Kathmandu, Jan 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari laid a wreath at the statue of nation-builder Prithvi Narayan Shah located at the western main gate to Singha Durbar today.    

The President offered the wreath and paid tribute to the late king Shah, the leader of Nepal's unification, at a programme jointly organized by Nepal Academy, Nepal Academy of Fine Arts, Nepal Music and Drama Academy and the Sanskritik Sansthan (the Cultural Undertaking) to commemorate Shah's the 300th birth anniversary.    

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale also garlanded the statue of the late King. Floral tributes were also offered on behalf of the academies and the Sansthan on the occasion. Former Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa also garlanded the statue.    

Members of the general public and the civil servants present in the programme offered bouquets at the statue of the builder of the nation.    

Before this, a procession accompanied by a cultural tableau which set out from the Nepal Academy at Kamaladi had reached the west main gate to Singha Durbar after passing through various parts of the capital city. The procession circumambulated the statue of the nation-builder king.    

Shah, who ascended the throne of Gorkha on 25th Chait 1799 BS, had unified the state divided into 52 small principalities. He established the capital of the unified country in Kathmandu itself after conquering the three kingdoms of the Kathmandu valley in 1826 BS.    
---