Mukthiyar General Sri Sri Sri Chautariya Pushkar Shah (August 16, 1784 – 1841) was the prime minister (Mukhtiyar) of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

from August 1838 to early 1839. He previously served as the Governor of

Doti Doti ( ne, डोटी), also known as Doti region, Dotigarh (डोटीगढ़) as used in the Jagar (folk tales; जागर), in the Farwestern region of Nepal (Sudurpashchim Province), is a region situated between River Kali bordering ...

from 1831 to 1837, and as Special Ambassador to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

from 1837 to 1838. He was the counselor of state from 1840 to 1841. Pushkar Shah had four sons: Sri Chautaria Bhim Bikram Shah, Rana Bikram Shah, Colonel Sri Chautaria Bir Bikram Shah, and Colonel Ambar Bikram Shah.

Governor of Doti and a Secret Strategic Alliance with Maharaja
Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...
of Punjab

Chautariya Pushkar Shah was the Governor of

from 1831 to 1837. He was sent there by King Rajendra Bikram Shah to secretly forge an alliance between Nepal and Punjab against the British. Following Punjab's annexation, the British imprisoned the Rani Jind Kaur in Chunar fort near Varanasi. However, two years later in 1849, she managed to escape from the fort disguised as a maid and traveled 800 km north to reach Kathmandu. Initially, she stayed at the residence of Chatariya's son Amar Bikram Shah in the Narayanhiti are

Secret Strategic Alliance with the Emperor Daoguang (Qing Dynasty) of China.

Diplomatic Team

sent its tenth

quinquennial An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...

mission to

in 1837, under the leadership of Chautariya Pushkar Shah. He was an important member of a collateral branch of the royal family. Chautariya was accompanied by a

retinue A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of retainers. Etymology The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', it ...

consisting of

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been u ...

Captain Kirti Dhoj Pande (deputy leader of the mission), Rana Bikram Shah, Khardar Purna Nanda, Vansaraj Thapa (interpreter), Mahiman Karki, Amrit Mahat, Dal Bir Khatri, Gajadhar Padhya, Bhau Singh, Yaktabar (Shaktabar) Jaisi, Mammu Miya, Bhariya Nayak Padma Narayan, Gotha Rana and Dambar Thapa. The total cost of the mission was

Rs. Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

34,663 and the presents to the Ching Emperor Tao-kuang were estimated to be valued at Rs. 7,133. The mission had carried presents to Dhewas of

Kuti Kuti or Küti may refer to: People * Sándor Kuti (1908-1945), Hungarian-Jewish composer *Ransome-Kuti family, a prominent Nigerian family *Fela Kuti, musician and prominent figure in Afrobeat music Places * Kuti, Bileća, a village in Bosnia and ...

, Chuii of Tingri, Talloye of Digarcha, Lama of Digarcha, the four Kajis of

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

, Raja Lama of Takayali, the Potala Lama, the Chinese Ambans, the Chundu of Chindafu, the Chundu of Sindafu and Tu Thwang.

Preparation for the Second Anglo-Gorkha War

Departure to Peking

Chautariya Pushkar Shah's mission left

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

on 14 July 1837. As a strict follower of

Hindu Religion Hinduism () is an Indian religion or ''dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global pop ...

, Chautariya Pushkar Shah observed its rules and regulations strictly throughout his journey. For example, he did not accept tea offered by others during the journey and he only ate food cooked by his own personal cook. Upon arrival, Chautariya was given a warm welcome in China by the

Chinese Emperor ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heaven ...

. In December 1835, the political rival of Prime Minister

Bhimsen Thapa Bhimsen Thapa ( ne, भीमसेन थापा (August 1775 – 29 July 1839)) was a Nepalese statesman who served as the ''Mukhtiyar'' (equivalent to prime minister) and de facto ruler of Nepal from 1806 to 1837. He is widely known as the ...

had requested Chinese Amban's in

to request King

Rajendra Bikram Shah Rajendra Bikram Shah ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज राजेन्द्र विक्रम शाह देव) (1813–1881) was King of Nepal from 1816 to 1847. His reign saw the rise of the Ranas; in 184 ...

to send Ranajung Pande as the leader of the 10th quinquennial mission to China. As a result, the Chinese Amban wrote to the Nepalese King to personally nominate the leader of the next five-year mission to

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. The Chinese Amban strongly suggested that

Rana Jang Pande Rana Jang Pande ( ne, रणजङ्ग पाँडे) was the 3rd Prime Minister of the government of Nepal and the most powerful person in political scenario in three decades from the aristocratic Pande clan. He was one of the sons of Mukhti ...

be appointed leader of the mission.

