What are Gurkhas?

Answer 1

Gurkhali was the name given to the army of NEPALduring the rule of Prithivi Narayan Shah who unified Nepal in 17th century.He was the descendant of Dravya Shah who was the founder of the Small Kingdom within Nepal called Gorkha. During the time of Prithivi Narayan Shah, Nepal was divided into more than 60 small states or kingdoms ruled by separate kings. After British invaded India,he realised that sooner or later they will invade Nepal and capture it with ease for Nepal was divided .So he began a unification campaign to strengthen the nation and was partly successful as he died early. His youngest son Bahadur Shah and some of the royal faithfuls expanded the Kingdom of Nepal after his death.

British felt the threat from the growing power of Gorkha Kingdom so they declared war against Nepal on November 1814 in which Nepal lost 1/3 of its territory which is now in India.British were expecting this an easy task but to their surprise the Gurkhas were so stubborn and brave that they were overrunning the british troops despite of the odds in number n arms and they were denying to accept defeat even to the last man in battle.Due to the lack of army personnal many battles were fought by local tribalpeople consisting of man,woman and children with no guns or modern weapon except for khukuri and stones.During that war both British and Nepalese sufferred heavy casualties and war was streching too long for British so they came to an agreement called Treaty Of Sugauli in 1816.

British realised the potential of Gurkha troops and wanted to use them for their own purpose so they started to recruit the locals from Nepal to their army.They surveyed throughout Nepal to find the races that were fearsome in war as Nepal is a very multicultural country.They travelled from west to east in search of the warlike people and found that Gurung and Magarfrom Western Nepal were very brave,loyal and honest who also played major role in the Nepal-british war.British also recruited Tamang and people from other tribes form central Nepal as they were brave and honest.When british were surveying in the east they found that the people who were called Kirati meaning 'people with lion nature' were very aggressive,quick tempered,stubborn but loyal and honest.It is said that british even had to keep them separate from the rest of the army due to their quick temper.Kirati conprises of two tribes Rai and Limbu

People from the above tribes were physically strong as they lived in the extreme climate and geographical features. They had to do physical work everyday and had a tough life.

The current Gurkha serving in the British troops comes from the tribes mentioned above. Currently British intakes the gurkhas only from Mongoliod community that includes Rai,Limbu,Tamang,Gurung,Magar,Sherpa etc and they have similar face structure to that of Chinese,Japanese or mongolians.Some of these group of tribes have been living in Nepal since the Pre historic time,thus they are called the indigenous people of Nepal.Nepal has a history of never being under the foreign rule.

Answer 2

Gurkhali was the name given to the army of NEPALduring the rule of Prithivi Narayan Shah who unified Nepal in 17th century.He was the descendant of Dravya Shah who was the founder of the Small Kingdom within Nepal called Gorkha. During the time of Prithivi Narayan Shah, Nepal was divided into more than 60 small states or kingdoms ruled by separate kings. After British invaded India,he realised that sooner or later they will invade Nepal and capture it with ease for Nepal was divided .So he began a unification campaign to strengthen the nation and was partly successful as he died early. His youngest son Bahadur Shah and some of the royal faithfuls expanded the Kingdom of Nepal after his death.

British felt the threat from the growing power of Gorkha Kingdom so they declared war against Nepal on November 1814 in which Nepal lost 1/3 of its territory which is now in India.British were expecting this an easy task but to their surprise the Gurkhas were so stubborn and brave that they were overrunning the british troops despite of the odds in number n arms and they were denying to accept defeat even to the last man in battle.Due to the lack of army personnal many battles were fought by local tribalpeople consisting of man,woman and children with no guns or modern weapon except for khukuri and stones.During that war both British and Nepalese sufferred heavy casualties and war was streching too long for British so they came to an agreement called Treaty Of Sugauli in 1816.

British realised the potential of Gurkha troops and wanted to use them for their own purpose so they started to recruit the locals from Nepal to their army.They surveyed throughout Nepal to find the races that were fearsome in war as Nepal is a very multicultural country.They travelled from west to east in search of the warlike people and found that Gurung and Magarfrom Western Nepal were very brave,loyal and honest who also played major role in the Nepal-british war.British also recruited Tamang and people from other tribes form central Nepal as they were brave and honest.When british were surveying in the east they found that the people who were called Kirati meaning 'people with lion nature' were very aggressive,quick tempered,stubborn but loyal and honest.It is said that british even had to keep them separate from the rest of the army due to their quick temper.Kirati conprises of two tribes Rai and Limbu

People from the above tribes were physically strong as they lived in the extreme climate and geographical features. They had to do physical work everyday and had a tough life.

The current Gurkha serving in the British troops comes from the tribes mentioned above. Currently British intakes the gurkhas only from Mongoliod community that includes Rai,Limbu,Tamang,Gurung,Magar,Sherpa etc and they have similar face structure to that of Chinese,Japanese or mongolians.Some of these group of tribes have been living in Nepal since the Pre historic time,thus they are called the indigenous people of Nepal.Nepal has a history of never being under the foreign rule.