Pratap Malla

Pratap Malla was the king of Kantipur (Kathmandu). His father’s name was Lakshim Narasinha Malla. He was very ambitious. He imprisoned his father and sat on the throne in 1698 B.S. He extended his territory. He fought with Patan and Bhaktapur to annex them to his kingdom but could not succeed. Pratap Malla was a lover of literature. He was a poet. He wrote Kavindra before his name Kavindra means the king of poets.

He was fond of building temples. He set up an image of Hanuman beside his palace. Since then, the palace is called ‘Hanuman Dhoka’. Besides this, he built a temple of Krishna with the image of Kala Bhairav in front of hanuman Dhoka and a temple of Guheshwari. He offered a gold umbressa to pashupatinath. He had great respect for Buddhism. He introduced Seto Machchhindranath Jatra.

When his son died, his wife was deeply shocked. So he dug a pond in Kathmandu and put water in it from many holy places. There is a temple in the middle of the pond. This pond is called Rain Pokhari. He installed an image of narayan in the Rani Pokhari temple. This image is like that of budhanilkantha. It is said that budhanilkantha told him in dream not to see him. Since then the  kings of Nepal do not visit Budhanilkantha.

The rumour is that Pratap Malla had three hundred queens. He was a lustful king. He ruled for 33 years and then died in 1731 B.S.