TheRoleofGorkhasin theMakingofModernIndia

BharatiyaGorkhaParisangh

GorkhaShaheed

MajorDurgaMalla

THE ROLEOFGORKHAS INTHEMAKINGOF MODERNINDIA

GokulSinha,M.A.Ph.D.

BHARATIYAGORKHAPARISANGH

Publisher: BHARATIYAGORKHAPARISANGH @Dr.GokulSinha CoverDesign: YashKishoreShrestha FirstEdition:2006 SecondEdition:2008 Printedby: MarkPrinters Delhi PriceRs.50.00

FOREWORD ...He(aGorkha)hasgivenofhisthousands andhasntfinishedyet theresneverbeenamurmur ofwhathehimselfgets... ThecasualsimplicityoftheGorkhasisveryaptlycitedintheabovelinesofaforeignpoet.To give in thousands and never murmur at what they get has been the basic characteristic of the Gorkhacommunity.NotonlyIndia,butthewholeworldhasacknowledgedit. Butafteryearsofgivingandnotgettingbackanythinginreturnandbeingtakenforgranted,the Gorkhacommunityhasbeendriventoajourneyofintrospectionandawakening.Theanalytical study ofthe notto murmur or to be satisfied at whatever we get philosophy shows that this character has never been a virtue, only a liability for the community. Today, the Gorkha communityinIndia,withapopulationofmorethantenmillion,recognizedasacommunityof nationbuilders,patriotsandmartyrs,hailedastheepitomeofloyaltyandsincerityandhavinga spotlessservicerecordindefenceandallotherprofessionalfields,istheonlyethniccommunity inIndiastilllookingforitsdistinctIndiaidentity. Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, the national organization of Indian Gorkhas, spread over twenty statesofIndia,standsforunityaswellasupliftmentandwelfareoftheGorkhacommunity.At the same time it also endeavours to correct the aberration in the perceptions regarding the identity of Gorkhas in India. Without which, it is needless to say, all the issues and demands pertainingtoIndianGorkhaswill alwaysbesidelinedortakeninawrongprespective. This book tries to reconstruct the history of the Gorkhas in the making of present India. The author Dr. Gokul Sinha, an eminent Gorkha scholar, sociopolitical analyst and linguist, has painstakinglyreconstructedtheGorkhashistory inacondensed form,alwayskeeping in focus the historical facts behind the presence ofthe Gorkha population in India. We hope this book willsuccessfullyclearthedoubtsandmisconceptionsfoggingtheIndianminds. OnbehalfoftheBharatiyaGorkhaParisangh,IexpressmygratitudetoDr.Sinhaforaccepting our request to prepare this book and thereby strengthening our case of installing the Gorkha communityinitsrightfulplaceintheIndianhistory.

S.M.Moktan SecretaryGeneral BharatiyaGorkhaParisangh

To SONAMWANGELLADENLA & RUPNARAYANSINHA WHO BLAZEDTHETRAIL FOR ASEPARATEPROVINCE FORTHEGORKHAS IN INDIA

CONTENTS Forword 1. Preface 2.ToaGorkha 3.Origins 4.TheAngloGorkhaWar 5.Early GorkhaSocieties 6. UnifyingForce i. NonCooperationMovement ii. Gorkhasin theINA iii. TheNavalMutiny 7. IndiaWinsHerFreedom 8. GorkhasIn TheDefence 9. Epilogue 1 3 5 7 13 27 28 32 38 40 43 44

PREFACE

Thepurposeandobjectiveofthisbrochuremayeasilybegatheredfromitsconcludingchapter. Onlyafewwordsofpreface,therefore,areneeded. As the demand, the claim, actually, of a home state for the Gorkha is a longstanding one, I thoughtitappropriatetosubstantiatetheproprietyofthisclaimthatunderlinestheIndiannessof people who seem destined to be rolling stones. Their sacrifices in the consolidation of the country,theirfightingforherfreedomandtheirroleindefendingthedominionarehighlighted here,ofcourse,inanutshell.ButImustapologizefornotdelineatingtheroleplayedbythemon the aesthetic front. If taken relatively, the contributions of Nepali speaking Gorkhas in fields otherthansoldiery,arenolesscommendable.Intherealmofliteratureandculture,gamesand sports, politics and social work, they have shown their mettle despite of the lack of state patronage. Dr.SarvepalliRadhakrishnansaid,Indianliteratureisone,writteninmanylanguages.Andso, toenrichIndianliterature,Nepalilanguagewritersareexertingthemselves,afactprovedbythe number of national awards bestowed on them. In sports and expeditions, Gorkhas have representedthecountryinvariousOlympicsandworldevents.CaptainRamSinghThakur,the chiefmusicianoftheIndianNational Army,composedthetuneofournationalanthem.Inthe field of theatre, film and science and education, many Gorkhas have contributed towards fashioningIndia.Myessayistoprojecttheachievementsin theIndiansetting. Forthiswork,ItaketheopportunitytothanktheBharatiyaGorkhaParisanghforassigningme thetaskofpreparingthistreatiseandfortakingtheburdenofpublishingit.Imustmentionhere thenameofMr.B.M.PradhanoftheParisanghforhisvaluablesupportandsuggestions.Iam alsogratefultoMr.C.K.Shresthaforhispatienceingoingthroughthisbookandsettingitright andalsotoMr. Yash Shresthafordesigningthecover. MyspecialthankstoMr.WansheenChinforallhistechnicalsupportfromDTPtoCDwriting. Rangbull,Darjeeling December4,2006 G.Sinha

TOAGURKHA
WilliamRossSteward

WhenGodfirstchoseaGurkha AsavesselofHisown, Hetookachunkofcheerfulness, Andlaidonfleshandbone, Aface,willsomedenyit Butasoulthatonecould, Foranyonewhosseenit Wisheshewashalfasgood. Faiththereslittlesmallabouthim Savethequestionofhissize Fromthemountainswhichbegethim Tothelaughterin hiseyes Hissport,hislove,hiscourage Preservethesterlingring OfthesimplemindedHillman Withthemannersofaking. Hehasgivenofhisthousands Andhasntfinishedyet Theresneverbeenamurmur Ofwhathehimselfget Thatsnotthewayhelooksatthings Butinasimpletrend HeheardtheSahiblogcallhim Soheswithustotheend. Ihaveseenhimbrokenmangled Withhislifestiderunninglow Andthetearswelleddeepwithinme AsIwatchedthelastthinggo Butittriumphedereitlefthim Andstiffedeverymean, Twasthelittlechunkofcheerfulness Beinggatheredtoitsown.

THE ROLEOFGORKHAS INTHEMAKINGOFMODERNINDIA

ORIGINS At theoutset, let us be clear abouttwoterms that are used almost synonymously: Gorkha and Nepali.BothGorkh(Gorkhaisthemostpopularvariant)andNepaliattesttoaparticularIndian community resident along the northern subHimalayan belt from the river Sutlej to the Brahmaputra. The terms can be commonly used synonymously and only differ in their etymologicalroots.Tocompare,wehavethetermsBritishandEnglish,whichrefertothesame people.Onehaspoliticalovertones,theotherethnicconnotations. The tendency to refer to themselves as Gorkha is rooted in the reputation for valour the community earned, initially in overrunning the whole of the SubHimalayan region. For the militaryman,itisapridetobecalledaGorkha.Gorkhathusgainedgroundasamartialterm and remains so even today. The word Gorkha itself, some say, has its origin in the name of Gorakhnath, an Indian mystic of yore. Gorakhnath ki Jai was once the battle cry of the Gorkhas.Anotherexplanationisthattheyaretheprotectorsofthecowgorakshak. But away from the battlefield, in the world of art and culture, language and literature, the appropriate term is Nepali. Nepali also connotes a citizen of Nepal, but the word widely impliesthelanguageanditsspeakersanywhereintheworldnotwithstandingtheircitizenship.A languagemaybespokeninmorethanonecountry.Notonlyforeignlanguages,butevenIndian languages are spoken in other countries, Bengali in Bangladesh, Tamil in Sri Lanka, Sindhi, UrduandKashmiriinPakistan.Soitiswrongtoassumethatthespeakerslanguagesignifieshis nationality. Indiaisthemeltingpotof humanity ofdiverseorigins,religionsandlanguages.Fromprehistoric periodsdifferentraces have followeddifferentroutesto immigratetoIndiaand nosingletribe deserves the exclusive description of being truly Indian. As a matter of fact, no tribe can be calledtherealautochthonsofIndia,andnodefinitedatelinecanbefixedfordesignatingagroup ofimmigrantsasIndiansandotherasnonIndianson achronologicalbases ItisgreatmisconceptiononthepartofsomesectionsofIndiansociologistsandevenhistorians toidentifytheGorkhasrathersimplisticallyasaboriginesofpresentdayNepal.Ifwetracethe originoftheir historyobjectively,theGorkhas areas muchtheaboriginesofIndia.The entire raceofthepresentGorkhacommunityistheproductof alongassimilationprocessbetweentwo greatracialgroups:IndoAryansandthe Mongoloid Kirats.Asadistinct linguisticgroup,they belong to both the IndoAryan and TibetoBurman groups. The assimilation between the MongoloidracialgroupfromthenorthandtheIndoAryangroupfromthesouthandnorthwest oftheIndiancontinentandalsothebirthoftworeligions,HinduismandBuddhism,produceda distinctracewithacommonculture. Thescriptures(Manusmriti10/12,BhagavatPurana3.19.2124,Mahabharata2.1822etc.)also testify to the existence of the Khasas (speakers ofKhaskura, now Nepali) in India since pre historictimes. That the Gorkhas are the aborigines of India can be corroborated by historical facts. The Lichhaviswerethefirstpeopleof Indianorigintosettledownintheplainsofpresentday Nepal. Aroundthe2ndand3rdCenturies,manyIndianGorkhasstartedmigratingtoNepalfromnorth

IndiaandsettledintheplainsofNepal.Alongwiththem,othercommunitiesofhighHinducaste alsoadvancednorthandcreatedsmallprincipalitiesinthatregion. However,itwasonlywiththeMusliminvasionofIndiansubcontinentfromthe11thtothe16th Centuries that largescale migration began from the plains of India into the Terai and hills of NepaltosavetheirHindufaithfromMusliminfluences.Thewaveofimmigrantswasbasically fromtheeliteofthe far more complexpoliticalsystemof northernIndia.Theancestorsofthe Gorkha people were, thus, Indian immigrants, mostly royal families from Rajputana and their numerous followers who fled their country during the medieval period to escape Muslim domination.TheShahdynastyofNepal,nowoustedfrompower, belongedtoRajputstock. However, many Khasas and Kirat Gorkhas who were less concerned with their religion and joinedthearmiesofMughalkings.ThosewhowererecruitedintheMughalarmyinIndiawere knownasMunglane,andmanyotherswhoenlistedthemselvesinSikhMaharajaRanjitSinghs armyinLahorewereknownasLahure. Nepal still calls the Indian Nepalis munglane and the Gorkha soldiers, lahure, irrespective of theirhomelands. Clearly, much before Nepal took its present shape, the Nepalispeaking people had already spread over northern and northeastern regions of what constitutes India today. It is also to be rememberedthatIndiahadalsonotacquireditspresentpoliticalbordersthenasitwasdivided intoanumberofkingdomswith unstablefrontiers.

