BRAVERY, HONESTY, PATRIOTISM AND NEPAL By Laxmi Thapa
Before being known as the country with the world’s highest mountains and vast water resources, Nepal was renowned for bravery, honesty and patriotism of her people. Nepal was avant-garde in the movement to drive away colonial powers from the Indian Sub-continent. Sacrifice and bravery shown in the battles fought against the world’s mightiest colonial power the Great Britain have made Nepali people proud of their past.
Political Turmoil
Eighteenth century was a period of great political turmoil in the Indian subcontinent. The powerful Mogul empire had come to an end at the very beginning of this century. To the west of the Sub-continent was the Iran under the rule of Nadir Shah described in the history as the most hated man of his age who massacred people in uncounted thousands and plundered the country and after his death his successor not too different from him
The colonial power Great Britain was doing its utmost to increase its presence by exploiting the weaknesses of the rulers of small states recently broken off from the Mogul empire. At that time British rulers in India were adopting every possible method to enlarge the territory under their control.
British Rulers Were Condemned
The way new territories in India were brought under the British control and ruled had provoked even the British public. British Parliament went completely against it. Historian HG Wells has written about the British rule in India at great length. The text from his book {History of the World) has been reproduced here. Englishmen at home were perplexed when presently the generals and officials came back to make dark accusations against each other of extortions and cruelties. Upon Clive, Parliament passed a vote of censure. He committed suicide in 1774. In 1788 Warren Hastings, a second great Indian administrator, was impeached and acquitted (1792).
How Britain Grabbed South Asian Territories
After Clive and Warren Hasting, the Governor General Wellesley used every possible means to expand British Empire in South Asia . Wellesley asked the Nawab of Oude to agree, like the Nizam, to cede to Britain some of his territories in exchange for British protection. At first the Nawab would not agree, but at length, when he saw there was no use of trying to resist, he gave in. British army was sent to Oude, and to pay for it the Nawab gave up the Do-ab or the country between the Jamuna and the Ganges. Meanwhile Wellesley turned his attention to Delhi . In 1803, General Gerard Lake captured Delhi and Agra .
Himalayan Unity
The ruthless way new territories were being brought under the British control and ruled must have played a vital role in generating awareness of the great urgency to Himalayan region solidarity. Enlightened peoples living across the Himalayan region must have sensed the acute need to be united. Because, without being awakened to the realization that the unification of the whole region was a matter of the utmost importance to the peoples across the Himalayan region, it would not have been possible in a very short period to come together under a common umbrella peoples living in a vast region demarcated on the west by the Sutlej and Bias rivers and on the east by the Teesta
Emergence of the Great Nepal
In the 1790s, the struggle to unite the Himalayan region had been greatly intensified. Nepal spared no efforts and resources to accomplish this great historic mission. The process of unification had gone ahead at an exceptionally rapid pace. In 1789, to the west of then Nepal was the Bheri river. By 1791 the western border of the Great Nepal was about to hit the Sutlej river. Powerful kingdoms like Jumla, Doti, Kumaun and Garwal had come within the Great Nepal. The western border had thus shifted almost across a distance of about 400 kilometers within a short period of just two years. Nepal was able to rise to become a formidable Himalayan power within a very short time. Nepal had gathered enough strength to move forward to protect the peoples dwelling in the western part of the Himalayan region from growing anarchy and also from the danger of coming under European domination. However, the build up of Nepalese strength brought her on a collision course with the colonial power of that time. Colonial power Great Britain had good reason to fear that if the Nepalese build up continued for some time, the colonial rule over South Asia could soon come to an end much the same way as in the North America a short time before.
A New Sense of Patriotism.
Nepalese patriotism has been described in the book Rediscovered History of Gorkhas. It is explained why the Gorkhas succeeded in unifying Kumaonis, Garhwalis or Himanchalis to establish the Great Nepal. The Gorkhas, had been spurred by their overzealous new concepts of nationalism ( Hami Gorkhali hom). It had leadership that grew stronger as it moved from Kumaon to the Kashmir border. Leadership and character were the hallmarks of the Gorkhas that got them victorious. Even now Nepalese people living in Darjeeling , Sikkim , Assam , Burma and various other parts of the World are proud of their Gorkhali ancestry.
British Preparation For War
The Great Nepal was seen all along as a threat to British rule in India till the end of Anglo- Nepal War of 1814-16. Thus it was very clear that British rulers in India did not want Nepal to become a strong power. They must have realized that sooner or later they would have to wage a war against Nepal. British and Nepalese forces were virtually standing eyeball to eyeball in the west after the Wellesley’s conquest of the North India. However, British rulers must not have initially liked to risk getting caught in battles against Nepal in unknown high mountain terrains without penetrating into Nepal’s defense system in advance.
Finally, the British actively began preparation for the war from the time when F.R. Hastings- Earl of Moira landed in India as Governor General and Commander-in- Chief in 1813. The actual declaration of war against Nepal is recorded as 1 November, 1814, though the war began from middle of October. The decision to declare war had been made six months earlier so the territorial dispute appears to be only a pretext. British force had marched into Nepal across a frontier of more than 1500 km to attack at several points at the same time The eastern British flank was moving north from the Teesta area whereas the farthermost western flank from the Sutlej river area. It was virtually a modern type warfare extended over a period of three calendar years and necessitating to protect the entire region bordering the enemy held territory. The British invasion force, in comparison with Nepalese, had absolute superiority in cavalry, pioneers, and at least the superiority of 10 times in infantry and 100 times in artillery. They also had the advantage of maneuverability in movement of their fighting force.
War Prolonged
British had expected a blitz-krieg victory. It is said that the Governor General Hastings had planned to win the war in one mighty sweep in one to two months in end 1814 but certainly before the Christmas. He was badly mistaken in his assessment. We Nepalese fought very bravely. In early months of the war the initial British invasion was completely beaten off. British offensive ended in complete failure. Nepalese force stationed within the shelter of the fortress were not only able to defend their position against an invading enemy many times superior in strength but they even shocked them by their dreadful counteroffensive that used to be accompanied by big losses on British side. The British rule in India was at a risk of falling apart. Unfortunately at that time the Sikhs and Marathas did not join Nepal in liberating the whole of the South Asian Continent from the grip of the European domination.
Nepalese Bravery Astonished the World
It might surprise many of us to learn that the Bhakti Thapa who sacrificed his life at an age of 74 in a counter attack in Deothal Battle against the British became a legend even in the eyes of his enemy. Historian CB Khanduri writes quoting various contemporary British historians" The euphemism of the BRAVEST OF THE BRAVES had been used by Napoleon for Marshal Ney, whose bravery during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 was one of the highest. BRAVE LES BRAVE, said Napoleon of him. British then used this citation for the Gorkhas during and after the Anglo-Nepal War. Such was the bravery shown by Bhakti Thapa that the next legend of the Bravest of the Braves had been created on the day- 16 April 1815 at Deothal.”
In Last Century
Nepalese bravely fought in First and Second World Wars to defeat fascism and Nazism. Similarly some Nepalese had fought along side the Indian National Army of Subhas Chandra Bose to free India from Britain . In recent years Nepalese have been playing very active role in helping the UN to bring peace in various parts of the World.
(Thapa writes on history)
