Nepal's 1846 Kot Massacre: The Night the Ranas Took Power

In September 1846, a single night of bloodshed in the royal armory of Kathmandu changed Nepal forever. The Kot Massacre saw dozens of the country's most powerful nobles—Pandes, Thapas, Basnyats—slaughtered in a chaotic power play that ended centuries of factional rule and ushered in 104 years of Rana autocracy. In this episode, Lucas and Luna walk through the events of that fateful evening at the Kot (the armory) in Hanuman Dhoka palace: the simmering rivalry between Queen Rajyalakshmi and her stepson Surendra, the mysterious death of her favorite, Gagan Singh, the queen's explosive order to summon the nobles, and the calculating figure of Jang Bahadur Rana, who emerged from the carnage as prime minister and de facto military strongman. They examine whether the massacre was a premeditated coup or a chain of panicked decisions, the role of the British East India Company's residency, and how this violent seizure of power laid the foundation for a hereditary dictatorship that lasted until 1951. Along the way, they touch on the infamous 'Muluki Ain' legal code Jang Bahadur later enacted and the peculiar tradition of Rana prime ministers styling themselves as 'Shree 3 Maharaja' while keeping the Shah kings as figureheads.

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