Jaya Prakash Malla

Jaya Prakash Malla
Raja of Kantipur
Born	Nepal(Kantipur)
Died	1768
House	Malla Dynasty
Occupation	King of Kantipur

Jaya Prakash Malla (Nepali: जयप्रकाश मल्ल) (died 1768) was the last king of Yen (यें) or Kantipur (कान्तिपुर) which corresponds to present day Kathmandu. He ruled from 1736 to 1746, and then from 1750 until his death in 1768.

He was very unlucky to have to spend a lot of time fighting other kingdoms of Nepal including Prithvi Narayan Shah in the Battle of Kathmandu . He was the last king of Kathmandu (at that time, Kathmandu functioned as an independent state or principality) before King Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Kathmandu, when the Kathmanduites were celebrating the festival of Indrajatra, and conquered it.

He contributed to the literature of Nepal Bhasa as well. His known Nepal Bhasa literatures include "Padma Samuchaya" . He composed three dramas in Nepalbhasha. They were related with Hindu mythology. They include: Ratneshwar Pradurbhav Birdhwojopakhyan Natakam Bhairavpradurbhav (Baidhya, Janaklal: Nepalbhasha ya Prachin Kabyra Sirjana, p. 118; ISBN 99933-50-32-X)

When Gorkhali king Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Nuwakot, a protectorate of Kantipur, Jaya Prakash Malla sent troops under Kashiram Thapa. The battle occurred at 1746 where Kashiram Thapa lost the war and Jaya Prakash Malla thought of deceit. Jaya Prakash Malla got angry and managed to kill him. In the day of Indrajatra , when there was festival going on, Prithivi Narayan Shah attacked Yen (Kantipur). Jaya Prakash Malla was helpless and he went to Lalitpur to seek assylum. Tej Narasimha Malla ruled that kingdom. After some time Prithivi Narayan Shah attacked Lalitpur and Jaya Prakash Malla along with Tej Narasimha Malla ran to Bhaktapur to seek assylum. When Prithivi Narayan Shah attacked Bhaktapur, Ranajit Malla surrendered. Later Ranajit Malla was sent to Kashi to spend rest of his life, Jaya Prakash Malla was sent to Pashupatinath and Tej Narasimha Malla was kept in detention for his entire life. Jaya Prakash Malla then, lived in Pashupatinath and Swoyambhunath as a devotee of God.

Other Facts

He was known to be a very unlucky king and he was given the title '['Unluck King'](Nepali: अभाग राजा). He brought a lot of social and economic reforms to Kantipur. He also tried to create an alliance called Pancha Rajya with 5 Malla kingdoms which were Kantipur, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Banepa and Kirtipur. It is said that he played Pasa (a game of dice) with Taleju where her face was covered and Jaya Prakash Malla tried to look at her face and was cursed to be unlucky king and he would have to run away from Kantipur due to such a work and he is also known to be blessed to reborn in Kantipur with an unclucky fate. Then Taleju told that she will be born to a Shakya or Bajracharya family as a buddhist girl and she will be called Kumari (goddess).

Some Contributions

The following are the contributions by him as king:

No.	Contribution	Standort	Description	Image
1.	Building of Kumari Ghar	Basantapur	This was built as a palace to Kumari(goddess)

|- |2. |Built Baise Dhara |Balaju |He built Baise Dhara and the temples around it | |}

References

Sources

• A new history of Nepal, Voice of Nepal, 1975 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
• Vaidya, Tulsi Ram (1993), Prithvinarayan Shah, founder of modern Nepal, Anmol Publications, ISBN 8170417015
• Regmi, Mahesh Chandra (1978), Regmi Research Series
• Thapa, Krishna B. (1989), Unification of Nepal:A change in inter-intra relations, AKAA publishers
• Khatri, Shiva Ram (1999), Nepal Army Chiefs:Short Biographical Sketches, University of Michigan: Sira Khatri
• Shaha, Rishikesh (1990), Modern Nepal 1769-1885, Riverdale Company, ISBN 0913215643
• Regmi, D.R. (1975), Modern Nepal vol.1, Firma KL Mukhopadhyay