Sidster is right.

Prithivi Naryan - An excellent Monarch, visionary, ambitious, smart and brave

Mahendra - Smart, good politician, had some economic vision, played China Card very well, ambitious.

They were the two (and only two) great kings as well as leaders of Nepal.

Most of the people say Birendra as a great king. But I like to say he was good king but not great leader. He ruled country with direct power for 2 decades and with indirect power for 1 decade. But did nothing, no progress, no vision, no development, no long term plan, no utilization of resources. If there was some visionary leader for 30 years Nepal would have been very much developed. 

 If you guys were to look back at the 250 year history of Nepal and choose a leader/king/politician to lead the nation today, which leader/king/politician would you choose?

* BP Koirala
* Prithvi Narayan Shah
* Mahendra
* Bhimsen Thapa
* Chandra Shamsher Rana
* Jung Bahadur Rana
* Nani Maiya Dahal
* Arniko

Feel free to add names to this list. 

 Jung Bahadur Rana

 Why Junge, Lutee Bahun? 

@Sidster
So, since you have heard and know about those three kings you assumed rest of the kings are all inbred lunatics, eh?
Few questions, under which king did slavery got abolished? Who was the king when Nalapani war was fought? Who abolished women sacrifices (witchcraft)?
Go ahead google them. The point of this is not trying to get an answer, but to make you understand that there is more than the summary that you provided. We have had good kings, lame kings and great kings. To summarize history in such a condescending fashion is not warranted. I am glad the Shah dynasty didn't continue but many of the kings we had were better than what you think and definately better than most of the present leaders.

 But strictly in terms of personality, looking back at Nepal's history, who in Nepal do you think had the personality to be able to do what ever it would take to get Nepal on track as she sits today? Who had the intelligence, the guts, the motivation, the chutzpah to do whatever it took to get Nepal back on track? 

 If you guys were to look back at the 250 year history of Nepal and choose a leader/king/politician to lead the nation today that could get Nepal back on track, which of these leaders/kings/politicians would you choose?

Which of these people has what it takes? 

* BP Koirala
* Prithvi Narayan Shah
* Mahendra
* Bhimsen Thapa
* Chandra Shamsher Rana
* Jung Bahadur Rana
* Nani Maiya Dahal
* Arniko

Feel free to add names to this list. 

Nepal ran on the path built by Prithvi Narayan Shah till 1903 B.S., then on the path of Janga Bahadur Rana for 1 century, then on the path of Mahendra for 1/2 century till the end of Monarchy. Now it's changing. It will take few years to say on whose track Nepal will run. I hope new constitution will determine this. 

Those three were the real leaders. Other kings and prime ministers were just supporting characters. Other leaders seen in background didn’t play any great role to change the political, social and cultural track of the country. They just followed these three. BP, GP, Surya Bahdur these all just fade out in the shadow of Mandenra Similarly all the Rana Prime ministers in the shadow of Janga Bahadur. They may have done some noticeable jobs but none of those leaders could change the track of country.

One thing was common in all these there was they were all dictators but nationalist. They didn’t allow people to progress but never allowed foreigners to impede internal affair. We can not unnecessarily blame Prithvi Narayan Shah for not being democratic because at that time situation was very different from today’s situation and what he did for unification is the great thing. Jung Bahadur Rana prevented country from being part of India but ruled autocratically and transferred power to the family. He can never be considered as a great leader because he and his family did no development at all in comparison to the rest of the world. Out of those three I like to say King Mahendra was most smart and visionary.  

Mahedra had brain and brave both. He had not only vision, strength and will but also diplomatic idea to balance the foreign interference. I like to say he died before one decade. If he was in power for 1 more decade Nepal would have gotten a right track. 

So if someone asks to choose names of the greatest leader of Nepalese history I will say both Prithvi Narayan Shah and Mahendra.

IT_guy,

Excellent analysis!

So IT_GUY, if we were to identify common principles that worked for Prithvi Narayan Shah, Mahendra and Jung Bahadur Rana, what would they be? I am not saying that these principles are positive or negative. I am just studying it for the sake of history. 

