High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Prithvi Narayan Shah, King of Nepal (1723-1775; Nepali: पृथ्वीनारायण शाह)was the first king of the House of Shahs to rule Nepal. He is credited for starting the campaign for a unified Nepal, which had been divided and weakened under Malla confederacy. He was the ninth generation descendant of Dravya Shah (1559-1570), the founder of the ruling house of Gorkha. Prithvi Narayan Shah succeeded his father King Nara Bhupal Shah to the throne of Gorkha in 1743.