page_title: Swarup Singh Karki
section_title: Court politics and military career
hierarchical_section_title: Swarup Singh Karki / Court politics and military career
caption_attribution_description: English: Pratap Singh Shah
context_page_description: Swarup Singh Karki or Swaroop Singh Karki, was a Nepali politician, courtier, military commander and minister. He was popular for his singing prowess and court conspiracies. He was selected as Dewan in the reign of King Pratap Singh Shah and a significant politician in the regent rule of Queen Rajendra of Nepal. He was one of the most influential court politician in the rule of King Pratap Singh and Queen Rajendralaxmi others being his rival Bahadur Shah of Nepal and Vamsharaj Pande. Vamsharaj was his perceived career rival. His life and career ended when Prince Bahadur Shah was appointed as regent in 1785.
context_section_description: When Crown Prince Pratap Singh Shah ascended the throne in January 1775, Swarup and his group became the most influential persons in the court. In order to prevent Prince Bahadur Shah from being a Chautariya(royal chief minister), Swarup marched with army to Nuwakot to confine Prince Bahadur who was then mourning the death of his father former King Prithvi Narayan Shah. He confined Bahadur Shah and Prince Dal Mardan Shah with consent from newly reigning King Pratap Singh Shah who was considered to have no distinction of right and wrong. In the annual Pajani (renewal) of that year, Swarup Singh was promoted to the position of Kaji along with Abhiman Singh Basnyat, Amar Singh Thapa and Parashuram Thapa. In Falgun 1832 B.S., he succeeded in exiling Bahadur Shah, Dal Mardan Shah and Guru Gajraj Mishra on three heinous charges. The reign of King Pratap Singh was characterized by the constant rivalry between Swarup and Vamsharaj Pande, a member of the leading Pande family of Gorkha. The document dated Bikram Samvat 1833 Bhadra Vadi 3 Roj 6 (i.e. Friday 2 August 1776), shows that he had carried the title of Dewan along with Vamsharaj Pande.
  He led the Nepali/Nepalese army to an attack on Bhubaneshwar and Kabilas area in the Saptari region and successfully conquered those places. The deposed When the senior courtier Abhiman Singh Basnyat conquered Someshwar in Chitwan, Swarup, in order to get credit, reached there after the success. This angered Abhiman Singh and Vamsharaj Pande, son of former Kaji of Gorkha Kalu Pande, who reported the plot to King Pratap Singh. He was exiled on that ground from the Kingdom of Nepal on 1834 B.S. It was also the last moments of reign of King Pratap in 1777 A.D. After he was expelled by King Pratap, he fled to Palpa and took side with the Sen Kings of Palpa, his native state Chaudandi, and King of Parbat. He was then considered a fugitive and rebel in the Kingdom of Nepal. Chaudandi King Karna Sen's widow had adopted the son of Palpa King Mukunda Sen, Prince Dhwajbir Sen through the consignment of Swaroop. Swaroop Singh was assigned to take Prince Dhwajbir to Calcutta to summon British military support against expanding Kingdom of Nepal.
  Chaubisi confederacy attacked Gorkha Kingdom on Sirhanchowk Gadhi (fort) at north and established their own position on 2 January 1782 A.D. Commander Garud Dhoj Pant of Tanahun Kingdom launched attack on Gorkhali side with combined army of Lamjung and Parbat and also included soldiers from Kaski, Palpa, and Pyuthan. Queen Rajendra Lakshmi Devi wanted ultimate destruction of trade route of Lamjung. Thus, Swaroop Singh and his rival Vamsharaj was called back from their exile in Bettiah to launch an attack on the Lamjung Kingdom. His entrance in the royal court of Nepal was opposed by courtiers. Later, a reconciliation was done with him and Vamsharaj. Swarup appointed Daljit Shah as Chautariya in 1841 B.S. and took the support of Kaji Bhim Khawas.
caption: Pratap Singh Shah, King of Nepal (1775-1777); Swarup rose to prominence gaining his confidence
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL", "Image DateTime": "2012:10:18 14:36:37", "Image ExifOffset": "7204", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "200", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "200", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "161", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6989", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:10:18 14:36:37", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:10:18 14:36:37", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "193557/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "35", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "796", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "796", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3888000/877", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "432000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}