Opinion (Spotlight Weekly)

British-Nepal Relation And Bhakti Thapa

By Mrs. Laxmi Thapa et al

“ A quite elderly person already at the age of 74 years is bravely fighting in the battlefield. He has already received several wounds and his clothes are soaked in blood. But he continues fighting. Finally he lays down his life for his country fighting in the battlefield. This is the description of a scene of the Deothal Battle and the elderly man is none other than Bhakti Thapa. Even the enemies were full of praise of the bravery of Bhakti Thapa. They returned with honor the dead body of Bhakti Thapa wrapped in expensive shawls for cremation when the fighting stopped. One deserves to be called a real brave if his bravery is admired even by his foes. This type of bravery represents the true Nepalese character”. These are the sentiments expressed by Nepal’s national poet Madhav Prasad Ghimire in one of the books to portray the outstanding bravery of Bhakti Thapa and the true character of the Nepalese people.

If we turn the pages of history books we find that the historians have even surpassed the imagination of poets in lauding the outstanding bravery of Bhakti Thapa. It is claimed that the bravery of 74 years old Bhakti Thapa in Deothal counterattack on entrenched British forces far superior in strength on the 16th April, 1815 was the highest in the world. The following is an extract from the book “Rediscovered History of the Gorkhas” written by C.P. Khanduri.

Bravest In The World

" 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. The 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." It is an irony that British, instead of Nepalese people, helped to keep alive the remembrance of the outstanding bravery of Bhakti Thapa The full account of that great event in the history of Nepal that marked the life of Bhakti Thapa virtually sank into oblivion soon after the end of the British-Nepal War.

British-Nepal War

The process of expansion of the Great Nepal had spread like wild fire across the Himalayan region. The western boundary of the Great Nepal was pushed across a distance of about 400 km within a very short period of just two years So Nepal found itself in conflict with British who were then busy to expand their empire in South Asia.

The British began preparation for the war with Nepal 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. 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.

Prelude To Deothal Battle

In early months of the war the 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.. After the initial defeats the British changed their strategy to avoid their casualties. They started to deploy long-range guns to level the fortification and force the enemy to flee. This strategy paid off. The British were able to advance quickly into the territory under our control. They even used elephants to carry heavy guns across the mountains. A day before the Deothal Battle the British were able to bring to the Deothal height their artillery guns to level the Malaun fortress where the headquarter of the Amar Singh Thapa was located.

Towards the sunset of the April 15th evening Bhakti Thapa and the army units under him arrived at the Malaun fort from their station at Surajgarh without being noticed by the British army units scattered around the Malaun fortress. The subsequent events help to explain that he might have come to persuade Amar Singh Thapa to continue fighting until an amicable settlement is reached to end the war. He might have even advised him to pull back from the Malaun to regroup the army units spread all across the Garwal and Kumaun to go to a completely new type of offensive.

The Deothal Battle

The following day in the morning Bhakti Thapa at the age of 74 led a fierce counterattack against the British force entrenched at Deothal. Historians have presented the description of this battle at great length. It was 3.15 a.m. when a force of 400 under Bhakti Thapa marched out of the Malaun fort, to a slow but steady beat of a drum. The British column under Thompson had taken position at Deothal on reverse slopes. The cannons of 6 pounders were properly concealed. There were two Indian battalions, the Grenadiers companies of the Light Battalions and some 1000 Irregulars. The British strength was up to about 3,500 troops and weapons.

Bhakti Thapa and his followers in the counterattack appeared to have vowed to fight to the death. Bhakti Thapa had even handed his infant grandson in the custody of the Amar Singh Thapa just before going to the battlefield. It was a bloody battle. It would not be wrong to visualize that the Khukri charge and the battle cry of the Nepalese fighters might have shaken the enemies with fear. RP Ochterlony, the author of "Sketches Of The Goorka War" has written. A body of Gorkhas advancing to charge bears no resemblance to a European column. Several huge trumpets putting up a harsh but stirring noise, set the multitude in motion who, except some carry shields, grasping each a matchlock in his left hand and a broad sword in his right, rush on, disregarding all regularity, very like a pack of hounds in full cry.

