Dev Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana | |
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11th Prime Minister of Nepal | |
In office 5 March 1901 – 27 June 1901 |
|
Monarch | King Prithvi |
Preceded by | Bir Shumsher |
Succeeded by | Chandra Shumsher |
Personal details | |
Born | 17 July 1862 Kathmandu, Nepal |
Died | 20 February 1914 (aged 51) Jharipani, Mussoorie, India |
Cause of death | mysterious death by his own gun |
Religion | Hinduism |
Sri Sri Sri Maharaja Maharaja, Dev Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana (July 17, 1862 - February 20, 1914) was Prime Minister of Nepal for only 144 days in 1901. Also Maharaja of Lamjung and Kaski.
He was the fourth of 17 sons born to the Chief of the Army Dhir Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana (a younger brother of Jung Bahadur Rana) by his third wife, Rani Nanda Kumari, daughter of Kazi Hemdal Singh Thapa (sister of Commanding Colonel Keshar Singh Thapa).
His father and brothers had difficulties in maintaining a huge family. The Shamshers were poorer than the Jang and other cousins, so to ease the burden on Dhir Shamsher, Dev Shamsher was adopted at a very young age by his father's childless elder brother, General Krishna Bahadur Kunwar Ranaji and was raised by him and his wife.
As the adopted child of General Krishna Bahadur Rana, who was a governor of Palpa, Dev Shamsher had a lavish upbringing compared to his natural brothers. The only occasions that he met his own siblings were during festivities and family gatherings. He was closer to the sons of Jung Bahadur and spent the majority of his time in their palace, Thapathali Durbar. He inherited the entire wealth of his uncle as well as a share of his father's wealth. Since he was much richer than his brothers, they envied him.
In 1885, the Shumsher family, the nephews of Jang Bahadur, murdered many of the sons of Jung Bahadur and took over Nepal in a military coup d'état thus bringing in the rule of the Shamsher Rana family also known as the Satra bhai (17 brothers) family. They murdered Sri Teen Maharaja Ranodip Singh and occupied the hereditary throne of Prime Minister. After this they added Jang Bahadur to their name, although they were descended from Jang's younger brother Dhir Shamsher
Dev Shamsher felt guilty for what had transpired during the coup, also a key incident happened during the coup which affected him deeply. He was held at gunpoint by General Dhoj Narsingh Rana, but was allowed to live and forgiven. For this he felt a lot of guilt and asked for the exiled family members to return to Nepal. General Dhoj Narsingh Rana, adopted son of Ranodip Singh (biological father was Badri Narsingh Rana) had to flee with his family to India along with many of Jung Bahadur's descendants. The British government did not help any of the exiled Jang princes whose fathers had saved the British and their Empire in 1857.