic Mughal rulers. The self proclamation was done to enforce Hindu social code Dharmaśāstra over his reign and refer to his country as being inhabitable for Hindus. He also referred to the rest of Northern India as Mughlan and called the region infiltrated by Muslim foreigners.
context_section_description: Before Prithivi Narayan Shah's unification movement, there were a total of 54 states in Nepal. In the South-Eastern Terai, there were three Sen states: Makawanpur, Bijayapur, and Chaudandi. In the West, from Gorkha to Gandaki Province, there were 24 states. In the province of Karnali, there were 22 states with Kalyan, Samaal, Shahi and Chand dynasties. Along with Gorkha and Mustang, Bhaktapur, Kantipur and Lalitpur made up the remaining five states. 
  When Prithivi Narayan Shah had ascended to the throne of Gorkha in the year April 3, 1743 A.D, it was yet a small state. He then started to contemplate on the methods to turn Gorkha into a huge and strong state. He went to Varanasi to gain first-hand knowledge about the neighboring states and about India to the south. During those days, Varanasi was one of the large trade centers of India where people from different places gathered. He met with different types of people and gained valuable understandings regarding the Political and Social condition of the Indian Sub-Continent. In Varanasi, his father-in-law Abhiman Singh, a Rajput Chief, procured for him some firearms and a quantity of ammunition.
caption: Prithvi Narayan Shah consulting with his Senapati Shivaram Singh Basnyat
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