Nir Shumsher JBR | |
Honorific Prefix: | Field Marshal of the Royal Nepalese Army |
Birth Date: | 25 December 1913 |
Birth Place: | Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, Nepal |
Residence: | Nir Bhawan, Sanepa |
Death Place: | Chhauni, Kathmandu, Nepal |
Allegiance: | Nepal |
Serviceyears: | 1931–1965 |
Battles: | World War II |
Relations: | Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana (father) Mahila Maharani (mother) |
Nir Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana (or Neer Shumsher JBR). Field Marshal and retired General of the Nepal Army (NA). Born on 11 Poush, 1970 B.S. (1913) in Jawalakhel Durbar, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, Field Marshal Rana died at the age of 99. He was son of the then ruling Rana Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher Rana and his second wife, Mahila Maharani Krishna Kumari. According to a statement, the centenarian Field Marshal had joined the then Royal Nepal Army (RNA) at the age of 18 on 1 Shrawan 1988 B.S (1931) and was appointed to the post of Major at the Shri Pashupati Prasad Battalion. He became the Commander-in-Chief of the RNA on 15 Baisakh, 2017 B.S (1960) and retired on 15 Baisakh in 2022 B.S (1965). He was appointed Field Marshal after his retirement in 2022 B.S.
He was educated at the Durbar High School, Kathmandu and Shanti Niketan, West Bengal.
Field Marshal Rana was posted at the Northwest Frontier Province in Rawalpindi of Pakistan and Burma during World War II. Rana was decorated with national orders such as Tribhuvan Prajatantra Shripad, Ujwol Krimaya Nepal Shripad, Nepal Taradisha, Om Rama Patta, Tri Shakti Patta and Gorkha Dakshina Bahu. Field Marshal Rana was also decorated with foreign orders; Royal Victorian Order, Order of the British Empire, Legion of Honour of France, Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and Order of the Yugoslav Star.
In 2006, Rana established the ‘Field Marshal Nir Natural Disaster Relief Fund’ to support the retired officers amid natural disasters. He had established ‘Nir Shumsher Award Fund’ in 1993 to motivate the military athletes. Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Gaurav Shumsher Rana among other senior army officers paid tributes to Rana at the hospital. Rana’s body was cremated at Pashupatinath Aryaghat with military honours.[1]
He married Khila Rajya Lakshmi, daughter of Yakshya Bikram Shah (a prominent aristocrat who was very popular in the royal palace). They had a son and daughter together:
However his wife who he loved dearly died at an early age and left him devastated. Some years later he married Bimala Rajya Lakshmi from the Vazir family in Jammu in 1943 and they had a son:
Field Marshal Nir Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana died at the age of 99 on 27 October 2013 at the King Birendra Military Hospital in Chhauni, Kathmandu, while undergoing treatment.[2]