Ganesh Pandey or Ganesa Pande (Nepali:गणेश पाण्डे वा गणेश पाँडे) (born circa 1529-1606) was Minister and Accomplice of King Dravya Shah of

Gorkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...

. He helped Dravya Shah to become King of Gorkha and was later appointed Minister (Bhardar) of Gorkha Rajya. He is the founder of the aristocratic

Pande family The Pande family or Pande dynasty (Also spelled as Pandey or Panday) ( ne, पाँडे वंश/पाँडे काजी खलक; or ) was a Rajput Chhetri political family that directly ruled Nepali administration affairs since ...

. His descendants were Kalu Pandey, Kaji of Gorkha and his sons Dewan Kaji

Bamsa Raj Pandey Vamsharaj Pande (a.k.a. Bamsa Raj Pande, Vansha Raj Pande, or Bangsha Raj Pande) ( ne, वंशराज पाँडे; translit. ''vaṃśarāja pām̐ḍe'') was a Nepalese politician, military officer and minister of state. He was a signifi ...

and Mulkaji

Damodar Pande Damodar Pande ( ne, दामोदर पाँडे) (1752 – March 13, 1804) was the Mulkaji of Nepal (equivalent to Prime Minister of Nepal) from 1803 to 1804 and most influential Kaji since 1794 to his death on March 13, 1804. He is al ...

and also Kaji

Tularam Pande Tularam Pande ( ne, तुलाराम पाँडे) was Nepalese military personnel, diplomat and politician in the Gorkha Kingdom. He was a diplomat who served King Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha. Two of his diplomatic missions were with ...

Coronation of Dravya Khan Shah

Dravya Shah was the youngest son of

Yasho Brahma Shah Yasho Brahma Shah or Yasobam Shah ( ne, यशोब्रह्म शाह) (dates unknown) was the King of Kaski and Lamjung. He was the youngest son of Kulamandan Shah Khad. His eldest son succeeded him as King of Lamjung, while his second ...

Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

(King) of Lamjung and grandson of

Kulamandan Shah Khad Kulamandan Khand 'Shah' ( ne, कुलमण्डन खाँण 'शाह') was the first king of Kaski district and ancestor of the great king Prithivi Narayan Shah of Nepal. Kulamandan conquered Kaski Kingdom and received the title of " ...

(King) of Kaski. He became the king of

with the help of accomplices namely Kaji Ganesh Pandey. He ascended the throne of Gorkha on 1559 A.D. 19th century writer Daniel Wright describes the coronation of Dravya Shah as:

Descendants

Ganesh Pandey was the first Kaji (Prime Minister) of King Dravya Shah of

Gorkha Kingdom Gorkha Kingdom ( ne, गोरखा राज्य) was a member of the Chaubisi rajya, a confederation of 24 states on the Indian subcontinent ruled by Khas people. In 1743 CE, the kingdom began a campaign of military expansion, annexing se ...

established in 1559 A.D. The Pandes were considered as Thar Ghar aristrocratic group who assisted the administration of

. Kaji

Kalu Pande Vamshidhar Pande ( ne, वंशीधर पाँडे) known by Alias Kalu Pande ( ne, कालु पाँडे) was a Nepalese politician and military general who was appointed as Kaji of The Gorkha Kingdom. He was born in 1713 A.D. i ...

(1714-1757) belonged to this family became a war hero after he died at

Battle of Kirtipur The Battle of Kirtipur (Nepal bhasa bhasa: कीर्तिपुरयाउ युद्ध) occurred in 1767 during the Gorkha conquest of Nepal, and was fought at Kirtipur, one of the principal towns in the Kathmandu Valley. Kirtipur was ...

. Page 227 These Pandes were categorized with fellow

Chhetri Chhetri (Kshetri, Kshettri, Kshetry or Chhettri), ( ne, क्षेत्री ; IAST: ''Kṣetrī'') historically called Kshettriya or Kshetriya or Khas are Nepali speakers of Khas community, some of whom trace their origin to migration from ...

''Bharadars'' such as Thapas, Basnyats and Kunwars.http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/contributions/pdf/CNAS_02_01_09.pdf The inscription installed by son of

, ''Kapardar'' Bhotu Pande, on the Bishnumati bridge explains their patrilineal relationship to Ganesh Pande, Minister of

Drabya Shah Dravya Shah ( ne, द्रव्य शाह; 1559–1570) was the king of the Gorkha Kingdom in Nepal. He was the father of Purna Shah, king of Gorkha. Dravya Shah's accomplices were Bhagirath Panta, Ganesh Pandey, Narayan Arjyal, Sarveshwar K ...

, the first King of

. The lineage mentions Ganesh Pande's son as Vishwadatta and Vishwadatta's son as Birudatta. Birudatta had two sons Baliram and Jagatloka. Tularam and Bhimraj were sons of Baliram and Jagatloka respectively. Kaji

was the son of Bhimraj. Bhotu Pande mentions Tularam, Baliram, and Birudatta respectively as his ancestors of three generations. However, Historian

Baburam Acharya Baburam Acharya (Nepali: बाबुराम आचार्य) (1888–1971 AD) was a Nepalese historian and literary scholar. He is known as the historian laureate () of Nepal. The four part biography of King Prithivi Narayan Shah, founder ...

contends a major flaw in the inscription.

Ranajit Pande Ranajit Pande ( ne, रणजीत पाँडे) was Nepalese politician, military personnel and courtier in the Kingdom of Nepal. He was member of the Gora Pande clan of Gorkha. He became Mulkaji of Nepal for a brief period in 1804 A.D. Fam ...

, the second son of Tularam was born in 1809

Vikram Samvat Vikram Samvat (IAST: ''Vikrama Samvat''; abbreviated VS) or Bikram Sambat B.S. and also known as the Vikrami calendar, is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent. Vikram Samvat is generally 57 years ahead of Gregorian Calend ...

. Baburam Acharya assumed 25 years for each generation where he found Vishwadatta to have been born in 1707

. Thus, on this basis, he concluded that Vishwadatta could not have been the son of Ganesh Pande, who was living in 1616

, when Drabya Shah was crowned King of Gorkha. He points that the names of two more generations seem to be missing.

Death

During the expansion under King

Ram Shah Ram Shah ( ne, राम शाह; reign before 16061636) was the king of the Gorkha Kingdom (present-day Gorkha District, Nepal). He was the son of King of Gorkha Purna Shah and brother of Chatra Shah. He acceded in the throne in c. 1606 after ...

, Kaji Ganesh Pandey led the army against Ghale Raja of Sallayan, in which the Kaji died in the combat. Shah was furious and ordered the soldiers to go back "for running from the field of battle and ordered them to go back to redeem their hounour, which they finally did". Ghale Raja was defeated and killed by a sword.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pandey, Ganesh Nepalese politicians Year of death missing Year of birth uncertain People from Gorkha District 16th-century Nepalese people 17th-century Nepalese people