Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Gurkha history




Kalu Pande was born in 1713 A.D in Gorkha. He was the commander of the gorkhali forces during the unification campaign of Nepal. He died in the first battle of kirtipur in 1757 A.D. His real name was Bansidhar Pande. He was a son of Kaji Bhimraj Pande who was minister during reign of King Prithvi Pati Shah of Gorkha.
The Gurkhas had set up a base on Dahachok, a hill on the valley's western rim, from where they mounted their assaults on Kirtipur. They were armed with swords, bows and arrows and muskets.
During the first assault in 1757, the Gorkhali army under the command of Kaji Kalu Pande was badly beaten. As they advanced towards Kirtipur, the Newars went to meet them under the command of Kaji Danuvanta. The two forces fought on the plain of Tyangla Phant in the northwest of Kirtipur. The Newars defended their town ferociously. The Gorkhali commander Kaji Kalu Pande was killed, and the Gorkhali king himself barely escaped with his life into the surrounding hills disguised as a 


Robert Clive's decisive victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 firmly established British supremacy in India thereby opening the door for expansion of the Honourable East India Company. Some 10 years after Plassey the British started to come into contact with a unique and vigorous power on the northern borders of its newly won territories in Bengal and Bihar.
This power was the city-state of Gorkha led by its dynamic king Prithwi Narayan Shah. Gorkha was a feudal hill village in what is now western Nepal, and is the place from which the Gurkha takes his name. Prithvi Narayan Shah and his successors grew so powerful that they cover the whole of the hill country from the Kashmir border in the west to Bhutan in the east.
Eventually, as a result of boundary disputes and repeated raids by Gurkha columns into British territory, the Governor General declared war on Nepal in 1814. After two long and bloody campaigns a Peace Treaty was signed at Sugauli in 1816.



  • Peace Treaty

During the war a deep feeling of mutual respect and admiration had developed between the British and their adversaries, the British being much impressed by the fighting and other fine qualities of the Gurkha soldier.

Under the terms of the Peace Treaty large numbers of Gurkhas were permitted to volunteer for service in the East India Company's Army.


  • Bravest of allies
From these volunteers were formed the first regiments of the Gurkha Brigade, and from this time stems Britain's friendship with Nepal, a country which has proved a staunch ally ever since and has become our 'oldest ally' in Asia.
Never has the trust that was then placed in the Gurkha soldier ever been in doubt. Alongside his British comrade in arms he has fought in many parts of the world and has proved himself to be of the closest friends and bravest of allies that Britain has known.
'Keeping the Peace' in India under the British flag began for Gurkha soldiers with the Pindari War in 1817, and the first battle honour gained by Gurkha troops was at Bhurtpore in 1826.
The two senior regiments distinguished themselves in the hard fought battles of the 1st Sikh War in 1846, and six regiments of the Nepalese Army were offered to the East India Company for service in the 2nd Sikh War of 1848.
 


  • Hindu Rao's house
In the Indian Mutiny of 1857-1858 the 2nd Goorkhas showed striking proof of their loyalty at Delhi where, together with the 60th Rifles (now part of The Rifles), they held Hindu Rao's house, the key to the British position which was under continuous fire from the mutineers, for over three months. During this period the 2nd Goorkhas suffered 327 casualties (including 8 of their 9 British Officers) out of a total strength of 490. 

  • After the East India Company
Also during the mutiny, 12 Nepalese Army Regiments, a force of 8,000 men under the personal leadership of the Prime Minister of Nepal, took part in the final relief of Lucknow. Throughout the next 50 years there was much active service in Burma, Afghanistan, the North-East and the North-West Frontiers of India, Malta, Cyprus, Malaya, China (the Boxer Rebellion of 1900) and Tibet (Young husbands Exposition of 1904). 
  armed fight Nepali Gorkha vs Afghanistani Al kayada

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