Nuwakot

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nuwakot sideseen

One year after becoming King, in 1744 AD, Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Nuwakot but was repelled because the Gorkha army was not well equipped. In addition, conflicts of interest between the Pandeys and Basnets - two important courtier clans in the Gorkha palace - arose to add domestic political tension. Shah then made Kalu Pandey the "Mul Kaji (equivalent to Prime Minister)" of his state and thus strengthened his domestic political position. Almost a year later, on 2 October 1744, he attacked Nuwakot again and won, thus expanding the bounds of his Gorkha state.

  King was born to the royal house of  shah of ongorkha 11 January 1723 (27 Poush 1779 B.S.), and he had ascended to the throne of his dynasty's kingdom (which had not yet united Nepal into its modern-day form) on 3 April 1743. It was noted that he had a great interest in politics since he had been young. He was interested in diplomacy and had interests in both visiting and conquering other countries since his days as prince. While he was successful at conquering the Kathmandu valley and the Sen kingdoms further east of the Kathmandu valley, his efforts were limited to the west of his homeland. He was able to conquer some of the 22 principalities or kingdoms, know as the baisi ko raja, and some of the 24 kingdoms (the chaubasi ko raja), which were two sets of allies west of the King's homeland of Gorka, in what is now called western Nepal

Bull fight in taruka

Soon after he ascended the throne of Gorkha, Shah tricked his way into the royal household of Bhaktapur for a number of months. He wanted the rich agricultural soil of the valley, and the strategic point of the Kathmandu valley as a transit point for expanding trade with both Tibet and India. Then he planned the conquest of the valley. To this end, he decided to first capture Nuwakot, which belonged to the state of Kantipur, as a strategic point. He also foresaw that taking over Nuwakot would significantly strengthen the position of his Gorkha nation and weaken the states occupying the Kathmandu Valley. Nuwakot held strategic importance, as there was already a fort there, and it had remained as a connecting pass the valley and Tibet.