From your writing this is what I took away:

1) Autocracy

2) They prized power over all else and did whatever it took to get it. 

3) They were able to use that power to keep Nepal united and healthy and keep sources of "disease" that would disrupt the common Nepali identity at bay using any means as necessary.

4) They were able to use their power to make the nation more healthy through incremental sustainable development. 

Are there more principles than that? 

And it is true that in the process of them doing the above they trampled on giving the citizenry all the freedom that that the citizens of Nepal would have ideally have wanted. Would you agree?







 

When I was in Nepal, I didn't like BP. Maybe because he was the elder brother of GPK/MPK. Bur reading articles about him and few of his own writing, I think BP could have had the best interest for Nepal amongst all the leaders we have seen in last 100 years.
Amar Singh Thapa, Bhakti Thapa generally come to my mind; but from your list I'd pick Prithvi Narayan Shah and BP. Prithvi, not because he loved Nepal that much, but primarily because he was not only a warrior but a great leader and ruler. He knew the best interest of Nepal and tried to follow it up in action, a trait that is as extinct as a good leader in Nepal.

 Stiffler,

What are qualities that you see in BP, Amar Singh Thapa or Bhakti Thapa that you feel made them great leaders? What about their personality and how they functioned made them great leaders?

What were the unique qualities in each of these three that made the Nepali people love each of these three? What were they able to do for Nepal?

I will say lets not compare them because they were the heroes (may be villains for some) of different stories of different time. 

 IT_Guy, please explain what you mean. 

Kiddo,

The whole Shah bansa except Prithivi and his sons were inbreds. Mahendra and Birendra were mentally and physically sound regardless of inbreeding.

 @ Sidster
You missed two names that contributed a lot for nepal
1. Bahadur Shah (only regent, not king)
2. Rana Bahadur Shah (extended nepal from Teesta to sutlej, he wanted to abolish caste based inequality too)

But you are right. Most of other kings were ineffectual.

@ Babal Khate
IMO, great leaders of nepal are:
1. Prithvi N Shah: I need no explanation
2. Jung Bahadur : He provided stability to nepal, preserved nationality, because of his shrewdness nepal was identified as an independent state in 1947 when british left india (I can oversee his dark side for this)
3. King Mahendra : Introduced nepal to international forum. He made nepalse people realize nepal is their own country, Jun sukai tantra aae pani aile samma nepal unkai vision ma chali raheko chha. 

 Nalapani,

Extending Nepal's border is one type of growth and it is admirable and worthy. 
For example there are leaders in the corporate world who increase the size of their company through mergers and acquisitions. Prithvi Narayan Shah, Bahadur Shah and Rana Bahadur Shah were those kind of leaders. They increased Nepal's borders through "mergers and acquisitions." Nepal is physically what it is because of them. 

But over the long run, I feel it is those leaders that bring stability and make their nation function smoothly that are the truly great leaders. And in that, I think Jung Bahadur Rana and King Mahendra get a lot more credit than the others. 

Nalapani, you said:
King Mahendra : Introduced nepal to international forum. He made nepalse people realize nepal is their own country, Jun sukai tantra aae pani aile samma nepal unkai vision ma chali raheko chha.

 Can you explain what you mean by the above, please? Do you know of any article that describes Mahendra's vision in detail? I suppose this is quite important considering it  is this that we are currently operating by. No?

I came across this:
http://books.google.com/books?id=MX22o4PJ3Q0C&pg=PA255&lpg=PA255&dq=king+mahendra's+vision+for+nepal&source=bl&ots=062sMdQsH4&sig=-9h_qVH43JxTHHnfBDfO2CpPVvs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=e44NT6zKGsGIiALq89DnAw&ved=0CGEQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=king%20mahendra's%20vision%20for%20nepal&f=false

 Citizen of Nepal,
What are qualities that you see Prachanda that you feel makes him a great leader? What about his personality and how he functions makes him a great leader?

What are the unique qualities in Prachanda that makes Nepali people love him? What was he able to do for Nepal?

Only stupid and lazy people will wait for time to tell them something. Smart people will find out the answer by actively finding out through hypothesis and experience.