Bir Narayan Chaudhary

{{Short description|Nepalian supercentenarian, claimed oldest person ever}}

{{orphan|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Bir Narayan Chaudhary

| native_name = वीर नारायण चौधरी

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1856

| birth_place = Nepal

| death_date = 20 April 1998

| death_place = Khanar, Nepal

| nationality = Nepali

| occupation = Cattle rancher

| known_for = Claims of extreme longevity

}}

Bir Narayan Majhi Chaudhari ({{langx|ne|वीर नारायण चौधरी}}; 1856? – 20 April 1998) was a Nepali man who claimed to be the oldest person ever. He died at the self-professed age of 141.{{Cite news|url = http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1998/Nepal-s-Oldest-Man-Dies-at-141/id-b1e8516a8c8c7c060b01332edfb29168|title = Man Dies at Reported Age of 141|last = |first = |date = 21 April 1998|work = Associated Press Archives|accessdate = 12 December 2014|agency = AP}} Bir was unable to substantiate his longevity claims with documentation, and since he did not have a birth certificate The Guinness Book of Records did not identify him as the oldest person in the world.

According to Bir he was born in 1856, the son of a landowner.{{Cite news|url = http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/being-the-oldest-ever-is-a-record-bir-narayan-chaudhary-neither-wants-nor-understands/1/282411.html|title = Being the oldest-ever is a record Bir Naryahan Chaudhary neither wants nor understands|last = Thapa|first = Vijay Jung|date = 15 October 1996|work = India Today|accessdate = 12 December 2014}} A cattle rancher in the village of Khanar, near Kathmandu, Chaudhari was purportedly a leader of the first land survey team in the area, conducted in 1888.{{Cite news|url = http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/24/news/mn-42638|title = Bir Narayan Chaudhary, 141; Nepal's Oldest Man|last = |first = |date = 24 April 1998|work = LA Times|accessdate = 12 December 2014}} A smoker throughout his later life, Chaudhari rose to prominence in the mid-1990s when Nepalese television and press began reporting on his claimed advanced age. In 1997, he was honored by Nepal's king Birendra.

Chaudhari had a son and a daughter with his first wife, both of whom predeceased him, and a daughter with his second wife. At the time of his death, in 1998, he had four grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.