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Prithvi Jayanti, also known as Nepal Ekikaran Diwas or Unity Day, is observed on January 11 in the honour of Prithvi Narayan who was the first king of the unified Nepal.
Many people decorate the statues of Prithvi Narayan Shah with garlands during this celebration. From 1951 until it was eliminated as a public holiday in 2006, Prithvi Jayanti was celebrated with fanfare by government as well as non-government organisations. Prithvi Jayanti has, however, been proclaimed a public holiday by some local government bodies in the Nuwakot and Gorkha districts. There is some pressure to turn it into a federal holiday from some Nepalese citizens.
On this day, people participate in the parades and shout out praises of Prithvi Narayan Shah. The chanting of the passages from Shah’s book Divyopadesh are also carried out. The Nepal Army organises a torch-bearing procession from Shah’s birthplace in Gorkha to the nation’s capital Kathmandu every year. Other programs by different organisations are also conducted.
The first child of Nara Bhupal Shah and Kaushalyavati Devi, Prithvi Narayan Shah was born prematurely in the Gorkha Palace on January 11, 1723. Through the proper ceremony, Prince Prithvi Narayan Shah’s education began at age five. The Upadhyayas, who served as the palace’s astrologers and went by the aliases Jyotishi or Jaisi, were tasked with educating Prithvi Narayan Shah, but his stepmother, Queen Chandrawati, was responsible for moulding his character.
Prithvi Narayan Shah became the king of Gorkha at the age of 20, after the death of his father in 1743 AD. It was still a small state when Prithvi Narayan Shah took over the throne of Gorkha. Then he began to think of enlarging the Gorkha into a bigger and stronger state. He travelled to Varanasi to learn first-hand information about India and the neighbouring states. Varanasi was then India’s major commercial hub, drawing people from all over the country. He learned important things about the political and social circumstances of the Indian sub-continent by interacting with many people there.
Midway through the 18th century, Prithvi Narayan Shah set out to unite the small kingdoms that became modern-day Nepal. He arrived in the Kathmandu Valley, where the three Malla kingdoms, Bhaktapur, Patan, and Kantipur (Kathmandu), were in power. After winning the battle of Nuwakot (1744), Kritipur was the subject of a conflict between Shah and the kingdom of Patan. As a result, the town was captured by the Gorkhas in 1767. This put Kantipur in danger, so the king of Kantipur, Jaya Prakash Malla, asked the East India Company for help in slowing down Gorkha’s rapid expansion.
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Shah also imposed a blockade on the country, which hurt East India Company trade with Tibet and China since they used Kantipur route for their trans-Himalayan trade. In response to the request, the company dispatched Captain Kinloch, who in 1767 fought with Prithvi Narayan Shah’s forces at the battle of Sindhuli. After this, Shah was able to take the valley by force and establish himself as the king of Nepal on September 25, 1768. Prince Bahadur Shah, Queen Rajendra, and Bhimsem Thapa carried on the unification of Nepal after Prithvi Narayan Shah’s death. The kingdom of Nepal stretched from the Tista River in the east to the Sutlej River in the west.
Generally, opinions on how to observe Prithvi Jayanti differ. Some believe that Nepal would have become a colony of the British Empire if Prithvi Shah’s unification campaign had not been successful. Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s Chairman, Rajendra Prasad Lingden, requested that Prithvi Jayanti be made a public holiday to the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2022. The party also threatened to launch a nationwide protest if their request was not granted. The same year, the Bibeksheel Sajha Party supported the idea of designating Prithvi Jayanti as Nepal Day and argued that it should be celebrated as a public holiday. All Nepalese commemorate Prithvi Narayan Shah and his contributions to the country on Prithvi Jayanti. Even in the school, students participate in the celebration by reciting poems, writing short biographies about his life, and making speeches. Local people also participate in parades on January 11.
Compiled By: Nikita Gautam
photo credit: The Record Nepal, Nepal Travel Guide
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