Tribhuvan, Mahendra and the Rana Marriage Rule

Jung Bahadur Rana had established a political marriage tradition between the Shah royal family and the Rana family to protect the Rana system and keep power within his own circle. He arranged marriages between the children of the Rana rulers and the Shah kings so that future kings would also be connected to the Rana lineage. Later Rana prime ministers continued this practice, hoping that both the prime ministership and the royal bloodline would remain tied to their family. According to the story, Bir Shumsher also tried to make his own descendants part of the Shah succession through marriage. His daughters Kanti Divyeshwari and Durga Divyeshwari were married to King Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah on the same day, but neither gave birth to a son. Instead, Prithvi Bir Bikram’s queen from Punjab gave birth to Tribhuvan, who was not a Rana descendant.

King Tribhuvan later played an important role in ending Rana rule, and some historians argue that if he had been a Rana grandson, the Rana regime might not have fallen in the same way. Tribhuvan also did not want his own children to continue the old Rana marriage tradition. When Crown Prince Mahendra wanted to marry Ratna Rajya Laxmi, the granddaughter of Juddha Shumsher and daughter of Hari Shumsher, Tribhuvan strongly opposed it. Mahendra even reportedly gave a resignation letter from the crown prince position to BP Koirala, asking him to convince the king. BP later mentioned this incident in his autobiography. Mahendra eventually married Ratna Rajya Laxmi without his father’s permission, and Tribhuvan did not attend the wedding. Afterward, Tribhuvan reportedly placed financial restrictions on Mahendra. For some time, Mahendra lived without royal facilities, and it is said that his father-in-law Hari Shumsher helped support his expenses.