Gorkha Kingdom

Kingdom of Gorkha ( Devanagari: गोर्खा राज्य Gorkha Rajya ) was until the early 20th century the official name for today's Nepal. The empire grew out of the Principality of Gorkha, the (24 principalities ) in western Nepal belonged to the Federation of Chaubisi Rajya. The Principality was between the rivers Marsyangdi and Trisuli and corresponds approximately with the present territory of Gorkha district. The inhabitants of the land described themselves as Gorkhali.

Expansion

In the 16th century Gorkha, a principality of the people of the Magar had come under the rule of the Shah- Dynasitie, when Dravya Shah ( 1559-1570 ) staged a coup to power. The ancestors of the Shah, Sisodia Rajput from Chittorgadh in present-day Rajasthan had been found in Gorkha refuge from the Arab invaders.

On the territory of Nepal were about 50 small principalities, which were partially closed in different alliances. From the middle of the 18th century Gorkha Prithvi Narayan Shah began with the annexation of adjoining principalities, starting with Nuwakot and then the three kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley ( 1768-1769 ). For the Kathmandu Valley, the Newari name Nepal was common. Narayan moved his capital to Kathmandu. Until his death in 1775 still further east lying Sen kingdoms Chaudandi and Vijaypur were added. His successors continued the policy of annexation. At its greatest extent in the early 19th century, the kingdom of Kumaon and Gadwal ( Uttarakhand, North India ) extended in the west to Sikkim in the east. Attempts parts of Tibet conquered failed. The expansion efforts were stopped after the final defeat in the Gurkha War (1814-1816), due to its Gorkha even had to cede territory.

Gorkha / Nepal

The term Gorkha Rajya (Kingdom of Gorkha ) was common until the beginning of the 20th century; analogously applied to the language of the name Gorkhali. The official name change in Nepal and Nepali was in the 1920s and 1930s. The oldest national newspaper in Nepal, Gorkhapatra has, however, kept its old name.