RECRUITMENT OF NEPALESE IN FOREIGN ARMIES; CAUSES AND IMPLICATIONS
Prof. Vidya Bir Singh Kansakar, Ph.D.
Historical Background
The history of recruitment of the Nepalese hill people, or Gorkhalis as mercenaries in the foreign armies is associated with the Anglo-Nepal War of 1814 when the British East India Company, for the first time, had to engage in the mountain warfare and had to face the gallant Gorkhalis well trained in the mountain warfare to revolt against Nepal and blockading Nepal's army supply in the western sector, the British eventually succeeded in defeating the Gorkhalis.
After the fall of Malaun fort under Kazi Amar Singh Thapa in the hand of the British, Major General David Octerlony compelled Amar Singh Thapa to enter into convention or agreement on 15 May 1815. According to the fifth provision of the agreement, the British secured the right to recruit Nepalese into the British army:
"All the troops in the service of Nepal, with the exceptions of those granted to the personal honour of the Kajees Amar Singh and Ranjor Singh, will be at liberty to enter into the service of the British government, if it is agreeable to themselves and the British government choose to accept their services, and those who are not employed will be maintained on a specific allowance by the British government till peace is concluded between the two states."
Before the end of Anglo-Nepal War Lieutenant Frederick Young, while moving with irregular force of 2,000 men to intercept and drive back a column of 200 Gorkhalis moving westward towards Jaithak, was left forlorn in the battlefield by the irregulars when the Gorkhalis suddenly attacked them. Though Young was made prisoner of the Gorkhalis, they very much appreciated the courage of Young. They not only treated him like friend but also taught him their language. After his release Young gathered 3,000 Gorkhalis among the prisoners of war in Dehra Doon who were willing to serve the British army. From these men Sirmoor Battalion was found. By the time the war in the west ended in 1815, about 4,650 soldiers of the Gorkhali army had deserted and sought service with the Company in response to the invitations of the British commanders. From among these Gorkhalis another regiment of two battalions was raised at Subathu, near Simla, called the Nasiri Regiment, and a third at Almora, the Kumaon Levy.
Sensing the resistance offered by the Gorkhali army to the British, Sikh King Ranjit Singh tried to recruit Gorkhalis in the Khalsa (Sikh) army. He sent Shiva Dat Rai (Amar Singh Thapa's old mentor living in Sikh territories) as agent to entice the 2nd Nasiri Battalion to forsake the Company's service for his own. This particular design was unsuccessful despite his offer of high pay; but Nepali mercenaries did enter his army in increasing number as time went on and they even included Bal Bhadra Kunwar (Bal Bahadur Singh), the hero of Kalanga fort. The large scale recruitment of Nepalese in the Sikh army had been the result of a special treaty between Nepal government and Khalsa (Sikh) government in 1839 regarding the recruitment of Nepalese hill people in Sikh army. The Nepali mercenaries went to Lahore to join Ranjit Singh's army and since them the Nepalis mercenaries serving foreign armies are called "Lahure" (one who goes to Lahore). During the Anglo-Sikh War of 1846 the British Gurkhas were facing a battalion or two of the Gorkhas in the Sikh army. Besides the British and the Sikh, Shah Shuja's army also had Gorkha battalions, and curiously enough in a much later period when there was trouble at Khelat in Baluchistan, it was found that the Khan of Khelat's bodyguard consisted of Gorkhas.
After the Anglo-Nepal War, the British recognised that the Gorkhas were a great fighting people, if befriended, could be as much a source of strength for the Indian government as they could be a cause of danger, if alienated. General David Ochterlony who was involved in the battle fronts of the Anglo-Nepal War had suggested recruiting the Gorkhalis on the ground that the Company's sepoys, then Hindustanis, could never be brought to resist the shocks of these energetic mountaineers on their own grounds. Brian H. Hodgson while he was Assistant Resident in Kathmandu in 1932 strongly pleaded for recruiting the Nepali hill people particularly the Gurungs and the Magars in the Indian army:
"They are by far the best soldiers in Asia; and if they were made participators of our renown in arms, I conceive that their gallant spirit, emphatic contempt of Madheseas (people of the plains), and unadulterated military habits, might be relied on for fidelity; and that our good and regular pay and noble pension establishment would serve perfected to counterpoise the influence of nationality, so far as that could injuriously affect us."
Apprehending the possibility of Nepal intriguing with the Indian states and the bordering countries when the British were preoccupied with War against other powers (French, Dutch and Portuguese), Russia and Afghanistan as well as hostility with the Indian states in the nineteenth century, the British realised that the large scale recruitment of Nepalese hill people in the Indian army would weaken Nepalese army on the one hand and would reinforce the British army to combat the crisis with those opposing the British, on the other hand. However, recruitment of Nepalese in the British army was very difficult, because Nepal government was principally against the recruitment of its people in the foreign army. Because of the fear of drain on Nepal's own strength, and corresponding increase of the British army strength, the Nepal government was never willing to allow its men to serve the British army almost up to the end of the nineteenth century.