After the Deothal Battle

Bhakti Thapa and his followers must have deliberately sacrificed their life in Deothal Battle to pursue other commanders to follow suit in a desperate attempt to prevent the Great Nepal from crumbling. Bhakti Thapa must have realized that Nepalese troops fighting in the west must indefinitely engage the British troops if we were to expect a reasonably fair settlement of territorial dispute that sparked off the Anglo-Nepal War. Unfortunately events took an unexpected turn. Almost immediately after the death of Bhakti Thapa fighting in the west ended. Vast territory of the Great Nepal to the west of the Mahakali River was surrendered to British. However, a large number of Nepalese troops were against such decision to surrender to British. Commanders like Balbhadra Kuwar well known for his great fighting skill in Kalunga battle against the British decided to join the Sikhs. Unfortunately Balbhadra Kuwar had to lay down his life for the cause of Sikhs in a battle in Afghanistan instead of sacrificing his life for the cause of Nepal.

Cessation of fighting in the west had disastrous consequences for Nepal. Soon after that British pulled back their troops from there to launch massive attack directly against Kathmandu that ensured them to dictate their terms in finalization of the treaty to end the war. The sainikitihas describes that until there was life in the body of Bhakti Thapa the vast territory of the Great Nepal was intact.

Bhakti Thapa Avoided Conflict With British

Soon after the end of the 1792 China-Nepal conflict Bhakti Thapa became supreme commander and administrator of the vast region of the Great Nepal to the west of the Chepe-Marshyangdi. Virtually absolute power was vested in Bhakti Thapa stationed at Almora (now India) on foreign policy matters. He could receive foreign kings and decide on foreign relation matters He had to refer to Capital only those matters if in his judgment it would be appropriate to do so. At that time British appeared to be very much concerned about the next move of Nepal. British somehow wanted to avoid new conflict in South Asia. Nepal too did not want confrontation with British. So Bhakti Thapa appeared to have directed his entire efforts to extend the territory of the Great Nepal further to the west.

(Thapa writes on history)

Japan Provides Education Grant

Japan has decided to extend a grant assistance of Rs 581 million for the implementation of the Project for Construction of Primary Schools in support of Education for All (Phase II). The Grant will be utilized for the procurement of necessary materials for the construction of 524 classrooms, 23 resource centers, 321 toilets, and installation of 143 water supply units in Bara, Dadheldura, Dhading, Makwanpur, Sindhuli, Sindhupalchowk, Kavrepalanchowk, Saptari, Syangja, Dang, Gorkha and Kailali districts.

In addition, 17,646 sets of classrooms furniture and 23 sets of furniture for resource centers will also be supplied. Japan had also provided the grant assistance for the implementation of the Project under Phase I in six districts. Both the Projects aim at improving the access to primary schools and quality of basic and primary education in the target districts through the improvement of the physical facilities. The overall goal of the Project is to contribute to the realization of the goal of “Education for All by 2015” set out by the government of Nepal.

"It is to be noted that the Government of Japan provided grant aid to His Majesty’s Government of Nepal for the implementation of the Basic and Primary Education Program (BPEP) from FY1994 to FY1997 (BPEP I) and FY1999 to FY2001 (BPEP II)," states a press release from the Japanese Embassy.

Under the Program, a total of 5,498 classrooms, 84 resource centers, and 1,017 toilet blocks were constructed and 622 water supply units were installed in 25 districts with the Japanese assistance. The Program has a supplementary role in contributing to the development of basic and primary education in Nepal by successfully constructing primary schools which is regarded as an important factor in achieving improved access to basic and primary education.

Speaking on the occasion, Japanese Ambassador Tsutomu Hiraoka expressed his firm hope that the grant extended will be implemented smoothly and successfully. He also expressed his confidence in the grant providing greater accessibility to children in pursuing their primary level education.