Nepal, April 9 -- Chandra Shamsher (1863-1929) remains the most powerful and longest-serving prime minister of Nepal. One of the first of the family of Gorkhali elite to get a matriculation, he had fully internalised the lesson from the intrigues for succession in the royal courts: The power invariably goes to the cruellest, the cunningest and the craftiest rather than to the simplest, sincerest or the most skilful claimant.

Along with brothers Bhim and Khadga, Chandra was instrumental in the murder of Ranodip Singh Kunwar (1825-1885) and the subsequent transfer of premiership from the Jungs to the Shamshers. He waited for Bhim to die, ousted Dev in a bloodless coup, forced Khadga to flee the country and collaborated with the British to ...