In order to overcome the difficulties of recruiting Nepalese in the British army, the British adopted several measures. They carried out recruitment secretly by sending recruiting agents into Nepal from Gorakhpur, Almora and Darjeeling, often at fairs in the border towns and villages to obtain men. Gurkhas of the Indian army on leave in Nepal were also encouraged to smuggle out recruits from Nepal and were rewarded by the British. The British service was popular with the Gorkhas for its higher pay and other amenities as well as for the scope it offered for active service not available in Nepalese army. The Nepalese government disliked the clandestine operations and took strong measure to discourage it. Some of the Gorkhas serving in India army on their return home on leave in Nepal was even put to death and property of those serving the Indian army was confiscated.
Sensing the harassment meted out to families of the Gorkhas in the Indian army by the Nepalese government and to make the recruitment easier, the British government encouraged migration of the Gurkhas from Nepal with their families and established Gurkha settlements in the hills of India. The largest of these colonies was in the Kangra valley, where it spread from the early settlements of Dharmashala (Bhagsu) and Bakloh. Others were at Darjeeling, Deharadun and Shillong. There are also considerable colonies scattered over Burma and Assam, those in the former started in the days when Gurkhaz were enlisted into the old Burma Military Police, and those in the latter among the pensioners of Assam Rifles.
When the above-mentioned measures failed to acquire sufficient number of recruits, the British government tried to solve the problem of recruitment at government level. However, Nepal government refused to grant permission for recruitment. It offered to provide Nepali troops for the disposal of the British in times of need, but the British government declined to accept these offers several times up to the beginning of the World War I, excepting the offer of Nepalese troops in the Mutiny of 1857 when Prime Minister Jung Bahadur himself leading 12,000 Nepalese troops went to India to help to quell the mutiny. In recognition of this assistance, the British government under a treaty conducted on 1st November 1860 restored to Nepal the tract of territory on the Oudh frontier (Far Western Tarai), which had been ceded to the British government in 1816. The installation of Rana regime in 1846 through Kot massacre heralded the end of the era of active enmity and beginning of good faith, understanding and cordiality with the British, because Jung Bahadur cherished for good will of the British for the consolidation and support of his regime. Though the British tried to take advantage out of such situation, they failed in their mission. Jung Bahadur himself adopted several stringent measures to discourage recruitment of Nepalese in the British army by measures such as the requirement of obtaining passports from government for Nepalese willing to enlist in the Indian army, need of obtaining letter of authority from the British government for all recruiting parties coming to Nepal, authorising guards at the passes on the border to shoot at sight anyone trying to sneak in or out, rendering no co-operation to trace the relatives of the Gorkhas killed or disabled for payment of pensions and compensations as well as rendering no co-operation by providing physically handicapped persons for recruitment. The issue of recruitment during the period of Prime Minister Ranodip Singh was still complicated. People were warned against taking British service on pain of severe punishment, forfeiture of property and torture to the family left in Nepal. There were also reports of execution of men trying to escape from Nepal as well as coming back on leave in Nepal. In order to get the recruits from Nepal, the British government came forward with the proposition of the offer of one rifle for each recruits, `head money' for every good recruits, etc. Among the martial ethnic groups, the Gurungs and the Magars were the most sought after for their acknowledge superiority over the rest and constituted the largest bulk of the Gurkhas in the Indian army. After the Mutiny of 1857, the British government disfavoured the enlistment of the Khasas, because of their Brahmanical prejudices form which other ethnic groups were mostly immune. However, the Gurungs and the Magars were difficult to get because they were the most preferred groups in the Nepalese army as well.