THEANGLOGORKHAWAR In1742,PrithvinarayanShah,ofIndianRajputorigin,becamethekingofGorkha,astateabout 60 miles west of Kathmandu. He wanted to unify all the Himalayan territories into a single powerfulstate.Hewasawareofthe expandingpoweroftheBritish inIndiaand heknewthat after the downfall of the Mughal Empire in India, European colonial powers were anxious to gain control over Indian principalities. The Gorkha ruler knew that unless the resourcerich Nepal valley came under his rule, it would be practically impossible to consolidate the fragmented states against the British. Prithvinarayan Shah, therefore, concentrated his troops towardstheeast.Thefinalvictoryintheunificationof Nepalvalley camein1769. PrithvinarayanShahhadfacedachallengefromtheBritishduringhisunificationcampaign.In 1767, when Prithvinarayanblockaded Nepal valley to ensure absolute control, the last ruler of Kathmandu, Jayaprakash Malla, sought help from the East India Company, thenthe dominant powerinIndia.However,the2,400strongIndiantroopsundertheleadershipofCaptainKinlock werebadlydefeatedinthefoothillsofTeraiandcompelledtoretreataftersufferingheavylosses. ThiswasthefirstAngloNepal encounter. After the death of Prithvinarayan, his son SimhapratapShah became the king, but he dies two years laterand his infantsonRanbahadurShah was madekingofNepal.Hisuncle,theregent Bahadur Shah began to expand the territories of Nepal. He ventured eastward, crossing the

Mechi River and reached Sikkim. To the west, he annexed part of northern India comprising Kumaun,Garhwal,DehradunandSimla. In1795,RanbahadurShahappointedBhimsenThapaastheprimeministerofNepal.Underthe commandershipofGeneralAmarSinghThapaonthewesternflank,theGorkhatroopscrossed theriverSutlejandattackedthefortressofKangra.TheGorkhaassaultwasfinallycheckedby SikhrulerRanjitSingh atKangra. After their victory in the Nepal valley, the Gorkha army had started to foray outwards in two directions: east and west and south along the line of the Terai region adjoining Oudh, the northernpartofcurrentUttarPradesh.By1782,ontheeastern flank,theGorkhas had crossed theriverKosiandreachedtheTeesta.Thesecondphaseofannexationstartedatthesametime. Towardsthewest,LamjungandTanahuwereannexedin1782,theKaliGandakibasinin1786, JumlaandDotiin1789,Garhwalin1804,andtheportionbetweenJumlaandSutlejin1806.In thisway,between1806and1815,theGorkhapowerextendednearly1,500km.fromtheriver TeestaintheeasttoSutlejintheoppositedirection.TheEastIndiaCompanywasperturbedat theincursionoftheGorkhasintotheregion.Strategically,itwasoftheutmostnecessitytokeep theSutlejandKangraregioninBritishcontrolinordertoserviceitslineofactiontowardsthe westernflank.TheBritishaskedfortheseareastobereturned,buttheGorkhasdemurred.Awar broke overtheissueinNovember1814. TheEastIndiaCompanymountedalargeoffensivewith30,000BritishandIndianmenagainst thefewerthan10,000Gorkhas.Therewasfuriousfighting,particularlyonthemainbattlefields of Kangra fortress, Jaithak, Deothal, Kumaun, Garhwal and the RispanNalapani fortress near Dehradun,duringwhichtheGorkhasunderAmarSingh ThapawontherespectoftheBritishfor their tenacity and bravery. In the battle for the Khalanga fort,the British GeneralR. Gillespie waskilled.The forteventuallyfellaftertheBritishdivertedasmall stream,theonlysourceof waterforthefort.Thestoryistoldoflessthan60menandwomenemergingfromthefortunder the leadershipof fortcommanderBalbhadraKunwar,nakedkhukuris intheirhandsandboldly marchingaway,leavingmorethan600deadorinjuredinside. Bythistime,Maharaja RanjitSinghwasso highly impressed bythetough fightputupbythe Gorkhas in his Kangra expedition of 1809 that he was determined to recruit these intrepid fighters into his army. The British too wanted the Gorkhas in their forces. The belligerent commanderBalbhadraKunwarandhisundauntedsoldiersdeclinedtheCompanysoffertojoin forcesanddecidedinsteadtofighttheBritishaspartoftheSikharmy.RanjitSinghraisedtwo battalionspurelyofGorkhasunderthecommandofBalbhadra.TheSikharmywiththeGorkha contingentsnotonlyregainedBrimbar,RajauriandKotlabutalsosubduedNurpur,Jaswanand Kangravalley.Balbhadrawaskilledduringfightingin theAfghan war.

OnthebanksofriverRispana,theBritisherectedamonument,perhapstheonlyofitskindinthe world that pays respectful tributes to the two combatants in the battle for Khalanga. Twin concreteobelisks standon acommon baseone is dedicatedtoGeneralGillespie, hisofficers andsoldiers andtheotherto Balbhadra Kunwar and hisgallantGorkhas.Theepitaphreadsas followsintypicalBritishunderstandingofIndiannomenclature: Thisisinscribed

asatributeofrespect forourgallantadversary Balbudder

CommanderofthefortandhisbraveGorkhas whowereafterwardswhileintheservice of RunjitSingh shotdownintheirranks tothelastmanby theAfghanartillery

A British soldierpoet, John Ship, who confronted the Gorkhas face to face in the war, summarizestheactioninthefollowinglines:

AngloGorkhaWar1814 Ineversawmoresteadinesses Orbraveryexhibitedinmylife. Runtheywouldnotandofdeath Theyseemedtohavenofear Thoughtheircomradeswerefalling Thickaround them,asbold Forweweresoneartoknow Thateveryshotofourstold.

On the far western flank GeneralAmar Singh Thapa was exasperated with the Nepal durbars politicalstanceandwasanxiousaboutthefutureofhissoldiers.HavinggotNepaltoagreeon Gorkha soldiers serving in the British army, General David Ochterlony honourably set Amar Singh Thapa at large along with his trusted men. One of the mosttragic heroes of history, the braveGorkhageneralmovedalonetowardsthehighHimalayas.Andfarfromthebattlefields,he breathedhislastnearGosainthan,on July 29,1816,unseenandunsung. On December 2, 1815, a treaty was signed at Sugauli between King Girvan Yuddha Vikram Shah ofNepal andtheEastIndiaCompany.ThistreatyisknownastheSugauliSandhi. UnderthetermsofthetreatyNepalhadtocedeallthesouthernplainsandtheeasternhillstothe EastIndiaCompanyinthefollowingmanner: (i) ThewholeofthelowlandsbetweenriversKaliandRapti.

(ii) The whole of lowlands (with the exception of Bootwal Khass) lying between the river KaliandtheGandaki. (iii)ThewholeoflowlandsbetweentheGandaki andKosi. (iv)ThewholeoflowlandsbetweentheriversMechiandTeesta. (v) All the territories within the hills eastward of the river Mechi, including the forts and landsofNagariandthepassofNagarkoteleading fromMorang,tothehills,togetherwiththe territorieslyingbetweenthePassandNagari. TheseareasaccededtoBritishIndiacomprisemoderndayDarjeeling,Jalpaiguriandsomeparts ofCooch BeharextendinguptoGoalparadistrictofAssam,thevastareatothenorthoftheriver Ganges,includingGarhwalandKumaun,extendingup toChambaBhumi. Inthiswaymorethan7,000sq.miles,comprisingonethirdofthepresentNepal,wasannexed intoBritishIndia.Withthecessionoftheseareas,theboundariesbetweenIndiaandNepaland Sikkimbecamewelldefined. WiththeaccessionofthesevastchunkstoBritishIndia,alargenumberofGorkhasbecamede factoresidentsofIndiaandthepresentgenerationofGorkhasinIndiaisthedescendantsofthese peoplewhobecamepartofBritishIndiain1815.
th Theactof annexation isstillgoingon.In1975,Sikkim became the25 stateofIndiaandthe GorkhaslivingtherebecameIndian citizensdejure.

Inthebackgroundofthishistory,wemayconcludethattheGorkhasresidingindifferentpartsof Indiaareaboriginesandsettlersormigrants.Asrespectfulcitizensofthecountry today,theyare playing a constructive role in the nation building. Their commitment tothe unity and integrity andthedevelopmentanddefenceofthecountry cannotbeignored.

GORKHASGETRECRUITED On May 15, 1815, months before the Sugauli Treaty was signed, British General David Ochterlony concludedanagreementwiththeNepalesedurbaroninductingGorkhasintotheEast IndiaCompanysforces.Consequenttothisdeal,around4,650Gorkhasoldiersoptedtojointhe British army. Only those troops loyal to General Amar Singh Thapa and 583 soldiers in MaharajaRanjitSinghspersonalarmydeclinedtheinvitation. Soon after, the East India Company raised three native battalions. The lst.Gorkha Rifles was raisedatSabathunearSimlaonApril24,1815andwasknownthenasKingGeorgeIIIsOwn Gorkha Rifles or the Malaun Regiment. It consisted of Kumauni and Garhwali soldiers who foughttheBritishunderAmarSingh ThapaatMalaun. That same day, the 2nd Gorkha Rifles was raised at Nahan. It comprised the men of the same stockwhowerecapturedbytheBritisharmyduringthewarandheld inthecampsofSirmoor and Dehradun. The regiment was known as 2nd King Edward VIIs Own Gorkha Rifles or SirmoorRegiment.

Athirdregimentwasraisedthatday,the3rdGorkhaRifles,atAlmora.Itwasmadeupof thehill men who accepted service with British after the conquest of Kumaun. The regiment was then knownasthe3rdQueenAlexandrasOwnGorkhaRifles. After42yearsofrecruitingfor thefirstthreeregiments, theEastIndiaCompany setup twomore regimentsin 1857,oneatPithoragarhastheExtraGorkhaRegiment(laterrenamedthePrinceof WalesOwnGorkhaRiflesorthe4thGR).RecruitsforthisregimentmainlycamefromBakloh nearDalhousie. The 5th Gorkha Rifles was raised at Abbottabad, in the North West Frontier Province, on the borderofHazara.Recruitmentdrewonthepopulaceof thehillsofUPandHP. A battalion comprising Gorkhas, Manipuris and Oriyas was existent in Cuttack since 1817. It was known as the Cuttack Legion. In 1902, it was renamed the 6th Gorkha Rifles. The same year, a regiment to be based at Thayetmyo in Burma was set up and named the 7th GR. In Sylhet, now in Bangladesh, south of the KhasiJainta hills, a battalion called the Sylhet Local Battaliontookinlocalyouths.Laterin1903,giventhenumberoftheGorkhasinitsranks,the SylhetLocalBattalionbecamethe8thGR. The9thGRwasoriginallyraisedatFatehgarhinUPearlyin1817astheFatehgarhLevy.Itwas subsequentlyelevatedtoaregiment.Similarly,the1OthGorkhaRifleswasbornin1887asthe Military Police at Memyo in Burma and consisted of Gorkha and Garhwali troops. In 1892, it became the 1st Burma Rifles. In1901, however, it was renamed the 10thGR, orthe Princess MarysOwnGorkhaRifles. TheBritishGovernmentraisedthefinalGorkharegiment,the11thGR,duringWorldWarI.It had four battalions composedofGorkha soldiers drawn fromotherGorkharegiments, butwas disbandedafterthewar. ItwasresurrectedbyIndiaatthetimeofthe1948warwithPakistan.

