page_title: Kunwar family
section_title: Ram Krishna family/Rana Kunwars
hierarchical_section_title: Kunwar family / Historicity / Ram Krishna family/Rana Kunwars
caption_attribution_description: English: Bal Narsingh kunwar, the father of Jung Bahadur Rana, A courtier in the palace of Rana Bahadur Shah.
context_page_description: The Kunwar family or Kunwor family or Kanwar family was a noble dasnami family in the Gorkha Kingdom and the Kingdom of Nepal. Kunwars were linked to the Thapa dynasty and family of Amar Singh Thapa by marital lineages and, thus, to Pande dynasty through the Thapa dynasty. Two branches of the Kunwars; Ramakrishna and Jayakrishna, were formed with opposite political aspirations. Bal Narsingh Kunwar supported Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa while Chandrabir Kunwar supported Bada Kaji Amar Singh Thapa due to their marital relations with those families. Later, the Ramakrishna section of the family established the Rana dynasty of Nepal and styled themselves as Rana Rajputs while Jayakrishna section remained as Kunwars.
context_section_description: Ram Krishna had only one son named Ranajit Kunwar. Ranajit Kunwar was a Subah (governor) of the Jumla province in the Kingdom of Nepal. The people of Jumla had rebelled against Ranajit Kunwar in 1849 V.S.. Ranajit participated in the famed battle of Khadbuda on Magh 20, 1860 V.S. (January 1804) where the Gorkhalis under Amar Singh Thapa defeated King Pradyumna Shah of Garhwal under his Gujjar commander Ram Dayal Singh who led 12,000 soldiers of Ramghads, Pundirs, Gujjars and Rajputs. Ranajit had three sons: Bal Narsingh Kunwar, Balram Kunwar and Rewant Kunwar. Bal Narsingh was initially a follower of the renounced King Rana Bahadur Shah and Kaji Bhimsen Thapa, and followed the King in his exile to Banaras on 1 May 1800. On the night of 25 April 1806, King Rana Bahadur was murdered by his step-brother Sher Bahadur in desperation after which Bal Narsingh immediately killed the King's assassin. He was a close ally of the influential minister Bhimsen Thapa, who initiated a great massacre at the Bhandarkhal garden following the chaos from the King's murder. Following closeness to Mukhtiyar Bhimsen, he became the son-in-law of Bhimsen's brother Kaji  Nain Singh Thapa of Thapa dynasty. The close relatives and supporters of the Thapa faction replaced the old courtiers and administrators. The Kunwar family (of Bal Narsingh) came to power being relatives of powerful Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa. Sons of Bal Narsingh were related to the Pande dynasty by their maternal grandmother Rana Kumari Pande who was the daughter of Mulkaji Ranajit Pande. Bal Narsingh retired as Kaji in 1838 AD. Balram Kunwar, the middle brother of Bal Narsingh, spent ten years as a captain. Rewanta Kunwar, the youngest brother of Bal Narsingh, was Kaji until 1830 AD. Rewant was appointed as the mission head to resolve grievances of the people of Kumaon. Rewanta was involved in the Anglo-Nepalese war as reinforcement and took a position in Jayantgadh with cousin Balbhadra Kunwar.
  Jang Bahadur Kunwar, the son of Bal Narsingh, consolidated the position of Prime Minister of Nepal after having initiated the Kot massacre (Kot Parva) and the Bhandarkhal Parva (massacre). This fraction became known as the Rana dynasty after styling themselves as Kunwar Ranaji after having claimed descent from Ranas of Mewar on May 15, 1848 and ultimately became royal after declaration of Jang as Maharaja (Great King) of Kaski and Lamjung on  August 6, 1856,.
caption: Kaji Bal Narsingh Kunwar, a prominent member of Ramkrishna branch of Kunwars
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