User:Prpaudel

Greater Nepal- The history that World appreciates

There is land where Mother Nature reflects her beauty in the Southern region of Asia sharing borders with two of the most powerful countries in the world. This land has its history and is known to be the home of Hindu Gods, the homeland of Yeti, and many Mythological creatures in the past. Nepal is known as the roof of the world with eight. of the 14 highest mountains in the world where the tallest mountain Mt.Everest(8848m) is located in Nepal. This nation is full of many histories either in the religious, natural, or brave aspects. Nepal is one of the renowned countries which was never colonized by any other country, the fact is Nepal was not even advanced with militaries or had a huge land mass, it was the fearsome Gurkhas land where intruders were feared to keep their foot on. Nepal is a landlocked country bounded by hills and the Himalayas. Aside from everything if we look at the land square kilometre of Nepal it is just 147,516 sq km which lies 28N and 84E. (ntb.gov.np); [P1]. But was Nepal like this ever? The answer is No, this landlocked country was once spread from Sutlej to Teesta covering 1500 km in length. The land areas like Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, West Bengal, Patna, Darjeeling, Gadwall, Almora, and Dehradun were part of Greater Nepal as claimed by ancient Nepal. Then how was this land formed and how did Greater Nepal (Kingdom of Nepal) fall apart ?

Nepal was once divided into many states and Gorkha was one of them. In 1743 April 3^rd A.D. / 1800 B.S. after the death of Nara Bhupal Shah (Father), Prithvi Narayan Shah was announced as the King of the Gorkha Region. Soon after gaining the position of King at the age of 20 Prithvi Narayan Shah acted as the ruler with the hope to unite every state to one due to frequent wars and conflicts among states. Shah started his unification after taking over Nuwakot in 1745 A.D. After the victory over Nuwakot Shah conquered many other small states to his Gorkha kingdom. The tragic fact is when the Shah was in the process of unifying Greater Nepal there were Britishers who were slowly colonizing half of the world and marching towards India. Prithvi Narayan Shah then started acquiring Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk, Dahachowk and Naldum in 1754. The unification was rapid pace and soon Shah took over 46 states which were divided as Baise Rajya and Chaubhisey Rajya. After a treaty with Kathmandu, making it the capital Shah announced the country as Kingdom of Nepal in 1768 AD. Ruling over several decades and expanding his territory towards Terai, Kumaon, Garhwal, Tibet, and Simla, the Father of Modern Nepal or Kingdom of Nepal Prithivi Narayan Shah took his last breath in 1775. During his rule he conquered three Malla kingdoms, he faced losses with Kritipur, Nuwakot and other regions but with his dedication, bravery, and strategic plan he successfully created the Kingdom of Nepal before his death. But from a brave King, there comes a brave prince too, after the death of Shah his son Pratap Singh Shah took over his position and with Rajendra Laxmi (in charge of the unification) continued his Father’s ambition to conquer other territories and make it Greater Nepal. This is how the Greater Nepal unification started to build from a small state of Gorkha. Though many other parties like China, Sikhs tried to stop this Unification with fear the Gorkha (Gurkhas) never stop, soon after his father’s death Pratap Singh took over Uperdang, Gadi and Chitwan also in his 18^th attempt he got victory over Morang. In 1782 in charge of Rajendra Laxmi they got victory over Lamjung and Tanahu soon after 3 years after the death of Rajendra Laxmi, Bahadur Shah took charge of the unification, soon after taking position Bahadur Shah attacked Bheri and conquered the territory then 1789 Jumla gets added to the Kingdom of Nepal. In 1790 they got victory over Doti, Kumaun Shrinagar, Garwal, Hindur, Beshar, and Chamba. Though Prithvi Narayan Shah died, the expansion of Nepal territory was on its move as a tradition, Bhimsen Thapa Known as Nepali Hero continued with the expansion of Nepalese territory and served the kingdom of Nepal as a Prime Minister and Commander in Chief. The Kingdom of Nepal acquired most of the places and the borderline was inscribed from Sutlej to Teesta River. However, the Gurkhas(Gorkhas) were unaware of the outer world and the Britishers who colonized India and were Marching towards Nepal. Britishers were worried about Nepal expanding and gathering more forces, Moreover, their main target was to do trade with Sikkim and China but there was a strong wall they needed to destroy and conquer, and it was the Kingdom of Nepal. The fate of Nepal was about to change.