EARLYGORKHASOCIETIES ItisincorrecttoinferhistoricallythattheGorkhasarelatemigrantstoIndia.Therearerecordsof their presence in the country since the days of the Mughals. During the monarchy of Prithvinarayan Shah (174375), some families were banished from the kingdomon account of their conversion to Christianity and they fled to India and settled in Gaya. For eons, Gorkhas consideredBanarasasaplaceofsalvationandcentreofeducation.TheNepalesewhoresidedin thelandoftheMughalswere,andarestill,calledmunglane. Ofcourse,afterthetreatyof1815thenumberofGorkhasinIndiaincreasedinbignumbersdue mainly totheopenrecruitmentsinarmyandassentriesincoalandoilfields,inteaandcinchona plantations, for road construction and tree felling The Gorkhas, over time, could be found in substantialnumberinnorthIndiafromKashmirtoManipur. TheNortheast:Alargenumberof GorkhashavebeenresidentsinthenortheastregionofIndia foroveracenturyandahalf.ManyGorkhaswereinductedintotheAssamLightInfantry.This hadbeenformedinCuttackin1817andwasthentransferredtoAssam.TheBritishgrantedthe Gorkhas, who reached the Northeast as members ofdifferent regiments over a period of time, landandfacilitiessothatevenafterretirement,theywouldhaveapoolofGorkhasfromwhich todrawrecruitsfortheirarmy. Assam: The historical name of Assam is Kamarup. In the Puranic Age, Nepal and Kamarup comprised a single domain. Matsyendranath, a great mystic yogi of Kamarup, is said to have gonetoNepalandsettledthere.ThisancientlinkbetweenNepalandAssamwasresurrectedin th moderntimesinthe19 Century.In theearlydays,theGorkhaswerecattleherdersintheAssam valley, their grazing grounds spread from Baralimara to Bhavani Devithan. Bura Chapari of Tezpurwasdeclaredaprofessionalgrazingreservein1881.In1920,theGorkhaswereordered tovacatetheland,but,afterpublicpressure,theorderwasrepealedin1933. AfterthesuccessofteagardensinAssam,theAssamCompanybeganbringinginlabourersfrom 1853.Afterpassingseverallegislationsin1863,peoplefromNepalandothercommunitieswere given the freedom to enter the tea plantation in Assam. The Gorkha population in Assam naturallywentup. Labourwashirednotonlyinteagardensbutintheotherfieldsalso.In1889,oilwasexploredat Digboi. Gorkhas were employed from the very beginning of the enterprise. Since the native people feared to enter the dense forest of Digboi., the British employed the Nepalese for the operational work. Places surrounding Digboi, like Itabhatti, Rasthpati, Nalapatti, Muliabari, Topabasti, Agreement Line, Goru Phatak were all originally inhabited by Gorkhas. During WorldWarI,whenthenativepeoplefledfromDigboi,theGorkhaswereappointedassecurity personnelattheoilfields.In1923,JitbahadurPradhanwasauthorizedtorecruitlabourersforthe refineries.HebroughtinhundredsofNepaliworkers,particularly fromNorthBengal. Nagaland:InNagaland,HariPrasadGorkhaRai,anauthorityontheGorkhacommunityinthe Northeast, written about how 400 hundred years ago, some men of Chiechama village were going to their fields when they came across three young, tired and hungry Gorkha boys. The villagerstookpityonthemand broughtthem home.Twooftheboysdiedofcholera.Theone

whosurvivedsaidhisnamewasRai.Avillagerelderadoptedhimandlaterevenmarriedhim off to his daughter. In course of time, Rai became assimilated into the Angami tribe and his descendents are now called Metha Tophris, or nonAngami Methama clan. Till today, it is a custom to give a male child in the clanthe name Rayi. This commemorates the name of the clansoriginalfather.Ifthisstoryistrue,thenthehistoryoftheGorkhasinNagalandbeginsin th theearly 17 Century. In the compound of the 3rd Assam Rifles at Kohima, Nagalands capital, there is a memorial stonethatplacesthedateof thebasesestablishmentin 1835.ThismeanstheGorkhashavebeen inNagalandsincethen. Whenthe British marched insoldiers fromthe NativeInfantry Cachar LevyandArtilleryForcetoKohima,they stayedbackandwererehabilitatedatChanmari. Manipur:TheentryoftheNepalisandtheirsettlementinManipurcanbetracedto1819atthe earliest.ItisquiteprobablethatsomescatteredNepalifamilieswerealreadysettledinManipur beforethisdate.SomescholarspushbackthehistoryoftheGorkhasinManipurtothebeginning ofthe16th Century.LorealsohasitthatthefirstNepalicametoManipuratthebeginningofthe 10th Century. He married a Meitei girl called Kumbi, who belonged to the Mayang Heikong Ningol,apopularManipuriclan.SincethismanrearedcowsandbuffaloesintheKhuti,orthe goth(cowshed),hisdescendantsareknownsasgotimayan. ThefirstbatchofGorkhascametoManipurduringthetimeofRajaGambhirSingh.In1824,the Gorkhasofthe16th SylhetLocalBattalion,latertobecomethe8th GorkhaRifles,wereincluded th inthePoliceLevyofGambhirSingh.Duringthefirstquarterofthe19 Century,Manipurwas much troubled byBurmese intruders and troops.To secure Manipur, Gambhir Singh raised an army in 1825 and recruited Gorkhas from Sylhet for it. The militia was named the Victoria Paltan. The nomenclature is a clear indication of the preponderance of Gorkhas in the army sincethewordpaltanisaNepalicorruptionoftheEnglishplatoon.Havingearnedthetrustof the British, Gorkha soldiers were detailed to protect all the Political Agents. They were also broughtin ascooks,milkmen,tradersandagriculturists. ThenumberofGorkhasoldiersinManipurincreasedwhentheEastIndiaCompanymovedthe th 23rd,43rdand44thbattalionsofthe8 GorkhaRiflestoManipuraround1880.Later,according totherecordsoftheChiefCommissionerofAssam,400GorkhasoldiersfromGolaghatand200 fromSilcharwere brought in.In1891, morewererelocatedtotheregionfromotherplaces in Assam.MaharajaChandrakritisreigntoosawmany Gorkhascomingin. At the beginning of the 20th Century, Gorkhas were being recruited in the Assam Military Police,where82ofthem werepostedatTuraintheGaroHillsBattalion,730wereatDibrugarh in the Lakhimpur Battalion, 331 at Kohima in the Naga Hills Battalion, 111 at Silchar in the SilcharBattalion,and105atDhakain theDhakaBattalion. In1915,the2ndGorkhaRiflesstationedatImphalwasreplacedbytheDarangMilitaryPolice whentherenowned fightersweredeployed foractionsomewhere inEurope.This veryDarang MilitaryPolicestationedatManipurwasconvertedintothe4thAssamRiflesin1917and80per centofitspersonnelcomprisedGorkhas. AlmostalltheGorkhaswhocametoManipuronactive servicesettledtherepermanentlyafter retirement.TheBritishgovernmentallottedlandtothepersonnelofthe4thAssamRiflesfirstin Thangmaiband and later in specialcolonies in Eroisembe, Chink, Tangri, Kalapahar, Torbung,

Maram, Imphal, Irang and Kanglatombi. After 1945, many personnel from Subhas Chandra BosesINAalsomadeManipurtheirhome. ThefactthatNepaliliteraturesfirstpoeticalworkinprintcamefromManipurisproofthatthe GorkhaswerefullyassimilatedintoManipursocietyanditssocialpursuitsby1894,theyearthat TulachandAlay wroteandpublishedManipurkoSawai. Mizoram:TheGorkhashavebeeninMizoramatleastforacenturyandahalf.In1865,Colonel T.H. Lewin wrote, I had formed a high opinion of the little Gurkhas, who under Col. Macpherson,haddonethefightingoftheexpedition,andIobtainedpermissiontosendtoNepal andgetimmigrantsfromtheretocolonizethisfrontierwaste.Gorkhacolonieswereestablished on the Myani river, a northern affluent of the Karnaphuli, now in Bangladesh. Colonel Lewin wantedtoestablisha numberof villagesalongthe frontierwastebetweentheplainsandthe hills so that a welldefined boundary between the local and British territories could be established. Colonel Lewin records that the country where the villages were located had previously been uninhabited, for fear of the marauding Lushais, and my idea had been to establishthereagoodstockadevillagesofcourageous,stiffpeopleliketheGurkhas,whoshould serveasthebufferbetweentheMongRajasterritoryandtheindependentLushaistotheeast. AftertheconstructionofstockadesatLungaiandAizawl,peacewasrestoredinmostofthehills. The government needed manpowertraders, masons, dakrunners, chowkidars, farmers and othersforwhichtheyturnedtotheGorkhas,fearingthatthenativeswerenotyetfullydocile. The Gorkhas also reached Mizoram as personnel of the Frontier Police Battalion. It is also recorded that by 1891, hundreds of people freely moved across the frontiers of Manipur and Chittagonghilltracts.TheGorkhaswerenotamongthem,however.Theywereimportedbythe British themselves. There is a case recorded in 1872 whenthe Gorkhas rescued the kidnapped MaryWinchester,daughterofthemanageroftheAlexandraporeTeaGarden,fromthehandsof Lushai chieftains.ThisactofloyaltywontheGorkhasthetrustoftheBritish,whorecommended thatthey settleintheareaforgood. The Surma Valley Military Police Battalion, later known as 1st Assam Rifles, was raised at ChangsilinthenorthLushaiHillsbyGeneralTregearsin1889.Itsranksweremainlyfilledby Gorkha soldiers. The Gorkhas, after their retirement from the army and the police forces, accepted the Lushai Hills as their homeland. Today, they form the most socially organized GorkhacommunityinnortheastIndia. Meghalaya: The primal settlement of the Nepalis in Meghalaya, once called the KhasiJaintia Hills, can be dated to the establishment of their social organizations therethe Gorkha Thakurbari (1824), Gorkha Durga Puja Committee (1872) and Gorkha Union (1886). The ThakurbaricertainlyfromrecordsappearstobetheoldestorganizationofGorkhasinthewhole ofthe Northeast. It still runs twotemples and one middle school for girls. The Gorkha Durga st PujaCommitteewasstartedbytheGorkhasof the1 and2ndbattalionsof8GR.In1940,when the platoon was shifted to Quetta, now in Pakistan, the committee was handed over to the civilians and exservicemen residing in and around Shillong. Another older organisation is the GorkhaUnion,laterknownastheGorkhaAssociation. The history of 8th Gorkha Rifles reveals a lot about the Nepalis in Meghalaya. Major Alban Wilsonwrites:In1845,anoutpostoftheregimentwasestablishedatUmbaiintheKhasiHills, under the command ofSubedar Deoraj Alay, who was given the civil powers of a third class

magistrate.HediedafterhehadbeentwoyearsatUmbai,Cherrapunji,butinthatshorttime,he hadendearedhimselfsomuchtotheinhabitantsthattheyerectedalargetomboverhisgraveby the road side, and to the present day, every inhabitant of the place worships at his grave, and whenpassingby,placesachewof suparionit In1866,LieutenantW.J.WilliamsonwasappointedthecommissionerofGaroHills.Hesetupa policeforceinTuracomprisingtwoinspectors,twosubinspectors,sixheadconstablesand100 constables.MostoftheconstablesandcooliesbroughttoTurawereGorkhasfromGoalparain Assam. In an entry in his diary on December 25, 1867, Williamson notes, ... The Nepalee coolies and the constables worked quite to my satisfaction.... The Nepalis were employed in trees felling and road construction also. When the American missionaries reached Garo Hills, theyhadtaken12GorkhaswiththemfromDhubriinAssam.A.G.Phillipswroteinhisdiaryon December12,1876:IamatTuraatlast.IleftGoalparaNovemberSeventh,reachingDhubrion thefollowingday,whereIstoppedtogetcooliesforbuilding,asthisisaplacetowhichmany Nepalesecomeseekingwork. When one goes through the history of the 8 GR, Shillong of1867 could not have shown any resemblance to the charming cantonment and civil station that so many subsequently came to th knowitas.AskedwhattheplacewaslikewhenhemarchedintoShillongwiththe44 battalion of8GR,Captain KaluThapareplied,Therewasnotaratthere. Along with the servicemen, Gorkhas were invited to rear cattle in the Northeast. Lyndred Shira, a writer based in Tura, discloses this in the following words: When Tura was first occupied by the American Baptist Mission in 1876, there was hardly anything out here. The present site of the school was a thick jungle, infested with wild and dreaded elephants that roamed at large breaking the silence of the atmosphere with their vocal trumpets. Goshai, a Nepali fellow, must have occupied this plot of land sometimes towards the beginning of this century. He must have been invited by the British Government to start a cattle farm here, purposelyforsupplyofmilktotheresidentsofthelocality.Goshaisgrazingfarmwasknown, tilllate,asNippaladding, orNepalihill. In1872,Shillonghad1,363inhabitants,935intheactiveservice.Ofthoseintheservices,772 were Gorkhas. By now, The Nepalis had made homes in almost all the places of Meghalaya, thoughtherewasnosingleareainhabitedfullybythem. Manorath Upadhya, a third grade jemadar of the Garo Hills Military Police Battalion, wrote Tirthavaliin1915.AsinManipur,thisonceagaintestifiestothesocialandliterarypursuitsof theGorkhaslivingwith theGarosandKhasisfrom veryearly on. Sikkim, Darjeeling and Dooars: The history of Sikkim, Darjeeling and the Dooars is inter woven due totheir social, cultural and geographical homogeneity. The frontiers of these lands haveundergonemanychangesashastheirownership. Sikkim:TheearlyhistoryofSikkimisshroudedinthethickmistofthelegendsoftheLepchas, considered the aboriginals of this region. The first known raja of Sikkim, Khey Bumsa of Tibetanorigin,settledinSikkimwithChumbiValleyashiscapital.Hemaintainedfriendlyties with the Lepchas. His grandson, Guru Tashi, shifted the capital to Gangtok. Guru Tashis grandsonPhuntsog Namgyal was the first consecrated king of Sikkim and the first to set up a centralized government. The kingdom was many times its size today. In the north it touched Phari in Tibet, in the east Paro in Bhutan, in the south Titalya near the borders of Bihar and

