2 B. Prithvi Narayan Shah (r. 1743–1775): the founder

Born 1723; king of Gorkha at 20 (1743). His programme (the Dibya Upadesh tradition): unify the hills before the Company unified them for itself; the Valley as the strategic-economic prize.The campaigns:1. Nuwakot (1744) — the first step (after an early setback), opening the road to the Valley;2. Makwanpur and the Sindhuli lesson (1763–67) — the Sen kingdom fell; the Company's Captain Kinloch expedition (1767) sent to relieve the Valley was repelled at Sindhuli — the Gorkhalis' first defeat of English arms;3. Kirtipur (1757, 1764?, 1766) — Kalu Pande fell in the disastrous first assault (1757); the fortress town at last fell (1766) — the chronicles' contested episode of mutilation of its defenders marking the era's ferocity;4. The Valley (1768–69) — Kathmandu taken on Indra Jatra night, 25 September 1768; Patan (1768); Bhaktapur (1769) — the Malla age closed; the capital moved to Kathmandu; Nepal now the state's name.5. The east (1773–74) — Chaudandi and Vijayapur annexed to the Mechi-Kanchenjunga line; the compact of 1774 (Lal Mohar) with the Limbu chiefs — kipat autonomy retained under the crown: conquest by treaty (the Marawat policy in action, below).6. The west — Gorkhali arms crossed the Trishuli toward the Baise-Chaubise world (his successors completed it).The Shah policies (as the syllabus names them):• Marawat (conciliation/honourable settlement): defeated ruling houses and autonomous chiefs retained rank,…