There is a beautiful quote in history " If two head-hunters are moving in the jungle, sooner or later they will face each other" and it happened with the British Empire and the Kingdom of Nepal. The two colonizing powers faced each other in 1814 when the British EIC declared war against Greater Nepal. Both Empires collided head-on when Nepal was expanding towards the Southern area and Britain was colonizing India. The main reason for the dispute was the Kingdom of Nepal didn't allow the EIC to cross their borderline even when they requested it several times to expand their trade market with Sikkim and China. Further, the battle in April 1814 was in the hands of the Kingdom of Nepal. The British Empire feared for the first time on a battleground with the strength of Gurkhas when EIC sent its troops to Nepal but was wiped out with no resistance. General Hasting experienced the battle with Gurkhas and made a statement " To be foiled by the Gurkhas, or so make a discreditable accommodation with them, would have led to incalculable mischief" (James 65), which made EIC realize only a large number of military forces can deal with Gurkhas. They are facing something more than just soldiers. Hasting then decided to send four military powers from different sides to attack the Kingdom of Nepal. Still, again the victors were Gurkhas beating EIC brutally and securing territory even when they were one-third with military counts with EIC. The battle frontier at Jit Gadhi was secured by Commander Ujir Singh Thapa lowering General Woods from EIC. The next was the battle between EIC and Gurkhas at Jaitak in Dehradun where the force of EIC under the command of Major General Gillespie loosed to Nepal. These battles made them realize they were against a tough power and that it would be hard to put Nepal down.

Additionally, they were aware of Gurkhas' fighting skills and their major weapon "Khukuri"(a short, curved knife). There is a term by Gurkhas " Once Khukuri is out of its vase on its master hand it will calm down only with blood". Their Khukuri were able to chop the head of their enemy without any mercy also Gurkhas were well-trained in guerrilla strategies. This defines the strength and motive of Gurkhas along with their weapon that if they are on battleground the consequences will be blood and victory over their side. But the tides were about to change, in 1815 British logistics were extremely examined in their base (Bengal). One of the representatives from EIC Sir Ochterlony revised the losses of EIC with the Kingdom of Nepal, brought up new tactics and soon took over the Kumaun region in May 1815. Afterwards, EIC tried to find peace settlement, but Gurkhas denied it and battled furiously. For the first time British Empire had to use some lowly tactics, they used local smugglers as guides and entered the fortified valley to march their army in Nepal. On the 1816 battle of Makwanpur Gurkhas were lowered down by the tactics of Ochterlony besides this many cannons were placed in a position to blast out the forts of Gurkhas. The Kingdom of Nepal was surrounded by chaos this time. The main reason they could not deal with EIC was low manpower and their military budget as there were no advanced weapons. With no will, Gurkhas had to agree to a peace settlement with EIC. 1816 was one of the black days for the Kingdom of Nepal, Treaty of Sugauli or Sugauli treaty where Greater Nepal loosed one-third part of its land territory along with Sikkim as per the agreement, those lands were annexed to EIC (today’s India), the day the political map of Nepal was decided. Aftermath, the British Empire was influenced by the fearless strength of Gurkhas and how loyal they were to their Kingdom, it was the first time in history that an enemy built many honourable statues for their rivals also they decided to recruit Gurkhas in their military and even in present Gurkhas serve many nations as a strong military force.

There are some of the quotes that explains the appreciation and bravery of Gurkhas:

"Bravest of brave, most generous of generous, never had country more faithful friend than you" - Sir Ralph Turner

"If a man tells he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha" - Chief Marshal Sam Manekshaw

"Here comes Gurkha" (Aayo Gorkhali) - Gurkha War Cry

"Its better to die than being a weakling" (Kamjor hunu vanda marnu ramro" - Gurkhas

"If i had Gurkhas, no army in the World could beat us" - Sir Hitler

Finally, the never-ending Anglo-Nepalese War came to an end with blood, bravery, respect, honour, and some loss. Though Nepal lost one-third land area it was dedicated as an independent country never ruled by the British Empire as a result Nepal became the country never to be colonized but on the same hand, Greater Nepal was brought down to a limited land territory. Many nations were surprised by the strength and Gurkhas gained many names for their Bravery one of them was Black Devils also mentioned "If i had Gurkhas No Army in the world could defeat me" (by Sir Hitler during WW1). The War was appreciated by the overall world throughout history and Nepal was named as a country of Soldiers. In the end, the unification of Nepal stopped, and the remaining land mass was named Republic of Nepal or Nepal. We appreciate the blood and battle.