Makwanpurgadhi

Before Nepal was unified, the lowlands and the hills south of Kathmandu were ruled by small kingdoms. Makwanpur was one of them, governed by kings of the Sen dynasty from a fortified hilltop palace above the inner Tarai.

A key conquest

Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha was married to a Makwanpur princess, but family ties did not stop his ambitions. In 1762 he captured Makwanpurgadhi, taking control of the southern approach to the Kathmandu Valley and its trade. The next year his forces defeated an army sent by Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal, near Makwanpur — a victory that strengthened Gorkha before the conquest of the valley.

Anglo-Nepal War

In 1816, during the war with the East India Company, British forces advanced through Makwanpur, and a battle was fought around the fort shortly before the Treaty of Sugauli was ratified.

What remains

Palace walls and foundations, old gateways and a few historic cannons, including one known locally as 'Kali Top', stand among the trees. The site is quiet and rarely visited — a fine half-day trip from Hetauda for anyone interested in how modern Nepal was made.