Bengalandinthewest,theTamorRiverinNepal.PhuntsogmovedthecapitaltoYuksum,asit wasamorecentralplacetorulefrom.Hisson TenzingNamgyalshiftedthecapitaltoRapdantse. When Tenzing died in 1700, Chhador, the son from his second Tibetan wife, succeeded his father. But Pedi Wangmo, the first heir from the kings first Bhutanese wife, opposing the succession, invited a force from Bhutan. The Rapdantse palace was captured and held by the Bhutanese for eight years. On the mediation of the Tibetan government, Bhutan withdrew its force,butareasinthesoutheast,KalimpongandRhenockremainedBhutanesepossession. Earlier in1780,duringthereignofPhuntsogNamgyal,theGorkhas made incursionsandtook overIlamandTaplejungandadvanceduptowestSikkim.By1814,theGorkhashadcaptured the whole ofthe lower hills and Terai region between the Mechi and Teesta rivers. The East IndiaCompanywasalsoeyeingtheHimalayanregionofthenorthandthegrowingascendancy oftheGorkhascameinitsway.TheBritishassumedthatwithouttheirintervention,theGorkhas would turn the whole of Sikkimand the hills south and west of the Teesta into a province of Nepal.SointheguiseofextendingahandofpeacetoSikkim,theBritishconcludedatreatyat Titalyain1817underwhichthewholeoftheterritorybetweentheMechiandtheTeesta,atract extending4,000sq.milescededbyNepalunderthetreatyofSugauli,wasgiventoSikkim.The giftedportionincludedthepresentDarjeelingdistrict.Theoperatingportionsofthetreatywere: Article I: The Honorable East India Company cedes, transfers and makes over in full sovereignty to the Sikkimputtee Rajah, his heirs or successors, all the hilly or mountainous country situated to the eastward of the Mechi river and to the westward of the Teesta river, formerlypossessedbytheRajaofNepaulbutcededtotheHonorableEastIndiaCompanybythe treatyofpeacesignedatSegaulee. ArticleVIII:TheHonorableEastIndiaCompanyguaranteestotheSikkimputteeRajahandhis successors,the full and peaceable possession of the tractof hilly country specified in the First ArticleofthepresentAgreement. Ten years after the treaty was signed, a dispute arose between Sikkim and Nepal, which according to the terms of treaty, were referred to the East India Company. In 1928, Captain Lloydwasdeputedtoeffectasettlement.Accompaniedby withJ.W.Grant,Lloydpenetratedthe hills,whichwasstillaterraincognitatotheBritish,asfarasRinchinpong.Itwasthisjourney thatopeneduptheeyesoftheBritishtoDarjeeling. Darjeeling: In February 1929, Lloyd reached the Old Goorka Station called Darjeeling and remainedthereforsixdays.Inhisreport,heclaimsthathewasthefirstEuropean tohavevisited the place and was immediately struck with its being well adapted for the purpose of a sanatorium.Hefurtheradds,Shouldtheclimateprovetoocold,Gingwhichisbelowit,andto whichthere is very easy access,wouldremedytheevil.Onallgrounds he stronglyurgedthe importanceofsecuringpossessionoftheplace fortheBritish,and inparticular,pointedoutits advantagesasacentrethatwouldfacilitatetrade,andasapositionofgreatstrategicimportance, commandingasitdid,theentranceintoNepalandBhutan. Darjeeling itself, though formerly occupied by a large village and the residence of one of the principalKazis,wasdeserted,andthecountryarounditwassparselyinhabitedbutLloydsays inhisreport,Ifthispartofthehillswasresumedbyus,orceded,theChiefandthepeoplewho have emigrated would instantly return. At the same time, Grant also impressed on the GovernorGeneral, Lord William Bentinck, the numerous advantages promised by the

establishmentofasanatoriuminDarjeeling,and stronglyadvocateditsoccupation for military purposes. These representations were not neglected by Lord Bentinck, who promptly deputed Captain Herbert to examine the country in company with Grant. The report of these two gentlemen conclusively proved the feasibility of establishing a sanatorium at Darjeeling. They also suggested that Darjeeling might prove a valuable depot for European recruits, and even a permanent cantonment for a European regiment. Accordingly, Lloyd was directed to open negotiationswiththeRajaofSikkimforthecessionofDarjeelinginreturnforanequivalentin moneyorland.ThenegotiationsendedintheexecutionbyRajaofSikkimofadeedofgranton February 1,1835.Thedeed,whichiscommendablyshort,runsasfollows: TheGovernorGeneral havingexpressedhisdesireforthepossessionofthehillofDarjeeling on account of its cool climate, for the purpose of enabling the servants of his Government, sufferingfromsickness,toavailthemselvesofitsadvantages,I,theSikkimputteeRajah,outof friendshipforthesaidGovernorGeneral,herebypresentDarjeelingtotheEastIndiaCompany, thatisalllandsouthoftheGreatRunjeetRiver,eastoftheBalasun,Kahail,andLittleRunjeet rivers,andwestoftheRungnoandMahanuddirivers. Thiswasanunconditionalcession,butin1841theGovernmentgrantedtheRajaanallowanceof Rs3,000ascompensation,andraisedthegranttoRs6,000in1846. By1840,theincursionintothehillyterritorywaswellunderwayandaroadhadbeenbuiltfrom PankhabariahotelhadbeenopenedupinKurseongandasecondinDarjeeling.InDarjeeling, some30privatehouseshadbeen builtandnearlyasmany asmorelocationshadbeentakenupat Lebong.But developmentprojectssuffered for lackof manpowersincetherajaofSikkim had prohibitedhissubjectsfromgoingtoDarjeelingandhelpinginestablishingthenewsettlements. The Company proposed various expedients to populate Darjeeling. They invited the Lepcha refugeeswhohadbeenforcedbytheoppressionoftherajatofleefromDarjeelingtoNepal,they imported labourers from the indigo plantation of Rampur and Ramgarh, i.e., Gaya and HazaribaghinBihar,andprocuredsettlersfromNepalandBhutan. In the mean time, the relations between Sikkim and the Company were far from satisfactory. Namgay Dewan, the administrator of Sikkim, was not pleased at the British occupation of Darjeeling.Hediscouraged ineverywaythe migrationofpeopleofSikkimtoDarjeeling.The DewanproveduncongenialtotheBritish.BadbloodreachedaclimaxinNovember1849,when SirJosephHookerandDrCampbell,weresuddenlyseizedandmadeprisonerswhiletravelling inSikkim.Thoughtheywerereleasedthefollowingmonth,anavengingforcecrossedtheGreat RangitintoSikkiminFebruary1850.Theycampedonthebankoftheriverforsomeweeks,but were recalled without any further demonstration. The British forced the raja to sign a treaty under which, as a penalty, the grant of Rs 6,000 per annum that the raja was receiving since 1846, was withdrawn. The king was further punished by the annexation of the Sikkim Terai whichhehadreceivedasagiftfromtheBritishandwhichwastheonlylucrativeandfertileland hepossessed.Atthesametime,therewasannexedtoittheportionoftheSikkimhillsbounded bytheRammamonthenorth,theGreatRangitandtheTeestaandNepalborderonthewest.The result was to confine Sikkim tothe mountainous hinterland and to cutoff all the access tothe plains.Theannexationwasprofitableinkindalsoasitonlyinvolvedthepaymentofasmalltax tothetreasuryatDarjeeling.

TheKalimpongtractwastakenfromBhutanin1865andwasaddedtothedistrictofDarjeeling. Thiswasthelastadditiontothedistrict,which then acquireditspresentdimensions. Dooars:TheBhutanesewereconstantlyengagedinaggressionintheeasternfrontiersandthere wereapprehensionsaboutanattackonDarjeeling.In1863,SirAshleyEdenwassenttoBhutan withaproposalofconciliation.ButtheBhutangovernmentnotonlyrejectedtheoverture,italso openlyinsultedtheenvoy atthedurbarandincarceratedhim.However,Ashleyfreedhimselfand fled from Punakha, the then capital of Bhutan, and reached Darjeeling in April 1864. After furtherfruitlessnegotiations,theBritish determinedtoannextheBengalDooarsandmuchofthe hill territory, including the forts of Dalingkot, Pasaka and Diwangiri into the district of Darjeelingandtheplains. A military forceofsufficientstrengthwasaccordinglydispatchedto Bhutan.ThefortresseswerecapturedandthewholeoftheDooarswascompletelyoccupiedby themiddleofJanuary1865.OnNovember11,1865,atreatywasexecutedatSinchula.ArticleII ofthetreaty reads: WhereasinconsequenceofrepeatedaggressionsoftheBhootanGovernmentandoftherefusal ofthatGovernmenttoaffordsatisfaction forthoseaggressions,andoftheir insultingtreatment of the officers sent by his Excellency the GovernorGeneral in Council for the purpose of procuring an amicable adjustment of differences existing between the two states, the British GovernmenthasbeencompelledtoseizebyanarmedforcethewholeoftheDooarsandcertain Hill Posts protecting the passes into Bhootan, and whereas the Bhootan Government has now expressed itsregretforpastmisconductandadesire fortheestablishmentof friendlyrelations with the British Government, it is hereby agreed that the whole of the tract known as the Eighteen Dooars, bordering on the districts of Rungpoor, Cooch Behar, and Assam, together withtheTalookofAmbareeFallacottahandtheHillterritoryontheleftbankoftheTeestaupto suchpointsasmaybelaiddownbytheBritishCommissionerappointedforthepurposeisceded bytheBhootanGovernmenttotheBritishGovernmentforever. Outof eighteen Dooars, 11 are collectivelycalled the Assam Dooars and sevenas the Bengal Dooars. Till 1864, the tract from Ambari and Falakata to the Seven Dooars, i.e., Ghurkhola, Banska, Chhappa Goonee, Chhappa Khamar, Bijnee, Bun Goma and Kuling were within the territories ofthe Raja of Sikkim and Raja of Coochbehar. Later,taking the Seven Dooars and carvingout aportionofCoochbehar,thedistrictofJalpaiguriwas formed.Thedemographyof thisarea isdifferenttothatoftherestof WestBengal.Herethe bulkofpopulationcomprises Gorkhas, and Koches and Meches, i.e., the aboriginal Rajbansis. After the launching of tea plantations in the Dooars, many more labourers from Bihar, Chhotanagpur and Chhattisgarh wereinductedintotheworkforces.ItisinterestingtonotethattheirlinguafrancaisNepali. Himanchal Pradesh: The settlement of the Gorkhas in Himanchal Pradesh has a history of nearly250years.Between1803and1814,theGorkhaEmpireincludedtheswathefromKangra toSrinagar.Afternearly12yearsofrulehere,underthetreatyofSugauliin1815,Nepalhadto cedeSimla,Kumaun,GarhwalandallthelowlandslyingbetweentheChenabandtheSunkosh, north of the river Ganga. The majority of the Gorkhas settled in the district of Kangra, Dharamshala and Bakloh, near Dalhousie in Chamba district. These people cannot be categorized as migrants in any way since they merged into India with the lands they lived on. The1st GorkhaRifleswasraisedatSabathu nearSimla in1815and itwasgivenapermanent locationatDharamshala.Thefirstregularsettlementof theGorkhasinDharmashalaisknownto havetakenplacesometimebetween1879and1882.GorkhaarmypensionerslivedinChilghari.

