who "lionized him" and Historian Baburam Acharya who labelled him as a "mere schemer". He contends that despite being a powerful historical personality for three decades, Bhimsen was a mere politician of the court for the most portion of his period and his power was limited. Thus, he contends that Bhimsen used to negotiate and convince other courtiers to capitalize the political crisis into his advantage. Nepalese-Canadian author Manjushree Thapa had written a column about him. She wrote: Religious Views Historian Baburam Acharya attributes the below idea to be of Bhimsen Thapa in the letter of then-minor King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah to Kaji Ranajor Thapa dated May 1814 (Sunday Jestha Sudi 4, 1871 Bikram Samvat); Physical Appearance Historian Chittaranjan Nepali described Bhimsen as a tall statured person with an impressive physical personality. Memorials and Tributes There is a park dedicated to him constructed in the Gorkha Municipality called Bhimsen Park. It is in two kilometers walk from Gorkha Darbar. The park constitutes 3 ropani of land and was used by descendants of Thapa dynasty for ritual purposes in the Dashain festival. The Bhimsen Thapa Memorial Day is celebrated on 25 July. Historian John Whelpton was awarded the 2018 Bhimsen Thapa Memorial Award by the Bhimsen Thapa Memorial Foundation on the 243rd Bhimsen Thapa Memorial Day in Kathmandu. Cultural Depictions Nepalese playwright Balkrishna Sama wrote a play on him named Bhimsen Ko Antya which went on to receive the 2029 Bikram Samvat (c.1972-1973 CE) Sajha Purashkar. The historical biography of Bhimsen written by historian Chittaranjan Nepali went on to receive the 2013 Bikram Samvat (c.1956-1957 CE) Madan Puraskar in the sociology category. Popular Legends Historian Chittaranjan Nepali states that there were some widespread folk legends about Bhimsen. On 28 June 1955, he had an interaction with General Kaiser Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana who foretold one of the legends about Bhimsen prevalent in then Nepalese society. The folk legend stated that Bhimsen had cursed then King of Nepal with a fate to consume from a Mana vessel (). Another folk legend stated that the corpse of Bhimsen suddenly disappeared from the place of his death; the descendants of Chautariya Fatte Jang Shah had kept the hands while the skull was kept in some secret location in London. Furthermore, it was also widely believed that the family of Fatte Jang annually worships the preserved physical remains of Bhimsen. Gallery Notes References Citations