Sardar Ranashur Pande: The Lesser Know Son of Kaji Kalu Pande and His Eastern Legacy

Sardar Ranashur Pande (also spelled Ranasur Pande or Ranashur Pandey) was the second son of the legendary Kaji Kalu Pande (Banshidhar Pande), one of King Prithivi Narayan Shah's most trusted commanders during the unification of Nepal. Accoriding to many historical accounts and oral history passed down by family members through his descendants, Ranashur played a quiet but important role as a military commander and later as an administrator during and after the unification campaigns. Much of this information are well preserved in family lores and records and has not been widely documented in published history books. 

A portrait of Sardar Ranshur Pande

Early Life and Family Background

Ranashur Pande was born in 1801 Baisakh (approximately 1744 AD) in Gorkha. He belonged to the influential Pande (Pandey/पाँडे) Upamanyu Gotriya Chhetri family, which had served the Kings of Gorkha for generations since Mantri (Kaji) Ganesh Pande,  who served during the times of King Drabhya Shah (circa 1616 BS). Ranashur's father, Kaji Kalu Pande, was killed in the first Battle of Kirtipur in 19th Jestha 1814 BS (1757 AD). After their father's death, King Prithivi Narayan Shah personally rasied and honourd Kalu Pande's three sons including eldest Kaji Vamsharaj (Bansaraj) Pande, second Sardar Ranashur Pande and youngest Kaji Damodar Pande, giving them important military and court positions and keep them engaged in the unification campaign. Ranashur was already holding the title of Sardar (a senior military commander below Kaji) during the later phases of the unification campaigns. 

Kaji Kalu Pande, father of Sardar Ranashur Pande

Military Service

Ranashur fought in several key camapaigns during Nepal's unification and early expansion. Some of his engagements include:

i) In 1826 BS, he fought in the conquest of Bhaktapur alongside his brothers Kaji Vamsharaj and Kaji Damodar Pande.

ii) He took part in the Makwanpur War, the war against Mir Qasim, and the defence against the troops of Captain Kinloch (the British expedition of 1767 AD).

iii) In 5th Poush, 1828 BS, he fought in the Satahun Kot of Satahun Rajya under his brother Kaji Bansaraj and brother-in-law Kaji Kehar Singh Basnyat (married to his sister Mukhyani Chitravati Pande).

iv) He participated in the Dudhkoshi Purwa (Eastern) expansion campaingns, after which he was promoted to to the position and title of Kaji in 1829 BS, however in most historical accounts he is still known as a Sardar rather than a Kaji.

East Nepal Connection

In the later part of his Eastward campaigns along with his sons Sardar Kanak Singh and Sardar Ram Gopal (sometimes referred to as Rameshwor or Sana Kalu, with some confusion whether the name applied to the father or the son). A major easters operation was the Khotang Halesi Gadhi War. After the Khotang war, the Gorkhali forces were split into two front:

i) One front, led by Kaji Abhiman Singh Basnyat, advanced toward Dingla, Bhojpur via Chisankhu Kot.

ii) The front under Sardar Ranashur Pande marched from Khotang via Simpani, Pandharey Bhanjhyang, Taksar, Dingla, Sati-ghat, Tumlingtar and Kharang, eventually linking up with the other group in Dingla. 

Ranashur was then given an administrative and judicial role in Dingla (Bhojpur region). He served there for about 13 months as an administrator. At the time, Dingla was the eastermost point under Gorkhali control, which was a former territory of the Chaudandi Sen Kings and furthur east was Sikkim. The rest of the army continued toward Sikkim upto the Teesta River. His second son, Sardar Ram Gopal, stayed behind in Dingla as an administrator for 25-26 months. Ram Gopal married a local Dingali Banset (Basnyat) there, and some of their descendant settled in different places of Bhojpur called Taksar, Ambotey (Manebhanjhyang) and Dawaan etc. Other notable sons of Sardar Ranashur included Samsher Singh Pande and Sarwajit Pande. Kapardar Captain Kulraj Pande, son of Samsher Singh was a notable figure during the Mukhtiyarship of Kaji Rana Jung Pande (son of Kaji Damodar Pande).

