Battle of Kathmandu

The Battle of Kathmandu
Part of the Gorkhali conquest of Nepal
Pagoda-studded skyline of Kathmandu in 1811.
Date 1768 Location Kathmandu Result Gorkhali victory
Belligerents
Newars	Gorkha Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Jayanta Rana
Strength
Unknown	20,000

The Battle of Kathmandu occurred during the Gorkhali conquest of Nepal. It was fought in Kathmandu in 1768, and resulted in the defeat of its king Jaya Prakash Malla by Prithvi Narayan Shah, king of the adjoining Gorkha Kingdom.

Shah's victory marked the establishment of the Shah dynasty in Nepal and the end of the rule of the indigenous Newars. The peaceful Newars, more inclined towards culture and trade, lost to the warlike Gorkhalis who had made expansion and plunder their state policy.

Kathmandu (alternative names: Yen Desa येँ देस, Kantipur) was one of the three capital cities in the Kathmandu Valley, the other two being Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. The kingdom of Kathmandu extended to a distance of 12–13 days journey north to the Tibetan border. The Trishuli River marked the boundary between Kathmandu and Gorkha in the west.

The Gorkhalis desired the Kathmandu Valley due to its rich culture, trade, industry and agriculture. In 1736, the Gorkhali king Nara Bhupal Shah launched an attack on Nuwakot, a border town and fort in the northwest of the valley, and was roundly defeated.

His son Prithvi Narayan Shah became king in 1742 and resumed the campaign. Convinced he would not be able to take Kathmandu with strength, Shah sought to subdue the valley by choking its commerce and supply lines. His forces occupied strategic passes in the surrounding hills, and strangled the vital trade routes linking Tibet and India.

In 1744, he took Nuwakot, which gave him a foothold in Nepal and allowed him to stop its trade with Tibet as it lay on the trans-Himalayan trade route. In 1762 and 1763, the Gorkhalis overran Makwanpur and Dhulikhel respectively, surrounding the Kathmandu Valley from the west, south and east.

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