Atpresent,theyhavesettledinmanyvillages,suchasRamnagar,Shyamnagar,Dan,SidhBan, SadarGhaniyara,Yol,Dal,TotaRani,ChandmaniandChani. AbouttheearliestsettlementofGorkhasinKangradistrict,itissaidthatsomefamiliessettledin the village of Sahaura near Kangra during the seizure of the Kangra fort from 1805 to 1809. ManyGorkhafamiliessettleddowninvillagesaroundMalaunfortafteritsfall,andoneofthe prominent families was that of the forefathers of Arjun Singh Bista, a former legislator from Nalagarh. One of the oldest associations of Gorkhas in Dharamshala is the Himachal Punjab Gorkha Association,established in1916.The mainobjectiveoftheassociationwastorender financial help to widows, orphans and destitutes, stipend to poor students, preservation of the Gorkhas language and culture and seeking government assistance to benefit and create employment for theGorkhapensioners. Uttarakhand: The history of Gorkha settlement in Uttaranchal, the erstwhile northern Uttar Pradesh,isasoldasthatofHimachalPradesh. Thedistrictsof KumaunandGarhwalfellundertheGorkhakingdom between1790and1815. DehradunvalleywascapturedbyBalbhadraKunwarin1803.GeneralAmarSinghThapawasin charge of Kumaun and Garhwal, whereas Balbhadra Kunwar was the administrator of the Dehradunvalley.SrinagarandSimlawereunderthechargeofBahadurBhandariandDasharath Khatri. Ranjor Thapa, the son of Amar SinghThapa, was entrusted with Sirmoor in Himachal Pradesh.AftertheAngloGorkhaWar,whentheselandswerecededtoBritishIndia,thesoldiers andthesettlersoftheseplacesbecamedefacto subjectofIndia. After the treaty of 1815, the 2nd GR and the 3rd GR were raised in Sirmoor and Almora respectively.TheretiredsoldiersoftheseregimentswerelaterrehabilitatedbytheBritish,who set up colonies and provided lands in Nalapani, Raipur, Killagarh, Gorapur Estate, Navada, Garhi,DakraBazar,Lachhiwala,Vizpur,Anarwala,Ghuchukpani,Chandrabani,ParadeGround, PaltanBazarandPhaltuLine. Thepeopleresidentintheseareas,whichnowmakeuppartsofUttarakhand,havedonewellin manyspheres.TheirintellectandintrepidityhavealsoblazedatrailintheannalsoftheIndian Gorkhas. It was Dehradun that established the All India Gorkha League in 1925. Thakur ChandanSinghwasitsfounderpresident.TheLeague,asociopoliticalorganisation,foughtfor the rights of the Gorkhas through its two Nepali journals, Gorkha Sansar (1926) and Tarun Gorkha(1928).ChandanSinghalsoeditedtheGreatHimalayan,anEnglishjournalfrom1926. TheAllIndiaGorkhaLeaguecametoahaltafter1934,succumbingtopressuresfromtheBritish administration. Again, it is Dehradun that raised the first voice for the recognition of Nepali language in the Indian constitution. Anand Singh Thapa, the editor ofJagrat Gorkha, wrote a memorandumtothePresidentofIndiatothisendin1956,acallthatwaslatertakenupbyother establishmentsthereandinotherpartsofIndia. Poet Gumani Panta of Almora (17901887), lyrist Bahadur Singh Baral of Kangra (b.1893), music maestroMitrasenThapaofDharamshala(18921947),nationalpoetGopalSinghNepali (191164), et al, hailed from Uttarakhand. Being the land of Amar Singh Thapa and Veer Balbhadra, innumerable soldiers born here have served the country. Martyrs like Major Durga Malla and Captain Dalbahadur Thapa of the INA belonged to this region. The first Gorkha

General, Omkar Singh Bhandari, Param Vir Chakra winner Dhansingh Thapa and a host of gallantryawardrecipientshavedonetheIndianArmyproud.

UNIFYINGFORCE ItseemstheGorkhasare borntofight fortheunificationofacountry.Firstthey foughtunder PrithvinarayanShahandconqueredBaisi andChaubisi,orthe22and24stateslyingbetweenthe Kali and the Mechirivers, and thus unified Nepal. Then, postthe 1815 Treaty of Sugauli, the Gorkhasbecamefriendswith theBritishinbringingaboutchangesthatmadeIndiatheterritorial entityitistoday. WhentheEastIndiaCompanycametoIndia,thecountrywasamosaicofsmallprincelystates. In 1815, three Gorkha regiments were raised and these regiments pioneered the process of unifying India. Two years later in 1817, the Gorkhas helped the East India Company annex Bombay.In182526,theysubduedBharatpur.SindwasbroughtunderBritishIndiain1839and thePunjabin1846.ItwasabigironyofthebattlefieldthatduringthefirstAngloSikhwar,the British and Gorkhas had to fight facetoface against the Sikhs and Gorkhas, an instance of loyalty above community. The British forces annexed Oudh, Jhansi, Ajmer, Bhopal, Jaipur, Satara and many more independent princely states. It was the Gorkhas that brought the tribal landsofthewholeoftheNortheastunderBritishIndia.Similarly,Burmawaswonin1852.Even after winning independence, the Gorkha regiments overcame the bifurcation of the Gorkha forces between Britain and India to unite AndamanNicobar islands with India. Kashmir and Hyderabad were not parts of India till 1947. Forty thousand Gorkhas were deployed there to bringthemintotheIndiandomain.Theprocessofconsolidationisgoingon.Onlyin1975,the stateofSikkim,ofitsown,becameapartofIndia. In1885,theIndianNationalCongresswasformedundertheleadershipofAllanOctavianHume. Hume treated the party as a safetyvalve whereas the Congress wanted to use him as the lightningconductor to solve the various politicosocioeconomic problems facing India. The second session ofthe Indian National Congress was held in Calcutta in 1886 and the third in Madrasin1887.UptothethirdsessionofCongress,noonesuspecteditofanyillegalactivities, butsubsequentlyaspecialbranchofpolicewascreatedtofollowthepartysactivities. ThepartitionofBengalandtheSwadeshimovementdividedtheCongressintothemoderateand extremist groups.The lattermainlyoperatedfromBengal, BombayandthePunjab.InBengal, Aurobindo Ghosewasthe headofthe extremists.In1907,anattemptwas madeonthe lifeof Kingsford,theCalcuttaPresidencymagistrate.Thefollowingyear,KhudiramBoseandPrafulla Chakiwereputtodeath fortheact. In 1907, a number of revolutionary magazines were published from the different parts of the country. From Bengal Bande Mataram, Jugantar, Howrah Hitaishi, Gorkha Sathi and others were published. The editorof the Nepali magazine, Gorkha Sathi was Pritiman Thapa and the publisherwasHanSinghThapa.ItwaspublishedfromCalcuttain1907. Pritiman Thapa was a patriot who fought against the British rule in India. He gave a call to GorkhasoldierstofightagainsttheBritishinIndia. RegardingThapasacts,theCommissionerofPoliceinCalcuttasentatelegramtotheDirector ofCriminalIntelligenceonMay28,1907.Itreads:

ANepalese,PrithimanThapa,addressesameetingatCalcuttaSquare,27th.Evening,about200 present, advocated publishing monthly newspapers for distribution to Gorkha soldiers to ascertain situations and their duties for the motherland, case of poverty in India and true connection between Gorkhas and Bengalese and English. Unfortunately Nepali gentleman visitingCalcuttafounddifficultyinmixingwithBengalesenotknowingBengali.Hewillstrive to bring Bengalese and Nepalese together.... (Foreign Dept. External lB Proceedings, Sept.1907,Nos.1019,NationalArchivesofIndia) ThissimpleactofremindingtheGorkhasoldiersoftheirdutytoIndiawasthehumblebeginning ofthecommunitysactiveparticipationintheearly phaseofthefreedommovement. NonCooperation Movement: The NonCooperationMovement was first adopted at a special sessionoftheCongressthatwasheldinSeptember1920inCalcuttaundertheableleadershipof MahatmaGandhiandwasreaffirmedattheannualsessionatNagpurinDecember1920.Aspart of this movement, people were asked to renounce government titles, to boycott governmental and educational institutions, legislatives, law courts, foreign goods and to refuse to pay taxes, etc. The Gorkhas who took part in the NonCooperation Movement from Darjeeling district in BengalwereDalBahadurGiri,PartimanSinghLama,SavitriDevi,PutalimayaPoddar,Agam SinghGiri,ManBahadurGiri,BhagatBirTamangandahostofothers. DalBahadurGiri wasaveteranfreedomfighterofnationallevel.Hispoliticalcareerbeganfrom SikkimwherehewasaheadclerkintheRoyalPalace,andwasdeportedfromthestatebythe kingundertheinfluenceofBritishofficials.HereturnedtoDarjeelingin1916.Atthetimethe wholecountryhadplungedheadlongintothestruggleforindependenceundertheleadershipof MahatmaGandhi.AfterthepassageoftheRowlattAct,PanditShyamSundarChakravarty,one ofthegreatestleadersofantipartitionmovementofBengal,wasarrestedundertheDefenceof IndiaActandinternedatKalimpongforaperiodoffouryears.DalBahadurGiricameinclose contactwithhimthere.TheantiBritishspiritthatwasburninginhismindbecameflameunder the influence of Pandit Shyam Sundar, who advised him to join the Congress and serve the country. In1917,theAllIndiaCongressCommitteeSessionwasheldinCalcutta,presidedoverbyMrs Annie Besant. Dal Bahadur Giri went with Dr Charu Chandra Sanyal, a prominent Congress leaderofNorthBengal,toCalcuttatoattendedtheSession.TherehemetJanakinathGhosaland Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. None from Darjeeling had ever attended a Congress session beforeGiri.Afterbecomingthefirst, Giri missedno othersessioninhislife. In 1918, the Congress conference was held in Delhi under the presidentship of Madan Mohan Malaviya. Dalbahadur Giri was, as usual, a participant. On the last day of the conference, Gandhiji,takingapersonal interest inGiri,calledhimandhadaconversationwiththeGorkha leader. Back home in Darjeeling, Giri became an ardent follower of Gandhiji and dedicated himself to freeing India from the British. The following year, Dalbahadur Giri attended the Congress Session of Bombay and in 1920 he attended the Nagpur Session, from where he brought membership forms, receipt books and other literature of the Congress party. He then establishedaCongressbranchofficeatPedong,asmalltownborderingSikkimandDarjeeling. This propelled his political activities. He began showing the charkha and takli to Gorkha volunteers.

