Ram Krishna Kunwar or Ramakrishna Kunwar (;

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: ''Rāmakr̥ṣṇa kum̐vara'') was a military commander (

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar (, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royal family, royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other Aristocracy (class), aristocrats. It ha ...

) of Gorkha Kingdom during the

Unification of Nepal The unification of Nepal () was the process of building the modern Nepalese state, by invading fractured Malla kingdoms including the Baise Rajya's 22 kingdoms and the Chaubisi Rajya's 24 kingdoms. It began in 1743 CE (1799 BS), by Prithvi N ...

at the reign of King

Prithvi Narayan Shah Prithvi Narayan Shah (; 7 January 1723 – 11 January 1775), was the last king of the Gorkha Kingdom and first king of the Kingdom of Nepal (also called the ''Kingdom of Gorkha''). Prithvi Narayan Shah started the unification of Nepal. He is a ...

. He was born circa 1728 AD to Ashiram Kunwar in the Kunwar family. His descendants went on to found the Rana dynasty of Nepal. He was a successful general in King Prithvi Narayan Shah's unification campaign of Nepal. He defeated British forces at Hariharpur Gadhi on 25 August 1767. He died in the Mechi Campaign in 1771 A.D.

Family

He was born to Ahiram Kunwar. He had only a son named Ranajit Kunwar and three grandsons; Bal Narsingh Kunwar, Balram Kunwar and Rewant Kunwar.

Career

King Prithvi Narayan sent Kaji Vamsharaj Pande, Naahar Singh Basnyat, Jeeva Shah, Ram Krishna Kunwar and others to defeat the forces of Gurgin Khan at Makwanpur. Ram Krishna was ordered by the King to organize the army at Makwanpur under his control. In a letter to Ramkrishna, King Prithvi Narayan Shah was unhappy at the death of Kaji

Kalu Pande Vamshidhar Pande () known by Alias Kalu Pande () was a Nepalese politician and general who was appointed as Kaji of The Gorkha Kingdom. He was born in 1713 A.D. in a Gorkha family. He was the commander of the Gorkhali forces during the Un ...

and thought it was impossible to conquer

Kathmandu valley The Kathmandu Valley (), also known as the Nepal Valley or Nepa Valley (, Newar language, Nepal Bhasa: 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑑅 𑐐𑐵𑑅, नेपाः गाः), National Capital Area, is a bowl-shaped valley located in the Himalayas, Hima ...

after the death of Kalu Pande. After the annexation of Kathmandu valley, King

praised in his letter about valour and wisdom shown by Ramkrishna in annexation of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur (i.e. Nepal valley at the time) on 1768-69 A.D. The letter sent by King

to Ramkrishna Kunwar on Ashwin Badi 5 of unknown Vikram Year has been mentioned by 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 ...

The Gorkhali monarch also expresses condolence in that letter over the death of one of the brothers of Ram Krishna in the battle of Timal. Another index letter sent by King Rana Bahadur Shah to Jaya Krishna Kunwar in 1843 Vikram Samvat (i.e. 1786 A.D.) confirms that Jaya Krishna did not die in the battle of Timal which could point to the death of his youngest brother Amar Singh Kunwar in the battle of Timal. When Ram Krishna was conferred the confiscated properties (including residence) of former Kathmandu King

Jaya Prakash Malla Jaya Prakash Malla (Newar: ) was the last king of Kantipur () which corresponds to present-day Kathmandu. He ruled from 1736 to 1746 after succeeding his father Jagajjaya Malla, and then from 1750 until his death in 1769. Early life Jayapraka ...

, he donated the properties to "Guthi" for supplying foods to pilgrims in

Shivaratri Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually to worship the deity Shiva, between February and March. According to the Hindu calendar, the festival is observed on the fourteenth day of the first half (night start with darkness - ...

festival. King

had deployed ''

'' Ram Krishna to the invasion of

Kirant The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirat or Kirant or Kiranti, are Tibeto-Burman ethnolinguistic groups living in the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state ...

regional areas comprising; Pallo Kirant ( Limbuwan), Wallo Kirant and Majh Kirant (Khambuwan). In 13th of Bhadra 1829

Vikram Samvat Vikram Samvat (ISO: ''Vikrama Saṁvata''; abbreviated VS), also known as the Vikrami calendar is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent and still also used in several Indian states and Nepal. It is a lunisolar calendar ...

(i.e. 29 August 1772), Ram Krishna crossed Dudhkoshi river to invade King Karna Sen of. Majh Kirant (Khambuwan) and Saptari region with fellow commander

Abhiman Singh Basnyat Abhiman Singh Basnet/Basnyat () was the first Commander-in-Chief of unified Nepal."Regmi Research Series" Author:Mahesh Chandra Regmi Abhiman Singh became the first Commander in Chief after General Kalu Pande died during his second attempt to ca ...

. He crossed Arun River to reach Chainpur( Limbuwan). Later, he achieved victory over Kirant region. King Prithvi Narayan Shah bestowed 22 pairs of Shirpau (special headgear) in appreciation to Ram Krishna Kunwar after his victory over the Kirant region. Genealogist Daniel Wright contends that Ram Krishna died at Pyuthan at the age of 59.

Rana dynasty

His descendants later went on to become Rana dynasty of Nepal.

References

Footnotes

Notes

Books

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kunwar, Ram Krishna 1720s births 1771 deaths Nepalese generals People of the Nepalese unification Nepalese military personnel killed in action 18th-century Nepalese nobility Khas people