Death

Sardar Ranashur Pande is believed to have died on 10th of Asar, 1849 BS at Paksintar (in the Kerung/Kukurghat region) during the China-Nepal War also called the Sino-Nepalese war of 1845-1849 BS). He was commanding Gorkhali forces in that front, with other officers under him including Sardar Shatrubhanjan Malla, Subedar Tularam Pandey (not to be mistaken with Kaji Tularam Pande), and Subedar Uddhav Khawas. He is said to have fought two companies of the Chinese army there where he died. However, some family lore also mention that he settled in Eastern Nepal with his son Ram Goptal and lived beyong 1860 BS, even after the killing of his younger brother Kaji Damodar Pande. 

Descendants

Most of Ranashur's descendants, post 1900 BS settled in Nuwakot while some branches also settled in the eastern hills of Nepal, particularly around Bhojpur in different occasions from 1830 BS to 1900 BS. Some notable lines from family records include:

i) Sardar Samsher Singh Pande's son Kapardar Captain Kulraj Pande, bodyguard of King Rajendra Bikram Shah was a notable political figure during the premiership of his cousin Mukhtiyar Rana Jung Pande. Captain Kulraj was killed in 1897 BS.  He was heavily involved in the proceedings of the Poison case against then ousted Mukhtiyar General Bhimsen Thapa in 1894 BS. His house in Kathmandu was burnt and looted during the Nepal army revolt of 6th Asar 1897 BS along with other high ranking political officials of that time including Chautariya Fatteh Jung Shah. His descendants today live in Nuwakot and some later moved to Kathmandu. Another descendant in this line is Major Genral (Retd) Tara Dhwoj Pande, a high ranking Nepal Army general in recent times. 

ii) Sardar Sarwajit Pande's son Khajanchi (Treasurer) Jagat Bahdur Pande served in the Kathmandu royal court and was killed in 1863 BS. Some of his descendants lived in Gerkhutar, Nuwakot. 

iii) Sardar Ram Gopal Pande (second son, also associated with the name Sana Kalu) had sons including Jagan Pande and Latu Pande (real name Kanak Singh affectionately called "Latu" because he spoke little and was considered simple-minded). 

a) The Jagan Pande line produced notable local leaders in Bhojpur namely Bir Dhwoj, Hasta Bahadur and Dal Bahadur (and his sons Tilak Bahadur and Nain Bahadur Pande). They acted as Jimmawals (local land tax collectors) during the Rana regime in Bhojpur. Nain Bahadur's eldest wife Krishna Maya, was a daughter of Kaptaan Nisip Singh Thapa of Muga, Dhankuta and was related to Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa. Tilak Bahadur was the Pradhan Pancha of Manebhanjhyang until 2028 BS. Tilak Bahadur's second son Ram Bahadur Pande's daughter is Bidhya Devi Pande (later Bhandari), the second President of Republic of Nepal. 

b) Another son of Ram Gopal, Latu Pande had two sons namely Bagh Singh and Jahar Singh Pande. One of Jahar Singh's son was Bal Bahadur Pande who was married to Dibyashwori, a daughter of a Khadka Chhetri from Bhojpur. Bal Bahadur's second son Karabir Pande (born 1944 BS) was married to Chandra Kumari (Shreepali) Basnyat. Karabir worked as an accountant at the Jalpaiguri Tea Estate in Bengal, British India in the 1920-30s AD before coming back to Nepal. His only son Kul Bahadur Pande  was married to Padam Kumari (Suyal) Thapa in 2007 BS and had 1 son and 3 daughters. Kul Bahadur's only son Ram Narayan Pandey served as a senior Manager at Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) later (NAC). 

Legacy

Sardar Ranashur Pande represents the long history of service of Pande family in both the military unification of Nepal and the consolidation of the eastern territories in Nepal. While his elder brother Kaji Bansaraj and younger brother Kaji Damodar gained prominence in central Nepal's politics and major wars, Ranashur's quiet military and administrative role helped secure the newly annexed Easter parts of Nepal. His descendants have continued to serve many high positions of the nation in modern day as well (as seen in the connection to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari). 

The information in this blog are mostly taken from various books and articles along with personal family stories such as (Rastra Bhakti ko Jhalak by Sardar Bhim Bahadur Pande, Itihas le Birsiyeka: Kalu Pande Ka Santati by Yogendra Bahadur Pande, Nepalko Mahabharat by Historian Gyan Mani Nepal and a newspaper article by Retd Brig. General Prem Singh Basnyat titled "Kaji Ranshur Dekhi Bidhya Devi Samma" to name a few.