In1921,thethenDeputyCommissionerofDarjeeling,S.W.Goode,organizedapublicmeeting at what is now the Rink cinema hall, to mobilize public opinion against the NonCooperation movementlaunchedbyGandhiji.Admissionatthemeetingwasstronglyregulatedbyinvitation cards. Dal Bahadur Giri was deliberately not invited. But Giri was determined to be at this gatheringofthetownelite.Using thecard issuedtoPartimanSinghLama, he managedtoget intothe meeting hall.Discardingtheordinary normsofapublic meetingandtothesurpriseof all, Goodetookthe chair himself. DalBahadur Girijumped on his chair and protested against suchanactoftheDC.TheBritishandtheirsupportertriedtosilencehimanddrivehimoutof themeeting,butasardarfromalocalteagardencautionedthem againstphysicallythrowingGiri out.Goodehadtoleavethehallfrom adoorattherear.JangbirSapkota,anotherstalwartpresent there, openlyappreciatedthestandofGiri intheauditoriumitself. TheDeputyCommissionerwasannoyedbyGirisaudacity.HeissuedanorderforGiritoleave thetownimmediately.ButGirireplied,Iwillnotleave my motherlandeven ifdeathcomes. Ginwasarrestedon June27,1921 onchargesofantigovernmentactivities. Giri was arrested and jailed for the second time in November, 1921. He was then arranging a meetingatChowkBazarinDarjeelingtoprotestthearrestofMahatmaGandhi,MuhammadAli andShaukatAliinWaltier.ThistimehewasnotkeptintheDarjeelingjailbutwasdispatchedto the Hoogly jail. From Hoogly he was transferred to Berhampore Central jail, where Subhas ChandraBosewasalsoconfined.Theywereknowntoeachother.Whileinjail,Bosefellilland wassenttoCalcutta.ThehealthofDalbahadurGiritoowas inaprecariouscondition.Hewas sufferingfromtuberculosis.Sensinghislastdayswerenear,hewasreleasedfromjail.Frailand weakenedhecametoDarjeelingandbreathedhislastin1924attheageof just36. On his death, Gandhiji wrote in his Young India of November 13, 1924: Many readers of Young India know Sjt. Dalbahadur Giri by name only. Some may not have even heard his name. Yet he was one of the bravest of national workers. As I am writing for Young India I have a wire from Kalimpong with the news of the death of this comparatively unknownpatriot.Itendermycondolencetohisfamily.HewasaculturedGorkhaandwasdoing good works among the Gorkhas in the nearby Darjeeling. During 1921, in common with the thousands, he was also imprisoned for the noncooperation activities. He became seriously ill during his imprisonment. He was discharged only a few months ago. He leaves behind, I understand, a large family destitute of means of livelihood. Later, Mahatma Gandhi called GirisfamilytoSabarmati Ashram.Giriswifediedin Bombayin 1946. Another Freedom Struggle stalwart is Bhagatbir Tamang from Kurseong inDarjeeling district. HetookanactivepartintheNonCooperationmovement,organizingteagardenworkersagainst theBritishandparticipatingindecryinganddenouncingcolonialruleinIndia.Hewasarrested several times but detained for short periods. His last imprisonment, however, proved fatal. In August1923,hewasarrestedandsenttotheDarjeelingjail,wherehediedinJanuary1924. Partiman Singh Lama, a close friend of Dalbahadur Giri, was a Forest Range Officer. At Gandhijiscallfortheboycottofallthingsforeign,hequitgovernmentserviceandplungedinto theNonCooperationmovement.HeorganizedactivistsinKurseongandMirik.Once,herallied thepeopleinKurseongagainstGandhijisarrest.When themeetinggotover,hewasservedwith anoticeaskinghimtorefrainfromleavingKurseongtown withoutthepermissionofthepolice.

Savitri Devi, the prominent Gorkha woman freedom fighter from Kurseong, played multiple roles in the Swaraj struggle. She went from door to door in Kurseong and Siliguriurging the peopletoboycottforeigngoodsand ledthe burningof suchgoodsin manyplaces.She,along with her twelve Gorkha volunteers, was arrested at Siliguri and was put behind bars for three monthsinDarjeelingjail.Afterrelease,shewaskeptunderstrictvigilance.Suchwasthepolice vigilagainstherthatforthreeyearsshewasnotabletomoveoutofKurseongtown.Theentry onherin theDirectoryofIndianWomenTodaysays: Savitri Devi, first Nepali woman freedom fighter, b.1903. Her original name was Helen, GandhijirenamedherSavitriDeviwhenshewenttoSabarmatiashramonhisinvitation.Her area of activity was Jhariya coal fields, Bankipur, Danapur, Patna, etc. Used to lead large processionsprotestingagainsttheBritishregime.Lived in AnandaBhavanalsoforsometime. Helped Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose escape from imprisonment in Kurseong and migrate to GermanythroughKabul. Amidallthis,theofficialgazetteoftheDarjeelingdistrictdulyunderplayedtheroleplayedby theGorkhasintheNonCooperationmovementinthefollowingwords:TheNonCooperation Movementof192122wasthefirstoccasioninwhichhillmenshowedaninterestinpolitics.It arousedexcitementforashorttimeamongstteagarden laboursandtherewassome boycottof foreigngoods. Inthenortheasternregion,ChhabilalUpadhyaya,BhaktabahadurPradhan,DalbirSinghLohar, and Pratap Singh Subba were the prominent freedom fighters among a host of Gandhian followers.ChhabilalUpadhyaya,reverentlyknownasAssamkoGandhi,dedicatedhislifefor the cause of social cultural, educational and political wellbeing of Assam through the Assam Association,whichwasthemainpoliticalplatformtopromoteAssamsdevelopmentinvarious streams. When Gandhiji announced the NonCooperation Movement, Upadhyaya transformed theAssamAssociationintotheAssamProvincialCongressCommitteein1921andbecameone ofitsactivemembers.He,alongwithhisardentsupporters,hoistedtheCongressflagatBehali Thana in 1942. The police arrested him and sent him to jail. During 192142 he underwent imprisonmentandothersufferingsmanytimes.ChhabilalUpadhyayawasanardentpatriotanda distinguishedfreedomfighter. GorkhasintheINA:IntheAngloGorkhaWarof181215,GorkhasfoughtagainsttheBritish. After the war, Balbhadra Kunwar spurned the offer to join the British, opting instead to strengthenthe handofSikhMaharajaRanjitSingh.Similarly, in World WarII,manyGorkhas cutoff their alliance with their British officers and joined the Indian National Army (INA) of SubhasChandraBose.Bosewasthemostformidablerevolutionaryleaderof theIndianfreedom movement. He was arrested by the British and was interned in Kurseong and Calcutta. He, however,managedtofleetoRussiaviaKabulandreachedGermany.Hitlerhadbeenadiehard enemyoftheBritish.Oneofhisgenerals,Ribbentrop,welcomedBoseandassuredallpossible helpinhisstruggleagainsttheBritishinIndia. At the Nymburg War Prisoners Camp, Subhas Bose met a large number of Indian prisoners. Amongthemwere250Gorkhasoldiers.InFrankonbergCamp,therewasanothercontingentof Indianprisoners.TheyallgladlyagreedtojointheIndianleadersAzadHindFauj.TheIndian soldiers greeted him with the title of Netaji and saluted with a Jai Hind. The Gorkhas were among the first batch to join Netajis unit, and the first martyr ofAzad Hind Faujwas also a Gorkha soldierShyambahadur Thapa. At Khunisberg camp, while undergoing training, he

contracted typhoid. It was Netajis habit to attend to all the trainees personally, and so Shyambahadur breathed his last on Boses lap. Thapa was cremated with martial honour. The same year Subhas Bose left Germany for Japan atthe behest of Rashbehari Bose. He reached Singaporein1942.OnOctober2,1943,SubhasBoseformallyannouncedtheformationofthe ArziHukumateAzad Hind (Government of Free India) and the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian NationalArmy)andsimultaneouslydeclaredwarupontheAlliedForces.ThefirstINAwasset upunderCaptainMohanSingh(1/14PunjabRegiment).Thefirstbattalion,undertheleadership ofShahNawazKhan,proceededtowardsIndiaviaKaladanvalleyinArakanandChinHillsof Burma.Atonetimethefauj accompaniedbytheJapanesesoldiersmarchedtowardsKohima,the presentstatecapitalofNagaland.ButtheJapanesereversesintheinternationalwartheatremade thepositionoftheINAverycritical.Owingtomanyothersetbacks,theINAwascompelledto surrendertotheBritisharmy.Shockedbythenews,NetajiSubhasChandraBoseleftBurmafor Saigon,fromwhereheproceededtoFormosaonAugust18,1945.ItisbelievedthatNetajiwas killedinanaircrash enroute. After the surrender of the Azad Hind Fauj, the British Government tried Shah Nawaz Khan, Gurubux Singh Dhillon, Prem Sahgaland other generals on charges of treason. Butthe public andtheCongressleadersdenouncedthetrial.Ultimately,theBritishcourtchangeditsjudgment and acquitted the INA stalwarts of the charges. But it is a matter of great concern that not a singletextofIndian history hasrecordedtheadverse judgment inthecaseagainst twoGorkha warriors,MajorDurgaMallaandCaptainDalbahadurThapa,whowerenotexcusedongrounds of patriotism. Major Malla was executed at the Delhi Central Jail on August 25, 1944 and Captain ThapaonMay 3,1945. MajorDurgaMallawas bornonJuly1,1913toGangaramandParvatiDeviMallaatDoiwala villageinDehradun.DurgaMallajoinedthe2/1battalionoftheGorkhaRiflesin1931.Hewas promotedtotherankofSignalHavildarandsenttothewarzonein1941.BySeptemberofthat year,alltheGorkhabattalionshadreachedMalaya.InDecember,agroupofIndiansoldierslost themselves in the jungle of Malaya, two of them being Captain Mohan Singh and Havildar DurgaMalla.Nosoonerhadtheycomeoutofthejunglethan theywerecapturedbytheJapanese andimprisonedatSingapore.Later,theywerehandedovertoSubhasBose.IntheINA,Durga Mallawasgiventherankof majorandwasentrustedwiththetaskofIntelligence.Hewasposted ontheBurmaborder.Hehadtosendinformationregardingmattersofstrategicimportancetothe INAheadquartersinRangoon.WhilecollectinginformationabouttheenemycampatUkhrulin Manipur,hewascapturedbytheBritisharmyanddeportedtoDelhi.Afteratrialoffivemonths attheRedFort,hewassenttothegallows. Captain Dalbahadur Thapa was the son of Santabir Thapa of Barakotha village of Kangra district.Hewasbornin1907.Hejoined2/1GRandachievedtherankofjamadarintheIndian Army in 1939. During World War II he was sent to the Far East. While fighting with the Japanese,hewascapturedandimprisonedinSingapore.AftertheformationoftheINA,hewas handedovertoSubhasBose,underwhomhevowedtofreeIndia.Hewasmadeacaptainandthe commanderoftheBahadurGroupoftheguerrilla force.WhilefightingintheKohimaManipur front,hewascapturedbytheBritishonJune28,1944.DuringhistrialattheRedFortinDelhi, hewascoaxedinrecantingandfloggedforthirteenmonths,butheprovedatruesonofmother Indiaandsmiling,heascendedthescaffoldonMay 3,1945.

