Prithvi Bir Bikram ascended the throne in 1881 at age five, with state affairs effectively controlled by a succession of regents — first his mother, Queen Trailokya Rajya Lakshmi, then the powerful Rana prime ministers who had dominated Nepali governance since Jung Bahadur's coup of 1846. Gold tolas of this reign were struck at the Kathmandu mint under that same Rana shadow, the king himself a nominal figure on coinage that reflected an authority he did not yet hold.
Prithvi Bir Bikram ascended the throne in 1881 at age five, with state affairs effectively controlled by a succession of regents — first his mother, Queen Trailokya Rajya Lakshmi, then the powerful Rana prime ministers who had dominated Nepali governance since Jung Bahadur's coup of 1846. Gold tolas of this reign were struck at the Kathmandu mint under that same Rana shadow, the king himself a nominal figure on coinage that reflected an authority he did not yet hold.