 After the demise of his eldest brother Bir Shamsher in March 1901, he became the Commander in Chief of the Nepalese Army under the premiership of his brother Dev Shamsher.Dev Shamsher, however, was a liberal and fearing the rise in public awareness and eventual democratisation that his short rule had brought, Chandra Shamsher orchestrated coup d'état and seized the power for himself in June 1901.Although opposed to reforms and public education, he would later bring numerous reforms, most of them unwillingly, after his visit to Europe, as he found Nepal to be far more backwards than Europe.