There are hundreds ofGorkhas who played important roles in the INA, but the names of two Thakursneedsmentionhere.TheyareINACommanderPurnaSinghThakurandINAmaestro Ram SinghThakur. PurnaSinghThakurwasamongthe first volunteersoftheINA.Born in1909atDharamshala, the son of Balbir Singh Thakur, he was recruited in 2/1 GR in 1928 and was a major in the IndianArmy.InWorldWarII,hewasdetailedtoMalaya.WhilefightingwiththeJapanese,he wastrappedatJitratownofMalayaand captured.Hesurrendered hisplatoontotheJapanese. TheydirectedhimtocollectthenamesofalltheIndianwarprisonersfromthedifferentcamps. HewenttoPenangandOlasterforthisworkunderCaptainMohanSingh,whowasalsooneof hiscoprisoners.TheyenlistedthenamesfromvariousGorkharegiments,including2/1,2/2and 2/9GRs.AnarmywasformedwiththeseprisonersandtheJapanesecommanderdirectedthem to attack the British on the island of Obin. The British were overcome and surrendered their 70,000soldierstoJapaneseGeneralFujiwara.Later,SubhasBoseformedtheINAwithmanyof these POWs in the ranks. Purna Singh was given the charge of recruiting and training the volunteers.InJune1942,herepresentedtheGorkhatroopsatthehistorical BangkokConference. InMay1945he,alongwithhismen,weretakenprisonersinRangoonandbroughttoCalcutta andthentoDelhiHewastriedandsentencedtorigorousimprisonmentofsevenyearsattheRed Fort. To quote from GeneralMohan Singhs Leaves from My Diary: 18 March 1946 Purna has alsobeentakenaway.HehasbeenawardedsevenyearsRI.ThisGorkhaOfficerwasoneofmy veryfastcompanionswhofoughtverybravelybymyside.Heandhiscolleagueshaveprovedto the world that the barriers that have been built by the British to rob India of her very brave fightingmenarebutartificial.TheycanberemovedatanytimeandGorkhas,inspiteofBritish efforts,willremaintheprideoftheIndian.....Thepartplayed bytheGorkhas intheI.N.A. is somethingtobeproudof. On August 15,1947,PurnaSingh,Fateh KhanandSingharaSinghwerereleased from Lahore CentralJail. TheotherThakur,RamSingh,wasborninDharamshalainamilitaryfamily inAugust1914.His father was Dalip Singh Thakur. Ram Singh learned classical music at home from his grand fatherNathuchandThakur.AfterpassingMiddleSchool,hejoined2/1GorkhaRiflesinJanuary 1927asaboyrecruitintheBandUnit.Intheplatoon,hewastrainedtoplayinthebrassband, the string band and the dance band by Hudson and Danis. In 1941 he was made Company HavildarMajorandwassenttotheSingaporeunit.Thesame year, inDecember,theJapanese attacked Malaya and the British force had to retreat. But some soldiers imprisoned by the JapanesewerehandedovertoSubhasBoseforhisAzadHindFauj.AfterthesettingupofAzad Hind Radio, Ram Singh Thakur was assigned to act as music director in the Singapore and Rangoonstations.Hecomposednumerouspatrioticsongs,amongthem,Kadamkadambadaye jaAzadhindkejawan,Laharayehtirangapyara,Hamdilli,dillijayenge,andShubhasukha chainkibarsabarse.SubhasBosewasa fanofRamSinghs songs.OnJanuary23,1944,the BandUnitoftheAzadHindFaujcelebratedNetajisbirthdayandontheoccasion,SubhasBose himselfhonouredRam SinghThakurwith agoldmedalandaviolin. In May 1945, Rangoon was again captured by the Allied Force. Ram Singh, along with his troops,wastakenintocustodyandbroughttoIndia.Hewastriedandwouldhavebeenhanged

for the treason but the British lost the case against SahgalShahnawazDhillon and he was releasedalongwiththetrio. In1946RamSinghmadeacourtesycallonJawaharlalNehru.Indiaswouldbeprimeminister asked him to organize an INA orchestra troupe and disseminate patriot songs throughout the country. He did so for a year. Ram Singh composed the tune for Iqbals words, Sare jahan se achchhaHindustanhamara,aspartofthiserrand. OnthehistoricdayofAugust15,1947,RamSinghThakurwassummonedoncemorebyNehru tosingapatrioticsong.EarlymorningonthedayIndiashookoffhercolonialrule,Thakurand hisorchestrasangfromtherampartsofLalQila: Shubhasukhachainkibarsabarse,Bharatbhagyahaijaga PunjabSindGujrataMarathaDravidaUtkala Banga ChanchalSagarVindhyaHimalayaNilaYamunaGanga Terenitagunagayen, tujhsejivanpayen Sabtanpayenaasha SurajbankerjagparchamkeBharatanaamsubhaga Jayahojayahojayahojayaho Bharatanaamsubhaga RamSinghplayedthetuneontheviolinwhichhadbeenpresentedtohimbynonebutSubhas Bose himself. The lyric was most probably written by Mumtaz Hussain. Later, the song was changedtoincorporateRabindranathTagoreslyrics,butRamSinghstunewasretained.Itisa matter of coincidence that today we have our national anthem written and composed by two Thakurs:oneRabindranathThakurandtheother,RamSinghThakur. Afterindependence,RamSinghwasgivenapostintheProvincialArmedConstabularybandby the Uttar Pradesh Government. After serving for 26 years, he retired in 1974 as a Deputy Superintendent of Police. In 1995, the Sikkim Government honoured him with the prestigious Mitrasen Thapa Puraskar at Gangtok. Earlier in 1977, the UP Government had given him a public ovation in Lucknow, where M.C. Reddy, the then Governor of Uttar Pradesh sent a message: Captain Ram Singhs personality is a novel blending of art, patriotism and national spirit.HewasagallantsoldieroftheINAandacloseassociateofNetajiSubhasChandraBose. Heisathisbestwhen singingnationalsongs,andatwhateverfunctionheappears,heemergesas thecentreofpeoplesattentionandaffection.Hisunassumingandmodestcharacteristhewhole mysteryofhissinglesuccess. In the long list of freedom fighter and martyrs, at least three more people deserve to be mentioned here, and they are of Savitri Thapa and Indreni Thapa of the Northeast and an unknown boy of Singapore. All three of them were juvenile fighters, and so, of course, their officialreportsarenot onrecord. MrsMayadeviChettri,formerRajyaSabhamemberfromDarjeeling,hasauthoredabooktitled Swatantrata Sangram, which mentions the sacrifices of these two girls. It is said that one day Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose noticed a British tank coming forward and was in a fix because therewasnonearoundtocheckitsadvance.Then,SavitriandIndrenicameforwardtooffertheir services. They assured Netaji that they would stop the tank. Carrying camouflaged bombs on their bodies, they laydown in a trenchand covered themselves with grass. When the tank ran overthem,thebombsdetonatedanddestroyedthetank.

As for the unnamed boy, he was the son of a milkmaid in Singapore and died while pelting stonesatBritishsoldiers.Hisstorywaspublishedin Dinman,apopularHindi weeklyofIndia. Hence,whetheritisGorkhasoldiersorsinger,laypeopleorchildren,allhaveshowntheirmettle atatimewhentheircountryneededthemthemost. The Naval Mutiny: The Royal Indian Naval Mutiny of 1946 is not discussed much in the history of our freedom movement. On the February18, 1946, the ratings ofthe Royal Indian Navyaroseinopenmutiny.ManyopinethatiftheSepoyMutinyof1857isconsideredthefirst warinthefightforfreedom,the1946 navalrebellionwasthelast.N.S.BosewritesinhisThe IndianNationalMovement:AnOutline:Therevoltoftheratingswasof greatsignificance.This wasthefirsttimesince1857thatasectionofthedefenceforceshadopenlyrebelledagainstthe Britishonanissuethatwasessentiallypolitical. The mutiny was so comprehensive that it involved more than 78 warships and 20,000 sailors from Bombay to Karachi. Initially, the mutineers of warship HMIS Talwar in Bombay and HMISHindusthan inKarachirevolted inunison. TwoIndianGorkhasplayeda leadingrole in this uprising. Chandra Kumar Sharma of Maligaon, Assam, and Pushpa Kumar Ghisingh of Kurseong, Darjeeling, arousedthe esprit de corps among coworkers. Chandra Kumar was the leadingstocker onboardHindusthan,whilePushpaKumarwasanelectrician ontheTalwar. What riled the shipmen was the fact that the British officers treated Indian ratings as slaves, freely discriminating between natives and foreigners, Hindus and Muslims. Caste, creed and racialdiscriminationsrepulsedtheIndians,whowereonthebrinkofwinningindependence.For instance, an Indian Gorkha officer on HMIS Jamuna, Lieutenant Mani Ghisingh, was denied entrytotheofficersmessbecausehewasanative.Themutineersboycottedfoodfirst,towhich a British Commanding officer, a certain Mr King, bitingly remarked: Beggars cant be choosers.TheIndianratingswouldhavekilledhimtherehadhenotfled.AdmiralRattray,Flag Officer, Bombay, intervened to say that King would be replaced by another officer, but the ratingsobjectedandshouted,NoBritish,noBritishanymore. On February 19, the ratings assembled on the Talwar. Action plans were made. None of the ratingwouldjointheduties.FirsttheyreplacedtheUnionJackwiththetricolour.PushpaKumar himselfremovedthe Britishflag.Then he leda procession fromBreakwatertoSignalSchool. Thefollowingday,anotherprocessionwasorganized.ItwasledbyM.S.Khan,chiefsignalman and President of the Naval Central Strike Committee. The British tried to suppress the mutiny andtherewassomeexchangeoffire. On the midnight of February22, atthe behest oftop Congress leaders, the agitators withdrew theirstrike.TheysurrenderedbeforetheCongress,butnotbeforetheBritish.TheBritishsentthe mutineerstojail.M.S.Khan,PushpaKumar,ChandraKumar,A.K.Rai,R.Charles,AkbarAli andahostofstrikersandprocessionistswereimprisonedattheMillerWarPrisonersCampin Karachiforfourmonths. OnMay31,1946,theKarachiObserverpublishedanewsitemsdetailinghowChandraKumar Sharma had argued that ratings were made to do things forbidden by religion and treated no betterthanslaves.Thenewsitemssaid:TheIndianratingsliveandmoveinanatmosphereof slavery.Educated,intelligentand capable,theyare yet madetosufferconstantly bothphysical anguishandmentaltorturebyreasonoftheircolourandnationality.(Thiswas)thecumulative effect of the numerous instances of racial discrimination from which they have suffered doing

the manual jobsof cleaning lavatoriesand messtables fortheRoyalNavyRatingswhichthey havebeenrepeatedlyforcedtoperform.LeadingStockerChandraKumarstatedbeforetheRIN InquiryCommissionyesterday. National leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Patel put pressure on the British Government to release the mutineers without a court martial. Chandra Kumar Sharma was released without standing trial but his service was terminated. He returned home to Maligaon, Assam andservedasmanagerintheNFRailwayMarineShopatGuwahati.Afterhisretirement, hewasshotdeadbyextremistsonFebruary 6,1989. PushpaKumarGhisinghcleverlymanagedtheCourtMartialOrder.Hewasacquittedandserved forafewmonthsmoreontheJamunabeforeretiringon September8,1946. M.S.Khan,thepresidentoftheStrikingCommittee,was,however,takenbytheBritishtosome unknownmaritimedestination,wherehemysteriouslydisappeared.

INDIAWINSHERFREEDOM August15,1947,isaredletterdayinthehistoryofIndia.Afternearlyacenturylongstruggle, Indiawonfreedomfromhercolonialmasters.Buttherewasmixedfeelingsthatday.Itbrought freedom butalsopartitiondivisionbothofterritory andthearmedforces.Indiawasdividedon thegroundofreligion,while the Gorkhasweredividedduetotheir valour.Independencethus was ironical for the Gorkhas. For long they had lived together and fought together. Nowthey wouldbedifferentiatedintotheBritishGurkhasandtheIndianGorkhas.Thebravesoldierswere likeacommodity,thesubjectofabarterbetweentwopowers. The service of Gorkhas during war and peace was highly appreciated byeveryone. The King emperoroftheBritishEmpireandthePrimeMinisterofFreeIndiawereequallydeterminedto havetheGorkhasoldiersontheirside. However,inhisDiscoveryofIndia,NehrubetrayedhisrealopinionabouttheGorkhaswhenhe wrote: The Gorkhas of Nepal were splendid and disciplined soldiers, the equals, if not the superiors, of any troops that the East India Company could produce. Although completely in feudalorganization,theirattachmenttotheirhomelandwasgreat,andthissentimentmadethem formidablefightersinitsdefence.TheygaveafrighttotheBritish,butmadenodifferencetothe issueofthemainstruggleinIndia. The crucial historicalpoint here is thatthe British recruited Gorkhas notonly from Nepal, but alsofromBhagsu,Simla,Dehradun,Kumaon,GarhwalandDarjeeling,placesthathadbecome IndianterritoryaftertheSugauliTreaty.Gorkhasfromtheseplacesplayedasignificantrole in themainstruggleofIndia,sincetheyconsideredIndiaastheirmotherland.Butfromhisbook, itseemsNehruthoughtGorkhascameonlyfromNepal. Nevertheless,as KanchanmoyMazumdarpointsout,Jawaharlal hadagreedtoissueon behalf oftheCongressanauthoritativedeclarationthattheGorkhasinIndiawereanintegralsectionof theIndianpopulationandthattheyandtheIndianswerelikebrothers. NehruacceptedtheviewthatindependentIndianeededastrongandpowerfularmy.Hewanted thattheGorkhabattalionsshouldberetained in thepostwarIndianArmy andtheyshouldbe officeredbytheIndianOfficer.