It was only during the period of Prime Minister Bir Shamsher that the Nepalese government freely allowed enlistment of Nepalese in the Indian army. Bir Shamsher who came to power after the assassination of Prime Minister Ranodip Singh strongly needed the support and favour of the British government. The British recognised the new regime, but the price of British patronage granted to Bir was too high for Nepal to bear. Recruitment of the Nepalese freely in the Indian army was one of those prices. The new government applied themselves to the task of collecting recruits with zeal and success (even using improper pressure to obtain men in some cases), and even accepted suggestion of the British not to recruit in the Nepalese army the Gurungs and the Magars. The notifications published by Prime Minister of Nepal in 1885 and 1888, encouraging Nepalese to enlist "in the British army", established the right of the British to recruit Gurkhas. In 1891, Captain E. Vansittart, 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles, was appointed Military Assistant to the Resident in Nepal and he was responsible for preparing recruiting manual for the Gurkhas in the Indian army. In 1902 two Gurkha recruiting centres were finally established in Gorakhpur and Ghoom, the former for recruiting the Gurungs and the Magars and the latter for the Limbus and the Rais. During the period of Jung Bahadur, a force of 6,000 Limbus were stationed at Kathmandu; when cholera epidemic led to the death of some hundreds of them, it led many families of Limbus who dreaded conscription to migrate to Darjeeling. Thus the Limbus became easily available recruits for the British along with the Rais. By 1904 the three battalions of 1816 had swelled into sixteen and by 1908, the Gurkha Brigade had reached its permanent establishment of 20 battalions organised in 10 rifle regiments numbered from one to ten. During the World War I, Nepal helped to raise large numbers of its people for recruitment. The numbers of men taken out of the country had exceeded 200,000, and of these 55,000 were enlisted in the regular Gurkha battalions of the Indian army. Nepal had suffered some 20,000 casualties and its men had fought in almost every theatre of War cheerfully enduring the tropical heat and the cold of the northern winters. The magnitude of the movement of the Gurkhas for recruitment in the British and the Nepalese armies was so great that able-bodied males from the village of the martial races (Magars and Gurungs) were difficult to get during the War. The drain of manpower led to the deterioration of agriculture and food supply in the hills as well as loses of government revenue from land. Moreover, there was difficulty of getting back the Gurkhas discharged from the army after the War. Large number of Gurkhas having been to India and also having seen a great deal of foreign countries, were loath to go back to their hardworking life in the mountains. When these men found that they could earn several times more than what they would earn in the hills and also could lead life in great comfort, they stayed back in India to work either as watchman or even in the police under government or in many other positions available to them, for many Indian merchants had a good great belief in the Gurkha as an honest and loyal servant. Of the 10,932 Gurkhas discharged after the War, only 3,838 returned home in 1919. In recognition of the help rendered by Nepal in the World War I, the Anglo-Nepalese Treaty of 1923 recognised Nepal as a sovereign and independent Kingdom and thus removed the apprehension lurking in the mind of the Nepalese government regarding the annexation of Nepal as British colony.
The involvement of the Gurkhas in the Second World War was even at a grander scale. The 20 Battalions were expanded to form a total of 51 Battalions comprising 44 Infantry and Parachute Battalions, 6 Training Battalions and one Garrison Battalion. The two hundred odd thousand odd men, each carrying his curved knife, went out from her mountains between 1939 to 1945 to wander at large over half of the world during the Second World War and the casualties of the Gurkhas was 24,000 men. During the World War II, recruitment for the army service had to be carried out in extensive areas of Nepal, because large numbers of Nepalese were already serving the Indian army, police, para-military force as well as in different services available for them. As a result enlistment in the army was also made from the communities like Newar, Tamang, Sunuwar, Dotiyal, Brahman, etc. This time also the deterioration of agriculture and shortage of able-bodied males was felt not only in the land of Gurungs and Magars, but also in the land the land of Rais and Limbus. At the end of the War, the Indian government increased the annual "present" of Rs.1, 000,000 which had been given to Nepal in perpetuity since 1919 was increased to Rs.2, 000,000. With the aim of encouraging Gurkhas leaving the army to return to their home in the hills, final payments were made at the recruiting depots, or close to the border of Nepal. Nevertheless, large number of Gurkhas, released in 1946-47, made only short visits to their homes before going back to India for civil employment in the Indian cities and the biggest colony was in Calcutta where, even before the War, the number of Nepalese was estimated at 30,000.
Before the end of British rule in India, there were ten regiments in the British-India Gurkha Brigades.
1st King George V. Own Gurkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment). Raised at Sabatthu, near Simla, by Lieut R. Ross in early 1815, from hillmen, mainly Kumaonis and Garhwalis, who had fought under Kaji Amar Singh Thapa against General David Ochterlony in the operation ending with Amar Singh's surrender of the fortlress of Malaun. The home cantonment of this Regiment was later sited at Dharmasala in the Himalayas.
2nd King Edward VII. Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles). Raised at Nahan, Sirmoor, in early 1815 by Lieut. F. Young, from men of the same races as in the 1st Gurkha Rifles, who were captured by the British during the War with Nepal and held in the camps in Sirmoor and Dehra Doon. This Regiment's `home' was at the foot of the Himalayas.
3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles raised at Almora, Kumaon, in early 1815 by Lieut. R. Colquhoun, from hillmen who took service with British after the conquest of Kumaon by Colonel Jasper Nicolls during the Nepal War. This Regiment was raised when Colonel Gardener was assailing Almora in 1814. However, officially it was raised by Colquhoun a few days after the 1st and 2nd. Its `hone' was at Almora.