King's Trusted Men

King

nominated his most trusted courtier Chautariya Pushkar Shah instead of

. One source however states that the Chinese Amban had also suggested King Rajendra not to send wicked

, but to nominate another good, virtuous person to lead the quinquennial mission to the Ching Emperor's Court. Despite this, Jagat Bam Pande was originally supposed to lead the 1837 mission. After Chautariya Pushkar Shah left for

there was a big political upheaval in Nepal with the dismissal and imprisonment of the Prime Minister

held the post of Prime Minister continuously for thirty one years. The Nepalese court informed the Chautariya about the political developments in Nepal and dispatched him a letter to hand over to the Ching Emperor. Due to the political turmoil in Nepal, the Chautariya tried to complete his mission and return to Nepal as early as possible. He completed the round-trip journey to

in less than fourteen months. The mission of 1837 recorded a detailed and systematic summary of the routes from Kathmandu to Peking as traveled by the Nepalese envoy to Peking.

Return Trip

The delegates returned home on 25 September 1838 with the Chinese Emperor's Parwana. The return trip from Peking to Kathmandu took nearly six months. During the return trip, two members of the Nepalese mission i.e. one

Subedar Subedar is a rank of junior commissioned officer in the Indian Army; a senior non-commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army, and formerly a Viceroy's commissioned officer in the British Indian Army. History ''Subedar'' or ''subadar'' was the ...

and one

Sipahi ''Sipahi'' ( ota, سپاهی, translit=sipâhi, label=Persian, ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuk dynasty, Seljuks, and later the Ottoman Empire, including the land grant-holding (''timar'') provincial ''Timariots, timarli s ...

died on the way. The diplomatic team had requested the Ching court to send troops or provide a subsidy of twenty million rupees to opposes the British as Nepal was planning to wage a second war with the colonial power. However, the Nepalese Delegation was met with a stern refusal of its petition for monetary aid, and were also requested not to go to war with the British. The Quing court did not support Nepal's call for help.

Importance of the mission

The 1837 mission was the first Nepalese quinquennial mission ever led by a prominent political personality like Chautariya Pushkar Shah. This mission was different from other Nepalese quinquennial missions in several ways. Firstly, the deputy leader of the 1837 mission was Captain Kirti Dhoj Pande, being the first time that the highest Nepalese military official was assigned the post of deputy leader of the mission. Secondly, the mission carried many expensive presents to the Ching Emperor. The Nepalese presents were so far the most expensive thus far. Thirdly, soon after his return from Peking as the leader of the Nepalese quinquennial mission to China, Chautariya Pushkar Shah was appointed to the post of Prime Minister in 1838.H. Ambrose Oldfield, Sketches from Nepal, Volume I, Delhi: Cosmo publications, Reptrint, 1981, p. 313 Thus Chautariya Pushkar Shah established his important role in the history of Sino-Nepalese relations.

Prime Minister of Nepal/Commander in Chief - Nepali Army

Puskar Shah was the prime minister of

for a brief time from August 1838 to early 1839. He was made the Prime Minister and the

Chief of the Nepalese Army The Chief of the Nepalese Army (or Gorkhali Army) ( ne, नेपाली सेनाको प्रधानसेनापति) is the military position of army head of the Nepalese Army, initially known as ''Gorkhali Army''. The Chief of the ...

of Nepal by King Rajendra against the will of the junior Queen Rajya Laxmi. At the time when he was made the prime minister, the court of Nepal had been divided into two factions: one faction opposed the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and wanted to declare war, whereas the other faction wanted to maintain peace. Puskar Shah believed in waging a war with the British. He was forced to resign from the post of the Prime Minister in early 1839 mainly because the British persistently requested King Rajendra Bikram Shah to remove Shah from the post and install

, a minister supporting the British.

Children

Chatariya Puskar Shah had four sons: Sri Chautaria Bhim Bikram Shah, Rana Bikram Shah, Colonel Sri Chautaria Bir Bikram Shah, and Colonel Ambar Bikram Shah. Colonel Ambar Bikram Shah was killed by the Ranas for his part in the attempted coup d'état, at Teku, January 1882. Fearing wrath from the Ranas, his son Jabber Jung Shah escaped with his son Amar Jung Shah to a village in Dhading disguised as Jogis and settled there before coming overground in 1885 after the assassination of

Ranodip_Singh_Kunwar Ranaudip Singh Bahadur Kunwar Ranaji (alternatively spelled Rana Uddip, Renaudip or Ranoddip), KCSI (3 April 1825 – 22 November 1885), commonly known as Ranodip Singh Kunwar ( ne, रणोद्दिप सिंह कुँवर) was th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Chautariya Puskhar 1784 births 1841 deaths Mukhtiyars Prime ministers of Nepal People from Kathmandu Chautariya 19th-century prime ministers of Nepal Nepalese Hindus