Ram Shah ( ne, राम शाह; reign before 16061636) was the king of the

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 s ...

(present-day

Gorkha District Gorkha District ( ne, गोरखा जिल्ला ), a part of Gandaki Province, is one of the 77 districts of Nepal, which is the fourth largest district (by area) of Nepal and connected historically with the creation of the modern Ne ...

, Nepal). He was the son of King of Gorkha

Purna Shah Purna Shah ( ne, पूर्ण शाह; 1570–1605), or Purendra Shah was the king of the Gorkha Kingdom in the Indian subcontinent, present-day Nepal. He was the father of Chatra Shah Chatra Shah also Chhatra Shah, Ksatra Shah ( ne, छत� ...

and brother of Chatra Shah. He acceded in the throne in c. 1606 after his brother's death. He expanded his kingdom far as the

Trishuli River The Trishuli River ( ne, त्रिशूली नदी) is one of the major tributaries of the Narayani River basin in central Nepal. It originates in Tibet as a stream and enters Nepal at Gyirong Town. Etymology The Trishuli is named after ...

(east), the

Marshyangdi The Marshyangdi (or Marsyangdi) (Nepali: , marśyāṅdī) is a mountain river in Nepal. Its length is about 150 kilometres. The Marshyangdi begins at the confluence of two mountain rivers, the Khangsar Khola and Jharsang Khola, northwest of ...

(west), the

Rasuwa Rasuwa District ( ne, रसुवा जिल्ला is one of 13 districts of Bagmati Province and one of seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Dhunche as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has a population (20 ...

, (north) and the Mahabharat Range (west). Shah was known as the "great conqueror" and " conscientious". He brought many changes to the Kingdom of Gorkha, including fixed and uniform weights and measurements,

criminal code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...

s, created a fixed rate of interest and built the Newar architecture palace Gorkha Palace. His statue is displayed at his Chautari where he used to give justice to the people.

Reign

When the first ruler of Gorkha Dravya Shah's son

acceded in the throne, he ruled for about thirty-five years. Upon his death, his son Chatra Shah became the King and ruled the kingdom for about seven months until his death, as he did not have any children his brother Ram Shah acceded in the throne in c. 1606. Shah was described as "great conqueror" and "conscientious". He wanted to expand his kingdom which only consisted of

Liglig Liglig, better known as "ligligkot" is a hill top located in Palungtar Municipality of Gorkha, Nepal. It is located at the height of 1437 meters (4790 feet) mean sea level. Gorkha District has a long and intriguing history. It’s where a ro ...

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

, Siranchok and Ajirgarh.

was neighbours with small kingdoms ruled by the Gurungs,

Bhotias Bhotiya or Bhot ( ne, भोटिया, ) are groups of ethno-linguistically related Tibetan people living in the Transhimalayan region that divides India from Tibet. The word ''Bhotiya'' comes from the classical Tibetan name for Tibet, , . ...

and the

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

s. Shah started to expand his army and created a friendship between the kings of

Palpa Palpa may refer to: In Peru * Palpa, Aucallama, a town in Aucallama District, Huaral Province *Palpa, Peru Palpa is a town in southern Peru, capital of the province of Palpa in the Ica region. Archeological sites As the capital of the Palpa P ...

, Jumla, and Lalitpur. King Narsingh Malla of Lalitpur, sent 24 merchants to live in Gorkha. In 1620, Ngawang Namgyal signed a friendship treaty with Shah; which allowed 50 people from the kingdom to live in Bhutan. He began to colonise Barpak, Shyartan, Atharsaya Khola, Ferung, Khari, Meghi Charage, Niwarchok, Dhading; his conquest led the size of the kingdom far as the

(east), the

(west), the

, (north) and the Mahabharat Range (west). Fearing the rapid expansion of Gorkha, the Lamjung kings invaded the kingdom; which was unsuccessful and led them to withdraw their troops beyond Marshyandi. During the expansion, 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. During his reign, there were not any "fixed and uniform weights and measures" which varied from location to location; in order to fix this, he brought standard weights and measures throughout the kingdom. Shah created a fixed rate of interest, money lenders were not able to charge more than 10% interest and if it was in the form of

PIK loan A PIK, or payment in kind, is a type of high-risk loan or bond that allows borrowers to pay interest with additional debt, rather than cash. That makes it an expensive, high-risk financing instrument since the size of the debt may increase quickly, ...

not more than 25% interest. Though, if not paid within 10 years, the moneylenders were able to raise the amount double or triple if it was in PIK loan. He created an agreement "for grazing grounds for the cattle in each and every village" and those who claimed them would be "severely dealt with"; punishment also extended to the people who cut down trees near a road. Shah introduced many titles including Kaji,

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 ...

, and Khardar. He introduced

s; that created a saying around the kingdom "''Nyaya napaye Gorkha janu'' (translation: If you don't get justice, go to Gorkha)”. He would "dispense justice and display fairness". During his reign, the Gorkha Palace, Newar architecture palace was built circa 1610; it was destroyed by the

April 2015 Nepal earthquake The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,964 people and injured 21,952 more. It occurred at on Saturday, 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8 Mw or 8.1 Ms and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Personal life and legacy

The birth date of Ram Shah is unknown; he was the brother of Chatra Shah. He was born to

. Ram Shah asked King of Bhutan to send Lamas "to perform herite for the peace in his family and for the birth of a son". They were successful; he had three sons including Dambar Shah. He followed the religion Hinduism. It was believed that he ruled the kingdom for about 27 years until his death in 1633; however, newly discovered information indicated he was ruling in 1636. So it was concluded that ruled until 1636. Upon his death, his wife committed sati or "burn don the funeral pyre with her husband". In Gorkha, there is a statue of Ram Shah in Ram Shah's Chautari, where he used to provide justice to the people. His criminal code was used by his successors, including the last king of Gorkha and the first king of Nepal

Prithvi Narayan Shah Maharajadhiraj Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723–1775) ( ne, श्री ५ बडामहाराजाधिराज पृथ्वीनारायण शाह देव) was the last ruler of the Gorkha Kingdom and first monarch of the ...

. It is said that wife of Shah possessed the power of the

Devi Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The conc ...

, following the death of her, and revolutionary Lakhan Thapa, someone built a Manakamana Temple. He was noted for his justice system.

References

1636 deaths Gurkhas Shah dynasty People from Gorkha District 17th-century Nepalese people Nepalese Hindus National heroes of Nepal {{authority control