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The Most Famous

POLITICIANS from Nepal

This page contains a list of the greatest Nepalese Politicians. The pantheon dataset contains 15,577 Politicians, 31 of which were born in Nepal. This makes Nepal the birth place of the 80th most number of Politicians behind Azerbaijan and North Macedonia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Nepalese Politicians of all time. This list of famous Nepalese Politicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Nepalese Politicians.

1. Yaśodharā (-600 - )

With an HPI of 68.11, Yaśodharā is the most famous Nepalese Politician. Her biography has been translated into 33 different languages on wikipedia.

Yaśodharā (Pali: Yasodharā, Sanskrit: यशोधरा) was the wife of Prince Siddhartha — until he left his home to become a śramaṇa— the mother of Rāhula, and the sister of Devadatta. She later became a Buddhist Nun and is considered an arahatā.

2. Śuddhodana (-590 - )

With an HPI of 66.69, Śuddhodana is the 2nd most famous Nepalese Politician. His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Śuddhodana (Sanskrit: शुद्धोदन; Pali: Suddhōdana), meaning "he who grows pure rice," was the father of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha. He was a leader of the Shakya, who lived in an oligarchic republic, with their capital at Kapilavastu. In later renditions of the life of the Buddha, Śuddhodana was often referred to as a king, though that status cannot be established with confidence and is in fact disputed by modern scholars.

3. Janaka ( - )

With an HPI of 58.69, Janaka is the 3rd most famous Nepalese Politician. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Janaka is a character who appears in the Hindu epic Ramayana. He is an ancient Hindu king of Videha, which was located in the Mithila region. His name at birth was Sīradhvaja, and he had a brother named Kushadhvaja. His father's name was Hrasvaroman, a descendant of the king Nimi. The rulers of the Videha kingdom were accorded the title Janaka, meaning 'father' in Sanskrit, and this character is the best-known bearer of the same. Janaka is revered as being an ideal example of non-attachment to material possessions. He was intensely interested in spiritual discourse and considered himself free from worldly illusions. His interactions with sages and seekers such as Ashtavakra and Sulabha are recorded in the ancient texts. His relationship with his adopted daughter Sita led her to be called Janaki. The city of Janakpur in Nepal is named after him and his daughter Sita. The Videha (or Mithila) kingdom was historically located between east of Gandaki River, west of Mahananda River, north of the Ganga river and south of the Himalayas.

4. Gyanendra of Nepal (1947 - )

With an HPI of 56.86, Gyanendra of Nepal is the 4th most famous Nepalese Politician. His biography has been translated into 47 different languages.

Gyanendra Shah (Nepali: ज्ञानेन्द्र शाह, born 7 July 1947) is a former monarch who was the last King of Nepal, reigning from 2001 to 2008. As a child, he was briefly king from 1950 to 1951, when his grandfather, Tribhuvan, took political asylum in India with the rest of his family. His second reign began after the 2001 Nepalese royal massacre. Gyanendra Shah is the first person in the history of Nepal to be king twice and also the last king of the Shah dynasty of Nepal.Gyanendra's second reign was marked by constitutional turmoil. His brother King Birendra had established a constitutional monarchy in which he delegated policy to a representative government. The growing insurgency of the Nepalese Civil War during Gyanendra's reign interfered with elections of representatives. After several delays in elections, Gyanendra suspended the constitution and assumed direct authority in February 2005, asserting that it would be a temporary measure to suppress the Maoist insurgency after civil governments had failed to do so. In the face of broad opposition, he restored the previous parliament in April 2006. He was deposed two years later by the first session of the Constituent Assembly, which declared the nation to be the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal and abolished the 240-year-old Shah dynasty.

5. Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723 - 1775)

With an HPI of 56.39, Prithvi Narayan Shah is the 5th most famous Nepalese Politician. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Maharajadhiraj Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723–1775) (Nepali: श्री ५ बडामहाराजाधिराज पृथ्वीनारायण शाह देव) was the last ruler of the Gorkha Kingdom and first monarch of the Kingdom of Nepal (also called Kingdom of Gorkha). Prithvi Narayan Shah started the unification of Nepal.Shah proclaimed the newly unified Kingdom of Nepal as Asal Hindustan ("Real Land of Hindus") due to North India being ruled by the Islamic Mughal rulers. He also referred to the rest of Northern India as Mughlan (Country of Mughals). Prithvi Narayan Shah is considered as the Father of the Nation in Nepal.

6. Birendra of Nepal (1945 - 2001)

With an HPI of 56.25, Birendra of Nepal is the 6th most famous Nepalese Politician. His biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (Nepali: श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज वीरेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाह देव) (28 December 1945 – 1 June 2001) was the tenth Shah Ruler and the King of Nepal from 1972 until his assassination in 2001. He was the eldest son of King Mahendra.

