Dev Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana - Coup

Coup

In 1885, the Shamsher family, the nephews of Jang Bahadur, murdered many of the sons of Jung Bahadur and took over Nepal in a military coup d'état thus bringing in the rule of the Shamsher Rana family also known as the Satra bhai (17 brothers) family. They murdered Sri Teen Maharaja Ranodip Singh and occupied the hereditary throne of Prime Minister. After this they added Jang Bahadur to their name, although they were descended from Jang's younger brother Dhir Shamsher.

Dev Shamsher felt guilty for what had transpired during the coup, also a key incident happened during the coup which affected him deeply. He was held at gunpoint by General Dhoj Narsingh Rana, but was allowed to live and forgiven. For this he felt a lot of guilt and asked for the exiled family members to return to Nepal. General Dhoj Narsingh Rana, adopted son of Ranodip Singh (biological father was Badri Narsingh Rana) had to flee with his family to India along with many of Jang Bahadur's descendants. The British government did not help any of the exiled Jang princes whose fathers had saved the British and their Empire in 1857.

Although this bloody coup was plotted by the Shamsher brothers, Dev Shamsher was kept ignorant about it all throughout. Because of his close relationship with the Jang family the Shamshers did not trust Dev to be part of the coup against the Jangs. In fact, the night that the Shamshers attacked and killed the Jang Ranas, Dev Shamsher was sleeping intoxicated in the quarters of one of the sons of Jang Bahadur, Ranabir Jang. He was mistaken for being a Jang and nearly killed had it not been for one of the killers who recognized him as a Shamsher and spared him.

When the Shamshers killed and exiled the powerful Jang family and other rival Rana families, they took control of the immense wealth of the Jangs. It is said that the deprived Shamshers and their family did not even know how to wear all this new jeweleries and use other items of glamour and constantly sought the advice of Dev Shamsher and his wives who used to mock them at their ignorance.