BRITAIN'S GURKHA WAR
The Invasion of Nepal, 1814-16
Author: John Pemble
Publisher: Frontline Books
Pages: 400
Price: $39.99
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. Events have been held to mark the occasion all over the world, and the exploits of war heroes have been faithfully recounted. Later in the year, it will be 200 years of the start of another war: the Anglo-Nepal war. Few are likely to take notice. At war's end in 1816, Nepal had to cede all the territory it had annexed west of the Kali up to the Sutlej to the East India Company - much of present-day Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The English discovered a new martial race, one that still serves them, and gained new territory to administer. The men and women of Garhwal and Kumaon were liberated from the tyranny of the occupants. Two hundred years later, the tales of their oppression are still told in the hills. Gorkhali Raj (the rule of the Gorkha) is a euphemism for disorder and chaos.
Like most campaigns of that time, trade was at the heart of this conflict. The English wanted to expand into new markets. The one beyond the kingdoms of Garhwal and Kumaon was imagined to be a good one for cloth made in Manchester. The mountains of Tibet were said to hold gold in large measures and bred sheep that could provide wool for English-owned factories. It had everything to make the English merchant-soldier drool in anticipation. Only, the Nepal Durbar viewed them with great suspicion: with the merchant comes the musket, with the Bible comes the bayonet. Various missions sent to Nepal yielded nothing, except some remarkable travelogues.
War became imminent. Like the Russophobia of that time which resulted in The Great Game, fears were expressed that a grand alliance between the Gorkha, Sikh and Maratha armies was in the works against the English. The excuse was good enough to launch a war. The final straw was when Gorkha forces occupied some territory of the East India Company and attacked an outpost. Money was borrowed from the Nawab of Awadh to finance the campaign - Rs 2 crore. But the war didn't go quite according to the East India Company script.
Two divisions were readied to attack from the east, one was supposed to capture Dehradun and then move to Almora (the headquarters of the Gorkha territory west of the Kali), while a fourth one was to march to Nahan and gain control of the areas east of the Sutlej. This was the western border of the Gorkha kingdom - beyond it was the empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The eastern campaigns came to naught. The division that had moved to Dehradun met with stiff resistance at Nalapani. The attackers had underestimated the pluck and fighting prowess of the Gorkha army. Only the fourth division, under Sir David Ochtorloney (a White Mughal to the core, he had nine wives; locals called him Akhtar Looney), met with success, that too because the Gorkha forces were spread too thin. Finally, the treaty of Sagauli was signed, after which the Gorkha forces agreed to confine themselves to the boundaries of Nepal.
There are a number of books on these events. For a firsthand account of the battle of Nalapani, read From Sepoy to Subedar by Sita Ram Pande. Commissioned in the Bengal Native Infantry in 1812, Pande served in the forces for 45 years. He wrote his memoirs some time in 1861. The English edition was first published from Lahore in 1873. It was compulsory reading for all British officers of the Indian army before Independence. However, the best book on the subject is John Pemble's Britain's Gurkha War (1971). It takes a broad sweeping view of the conflict and deals with every possible angle: trade, war, politics, et cetera. The assortment of players - scheming highlanders, adventurous Eurasians, unscrupulous chieftains and impetuous colonialists - are all given proper space.
Though not as well-documented as World War I, the Anglo-Nepal war had all the makings of a potboiler. These books make for some fascinating reading.
The Invasion of Nepal, 1814-16
Author: John Pemble
Publisher: Frontline Books
Pages: 400
Price: $39.99
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. Events have been held to mark the occasion all over the world, and the exploits of war heroes have been faithfully recounted. Later in the year, it will be 200 years of the start of another war: the Anglo-Nepal war. Few are likely to take notice. At war's end in 1816, Nepal had to cede all the territory it had annexed west of the Kali up to the Sutlej to the East India Company - much of present-day Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The English discovered a new martial race, one that still serves them, and gained new territory to administer. The men and women of Garhwal and Kumaon were liberated from the tyranny of the occupants. Two hundred years later, the tales of their oppression are still told in the hills. Gorkhali Raj (the rule of the Gorkha) is a euphemism for disorder and chaos.
Like most campaigns of that time, trade was at the heart of this conflict. The English wanted to expand into new markets. The one beyond the kingdoms of Garhwal and Kumaon was imagined to be a good one for cloth made in Manchester. The mountains of Tibet were said to hold gold in large measures and bred sheep that could provide wool for English-owned factories. It had everything to make the English merchant-soldier drool in anticipation. Only, the Nepal Durbar viewed them with great suspicion: with the merchant comes the musket, with the Bible comes the bayonet. Various missions sent to Nepal yielded nothing, except some remarkable travelogues.
War became imminent. Like the Russophobia of that time which resulted in The Great Game, fears were expressed that a grand alliance between the Gorkha, Sikh and Maratha armies was in the works against the English. The excuse was good enough to launch a war. The final straw was when Gorkha forces occupied some territory of the East India Company and attacked an outpost. Money was borrowed from the Nawab of Awadh to finance the campaign - Rs 2 crore. But the war didn't go quite according to the East India Company script.
Two divisions were readied to attack from the east, one was supposed to capture Dehradun and then move to Almora (the headquarters of the Gorkha territory west of the Kali), while a fourth one was to march to Nahan and gain control of the areas east of the Sutlej. This was the western border of the Gorkha kingdom - beyond it was the empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The eastern campaigns came to naught. The division that had moved to Dehradun met with stiff resistance at Nalapani. The attackers had underestimated the pluck and fighting prowess of the Gorkha army. Only the fourth division, under Sir David Ochtorloney (a White Mughal to the core, he had nine wives; locals called him Akhtar Looney), met with success, that too because the Gorkha forces were spread too thin. Finally, the treaty of Sagauli was signed, after which the Gorkha forces agreed to confine themselves to the boundaries of Nepal.
There are a number of books on these events. For a firsthand account of the battle of Nalapani, read From Sepoy to Subedar by Sita Ram Pande. Commissioned in the Bengal Native Infantry in 1812, Pande served in the forces for 45 years. He wrote his memoirs some time in 1861. The English edition was first published from Lahore in 1873. It was compulsory reading for all British officers of the Indian army before Independence. However, the best book on the subject is John Pemble's Britain's Gurkha War (1971). It takes a broad sweeping view of the conflict and deals with every possible angle: trade, war, politics, et cetera. The assortment of players - scheming highlanders, adventurous Eurasians, unscrupulous chieftains and impetuous colonialists - are all given proper space.
Though not as well-documented as World War I, the Anglo-Nepal war had all the makings of a potboiler. These books make for some fascinating reading.
bhupesh.bhandari@bsmail.in