Jayant Rana

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Kaji

Jayant Rana
Native name
जयन्त राना
Birth nameJayant Rana Magar
BornGorkha Kingdom
(present day Gorkha, Nepal)
Died1744
Belkot
(present day Nuwakot District)
AllegianceGorkha Kingdom
Kingdom of Kantipur
Years of servicec. 1736 – 1744
RankKaji
Battles/warsBattle of Nuwakot (1736)
Battle of Nuwakot (1743)
Battle of Nuwakot (1744)
Battle of Belkot (1744) †
Spouse(s)Unknown
ChildrenSankhamani Rana

Kaji Jayant Rana Magar was a Gorkhali general of the Gorkha Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Kantipur who commanded one battle for Gorkha, and two battles for Kantipur against the invasion of Nuwakot. He died in 1774 after ordering to be skinned alive by Prithvi Narayan Shah, first King of Nepal.

Biography[]

Gorkhali troops storming Nuwakot Fort during the Battle of Nuwakot (1744).

King of Gorkha, Nara Bhupal Shah, made Jayant Rana commander of his army with Maheshwar Panta.[1] In 1736, the king sent both commanders to attack Nuwakot, territory controlled by the Kingdom of Kantipur but the attack was unsuccessful.[1] They made a retreat back to Gorkha, however, both commanders blamed each other for the defeat.[1] Fearing for his life, Rana quitted the army of Gorkha, subsequently joined the Kantipur army.[1] King of Kantipur, Jaya Prakash Malla, appointed Rana to defend attacks from Gorkha as he had inside information on their strengths and weaknesses.[2] Prithvi Narayan Shah ascended the throne of the Gorkha Kingdom in 1743 after the death of his father Nara Bhupal Shah.[3] Like his father, he attacked Nuwakot, but he failed to win, thus he began to improve military technology and manpower.[2]

When preparing for a war against Nuwakot, Prithvi Narayan Shah, wrote a letter to Jayant Rana to join Gorkha, mentioning his ex-relations, however, he declined to join his side, adding "I am yours, but I have already eaten the salt of Jaya Prakash. Now I would die for him".[4] Later, Jayant Rana became aware of an oncoming attack from Gorkha and he assigned his son Sankhamani Rana to defend Nuwakot, then Jayant went to Kantipur to get more soldiers.[5] However, Kantipur was celebrating a major festival of Indra Jatra, thus he failed to get any additional soldiers to defend Nuwakot.[5] Meanwhile, Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Nuwakot, as soldiers were unprepared so they started to run away to Belkot.[6] Rana's son, Sankhamani was killed in action.[7] On 1 October 1744, Gorkha Kingdom won the war, subsequently, Jayant Rana was going back to Nuwakot but decided to stay at Belkot for a counterattack, and started to prepare for another battle with Gorkha.[8][4][9] Later Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Belkot and won a nearly Pyrrhic victory, upon victory, Rana was captured.[4] In 1744, Shah brought Rana to Nuwakot and ordered him to be skinned alive with the presence of people from Gorkha, and Nuwakot.[8][10] Jayant Rana is remembered for being one of the "recorded act of violence" of Prithvi Narayan Shah.[10]

References[]

Citations[]

  1. ^ a b c d Singh 2013, p. 13.
  2. ^ a b Hamal 1995, p. 89.
  3. ^ Shrestha 2017, p. 28.
  4. ^ a b c Singh 1997, p. 112.
  5. ^ a b Hamal 1995, p. 97.
  6. ^ Hamal 1995, p. 99.
  7. ^ Singh 2013, p. 15.
  8. ^ a b Khand 2005, p. 196.
  9. ^ Douglas 2020, p. 6.7.
  10. ^ a b Douglas 2020, p. 6.6.

Bibliography[]

  • Singh, Mahendra Man (30 June 2013). Forever Incomplete: The Story of Nepal. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 978-81-321-1805-3.
  • Shrestha, Nanda R. (8 February 2017). Historical Dictionary of Nepal. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-7770-0.
  • Hamal, Lakshman B. (1995). Military History of Nepal. Sharda Pustak Mandir.
  • Khand, Jitendra Dhoj (2005). Strategic Thought. Aarati, Prapti, Ajeeta Khand. ISBN 978-99946-57-64-3.
  • Singh, Nagendra Kr (1997). Nepal: Refugee to Ruler : a Militant Race of Nepal. APH Publishing. ISBN 978-81-7024-847-7.
  • Douglas, Ed (27 August 2020). Himalaya: A Human History. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4735-4614-1.
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