7. Bidhya Devi Bhandari (1961 - )

With an HPI of 55.85, Bidhya Devi Bhandari is the 7th most famous Nepalese Politician. Her biography has been translated into 73 different languages.

Bidya Devi Bhandari (Nepali: विद्यादेवी भण्डारी, pronounced [bid̚djadebi bʱʌɳɖaɾi]; born 19 June 1961) is a former Nepali politician who served as the second president of Nepal from 2015 to 2023. She formerly served as the minister of defence and minister of environment and population. She was the first woman to hold the office in the country. She served as the vice-chairperson of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and was the chair of the All Nepal Women's Association before being elected president. Bhandari previously served as the Minister of Defence, the first woman to hold the office, from 2009 to 2011. She also served as the Minister of Environment and Population in 1997, and has been an active campaigner for environmental awareness and women's rights in Nepal. In June 2017, she visited the headquarters of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland and met with the director general Inger Andersen to discuss enhanced collaboration on nature conservation and sustainable development. In 2016, Forbes placed her as number 52 in their list of the world's 100 most powerful women.

8. Ram Baran Yadav (1948 - )

With an HPI of 53.84, Ram Baran Yadav is the 8th most famous Nepalese Politician. His biography has been translated into 53 different languages.

Ram Baran Yadav (Maithili: डा. राम वरण यादव; born 4 February 1948) is a Nepali politician and physician who served as the first president of Nepal from 23 July 2008 to 29 October 2015, following the declaration of republic in 2008. Previously he served as Minister of Health from 1999 to 2001 and general secretary of the Nepali Congress.

9. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (1980 - )

With an HPI of 53.43, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is the 9th most famous Nepalese Politician. His biography has been translated into 84 different languages.

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (Dzongkha: འཇིགས་མེད་གེ་སར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, Wylie: jigs med ge sar rnam rgyal dbang phyug; born 21 February 1980) is the Druk Gyalpo (Dzongkha: Dragon King) of the Kingdom of Bhutan. After his father Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicated the throne in his favor, he became the monarch on 9 December 2006. A public coronation ceremony was held on 6 November 2008, a year that marked 100 years of monarchy in Bhutan.

10. Sher Bahadur Deuba (1946 - )

With an HPI of 51.99, Sher Bahadur Deuba is the 10th most famous Nepalese Politician. His biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

Sher Bahadur Deuba (Nepali: शेरबहादुर देउवा, pronounced [seɾ baːduɾ deu̯ba] (listen); born 13 June 1946) is a Nepali politician and former prime minister of Nepal. He has also been serving as the president of the Nepali Congress since 2016. Deuba has served five terms as the prime minister (1995–1997, 2001–2002, 2004–2005, 2017–2018 and 2021-2022) and is the Member of Parliament for the parliamentary constituency of Dadeldhura 1. Born and raised in Ashigram, a remote village in Dadeldhura, Deuba completed his primary education there and secondary education in Doti. He completed his higher education from Tri-Chandra College In 1991, he was elected to the House of Representatives and served as the Minister of Home Affairs in the cabinet led by Girija Prasad Koirala. Deuba became prime minister after Manmohan Adhikari tried to dissolve the parliament for a second time in two years in 1995. He oversaw the signature of the Mahakali treaty with India during his first term. His second premiership started in July 2001 amidst the rise of the Maoists and he later declared a state of emergency and listed the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) as a "terrorist organisation". He was dismissed by King Gyanendra in October 2002, but after public backlash, he was reappointed prime minister in June 2004. He was arrested after 2005 coup d'état by the King Gyanendra, and was released in February 2006 after the Supreme Court declared his arrest unlawful.Deuba was sworn in as prime minister for a fourth stint in June 2017, as per an agreement to form a rotational government by Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre). His government successfully conducted the elections of all three levels of government in different phases in 2017. On 12 July 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the appointment of Deuba as prime minister within 28 hours, and he was appointed prime minister for a fifth term by President Bidya Devi Bhandari in accordance with Article 76(5) of the Constitution of Nepal the next day.Deuba is married to Arzu Rana Deuba. They have one son.

People

Pantheon has 31 people classified as politicians born between 600 BC and 1980. Of these 31, 12 (38.71%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living politicians include Gyanendra of Nepal, Bidhya Devi Bhandari, and Ram Baran Yadav. The most famous deceased politicians include Yaśodharā, Śuddhodana, and Janaka. As of April 2022, 3 new politicians have been added to Pantheon including Rana Bahadur Shah, Sahana Pradhan, and Kirti Nidhi Bista.