StillNehruwaveredaboutunequivocallydescribingtheGorkhasasIndians.Hisdeclarationthat GorkhasinIndiaareanintegralsectionofIndianpopulationyettheyshouldbeofficeredby Indian officersisaselfcontroversialstatement. EvenuptotheMarch1947,NehrureiteratedIndiasrefusaltogivetheGorkhastotheBritish Governmentonthegroundthattheywould bedeployed foran imperialistic agenda.However, Nehrus concern for the Gorkhas was governed by Indias own situation at home. The governmenthadtoweighanyproposalforachangeinthesystemofgovernmentinIndiainthe backdrop of the army having almost 60 per cent Muslims in its ranks. Nehru had already told ViceroyWavellthatIndiawouldneedafirstclassarmy whenshewon herfreedom. IntheConstituentAssembly,DambarSinghGurung,thefirstMPfromDarjeeling,hadassured Nehru,TodaytheGorkhas led bythe AllIndia GorkhaLeaguearepledgedtofightalongside theCongressforthecompleteindependenceofIndiatheyalsostandfortheIndianUnion.India isatthethresholdoffreedom,butnotyetfreeandshouldeverthestruggleforfreedomhaveto berenewed,theGorkhaswillbeatthevanguardofthefight.InthefreeIndiaofthefuture,the Gorkhaswilldotheirshareofthehonourabletaskofthecountrysdefence. ThisassuranceoftheGorkhascamewhentheCongresspartywasnotinapositiontotakethe SikhsintoconfidenceandwasinadilemmaregardingtheinclusionofEastPunjabintheIndian Union because of the Sikhspersistent demand for an autonomous state.Thus, Nehru was not inclinedtogiveuptheGorkhastotheBritish. After independence, the division of the Indian Army between the British and India was inevitable and several regiments, like the Sikh, Jat, Maratha regiments, the Assam Rifles and Jammu & Kashmir Rifles, proved no problem. But the Gorkha Regiment was a bone of contentionbetweenthetwopowers. In a dramatic manoeuvre, the British Government succeeded in getting four regiments of the Gorkhas for the British Army by awarding India the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, to which BurmaandPakistanwerealsoclaimants.Thusthedecisionto have the2nd,6th,7thand10th Gorkha Rifles in the British Army and the remaining six in the Indian Army was made on August8,1947. The status of the Gorkhas in the Indian Army was open to myths till late. When the Indian contingents of UN peacekeeping troops reached Congo in 1962, breakaway leader Moise TshombeerroneouslydescribedtheGorkhasoldiersoftheIndiancontingentashiredsoldiers. But the Government of India, through V.K. Krishna Menon, the then minister of defence, categorically stated that all the Gorkha soldiers serving in the Indian Army were first rate citizensofIndia. GORKHASINDEFENCE After the achievement of independence, the Gorkhas of India are engaged in various units of nationbuilding. Defence is their prime and principal province. At the time of partition, while rescuing the trapped and stranded Indians on the border, Major Ramsaran Karki, Captain PremsinghBista,LieutenantRaghubirThapa,SubedarMajorBhimsinghMahat,NaikBhagwan SinghKarki,SubOfficersManBahadurThapa,BhimsinghRana,MohansinghThapa,Rifleman GopalsinghSahiandmany otherGorkhasbecamemartyrs.

Soonafterthepartition,Kashmirbecamethehotspotofconflictforthetwonewnations.Inthe middleofOctober1947,MuslimraidersfromtheMurreeandHazaraHillsstrodeeastwardinto Kashmir.TheystormeduptheJhelumrivervalleyandtakingMuzaffarabadandDomelwenton tosackBaramulla.Theyleftatrailofmurderandrapineandsome3,000dead.Elevendaysafter thesackofBaramulla,theGorkhatroopsregainedthetownandadvanceduptheJhelumvalley asfarasUri. The Pakistani Army joined the fray. A Gorkha battalion, sent south from Uri to Urusanallah climbed nearly 11,000 ft up the Pir Kanti ridge and finished up with a khukuri charge that accountedfor54enemydeadontheground.Theirowncasualtieswere7deadand51wounded. During the winter of 194748, the Pakistani raiders advanced up to the Indus valley through Gilgit.TheytookKargilandDras.InMayandJune,Gorkhasreachedthereby air.Thefollowing month,anothercompanyofGorkhas flew in.The5thGorkhastookpartintheoperationtore open the route through Kargil. A serious battle was fought which left 48 Gorkhas dead, 86 woundedand37missing.The5thGorkhareceivedfivegallantryawardsinthisaction. The Gorkhas have received Vir Chakras playing their parts in two Police actions. The first concerned the 5th Gorkhas, and was the Indian Armys entry into the South Indian state of Hyderabad in order to force the Nizam to accede to India and the second was the action in Nagalandwherethetribeswereupinarmedrevolt.The11thGRwasrevivedatthispoint. In1961,the1/8thGorkhaswereupinIndiasremotestoutpostsofLadakhonthefarsideofLeh. TheywerestilltherewhentheChineseattackedthemin1962bytheLakePangong.InJulyand August, the Gorkhas fought back against the Chinese. In this war, Major Dhansingh Thapa receivedtheParamVirChakra,the highestgallantryawardofIndia.However, itwasonlythe preludetoa massiveattackinOctober1962. In the IndoPak wars and IndoChina wars, thousands of Gorkhas gave their lives for the country.Even today,GorkhacorpsesregularcomehomefromvariouspartsofIndia,heroeswho have died battling extremists and terrorists. Despite all these, the Gorkhas contribution tothe nationalcauseisoftenglossedover,whichisratherunfortunate.

Epilogue RabindranathThakurhasrightlydescribedIndia asagreatoceanof humanitywherepeopleof diverse origins, creeds and language groups are mingled to contribute to a composite Indian culture.NoonecanwithcertaintypinpointwhenaparticulartribecametoIndiaandfirstsettled here. As far as the Gorkha/Nepali or the KhasKirat tribe is concerned, many scriptures and chroniclestalkof theexistenceofthisraceintimeimmemorial. At present a large segment of Nepalispeaking people are settled in every part of India from Kashmir to Assam. They have been living in India from before and since the signing of the Treatyof Sugauliin1815.TherearealsorecordstoshowthattheGorkhashadmadepermanent settlements in Assam long before it was conquered by the British. Clearing the forest and bringing the land under their plough, they became firstrate agriculturists and many of them permanentsettleddownintheregionwhentheBritishestablishedtheirmilitarycantonments,a directresultof GorkhasbeingencouragedtojointheBritishIndianArmyfrom1814. The annexation of Darjeeling and Dooars by the British and the subsequent growth of the tea industryattractedalarge numberofpeople,especially fromEasternNepal,asthesepartswere closely connected. Inthe Dooarstea plantations, Nepalis from the adjacent areas and Adivasis from Bihar, Chhotanagpur, Chhattisgarh and Orissa arrived in droves. After the merger of Sikkim with India in 1975, the Gorkhas and tribes of different ethnic origins having common characteristicshaveaboundedin thisregion. A good number of Gorkhas live in the Doon valley and the adjoining areas ofUttar Pradesh. Theyhave beenheresincetheregionwasceded totheBritish byNepalaftertheAngloNepal Warof181214.FollowingtheexampleoftheBritish,manyIndianrajas,likethoseofKashmir andPunjab,recruitedtheGorkhas intheirarmiesandpolice forces.Sincethen, manyGorkhas havebecomepermanentsettlersinareasofKashmirandPunjabtoo.TheGorkhasinIndiahave beenplayingaconstructiveroleintheprocessofnationbuildingforcenturytogether. IftheGorkhasparticipatedintheworkofnationbuildingpriorto1947,theyhaveequallybeen active in the task since the achievement of independence. Their role as soldiers in the Indian ArmyoffreeIndiahasremainedequallydistinguished.InvariousIndoPakwarsandtheborder conflictsof1947,1965,and1971andagainstChinain1962,theGorkhashavedieddefending thecountry.Andwheneverthecountryhasneededtoproveitsmilitaryprowess,ithasturnedto the Gorkhas. On various occasions, Gorkhas have been deployed in the UN peacekeeping assignments. ButtheGorkhaswhoconsolidatedIndia,unifieditasonenation,havenohomeoftheirown.For them,therecannotbeabiggerironythanhelpingtobuildahugemansion,onlytofindtheyhave toroomtolivein. AnotherparadoxisthatmorethanaquartermillionGorkhaAdivasisworkintheteaplantations that cover 1.03 lakh hectares of land in North Bengal, but neither a single tea bush belongs to them,noraninchofland.Theyareonlythehiredlabourersoftheprivatecompanies,inmany waysasbeholdentotheiremployersastheywereoncetotheEastIndiaCompany. The Gorkhas are facing a number of crises today. Their identity problem is the main one. A separate state of their own would identify them as a distinct Indian community. Dr Ranju Dhamala, a political scientist, writes, The principle of integration while maintaining the

distinctivenessofeachgrouphas beenthe hallmarkofthe nationbuildingprocess.TheIndian polity, insteadofadvancingthe meltingpottheory, hasadoptedthesaladbowlprinciple.Such anattitudehasenabledeachgrouptomaintaintheirdistinctivenessandatthesametimeaddto the growth of the country. The importance of communitybased identities in Indian context is explicable in viewoftherichnessofthedifferential markersofthecommunitiesandalsotheir transmission to the plural field of the Indian nation as a whole. Living in India the Nepali speaking community has conspicuously retained its positioned life perspective, cultural world view and at the same time contributed significantly to the plural perception of the country as whole.Thisisanongoingprocess. Thisongoingprocessismoremeaningfulintheactualizationofthelongstandingdemandofthe Indian Gorkhas for a state under the provision of Article 3 (A) of the Indian Constitution. It wouldbeanachievementofnotonlyaparticularregion,butwouldworkasaboosttotheentire people of the country for legitimizing their distinctiveness in the national discourse for the enrichmentofthecountryasawholeandusheringinanewmeaningofwhatIndiaisandcanbe. TheIndianGorkhashavebeendemandingaseparatestateinIndiaforoveracenturynow.But having nopoliticalstrengthattheCentre,theirdemand has noear.The year2007 markedone hundred yearsoftheGorkhasaspiring foranadministrativeunitthatwouldputgovernance in theirhands.ThefirstmemorandumontheissuewassubmittedbytheHillmensAssociationin 1907, the second memorandum submitted by the same Hillmens Association of Darjeeling in 1917.Thatpaperargued: WeliveinanabsolutelydifferentworldfromtherestofthepeopleofBengal.Geographically no greater contrast is possible than that between the mountainous Darjeeling District and the plainsofBengal.Raciallythereisanequaldissimilarityforthegreatmassofourpopulationis Mongolian and akin to the people beyond the Himalayas rather than to those of India. Historicallywehaveuntilrecentyearslivedalifeentirelyapart.TheDarjeelingDistrict,except theKalimpongSubDivision,wasgiftedbyorannexedfromtheKingdomofSikkimlastcentury the Kalimpong SubDivision and the Dooars were Bhutanese till about fifty years ago Our humblepetitiontherefore,isthatinlayingdownplansforthefuture,theGovernmentshouldaim at the creation of separate unit comprising the present Darjeeling District with the portion of JalpaiguriDistrictwhichwasannexedfromBhutanin1865.... Thememorandumof1917wassignedby: 1.S.W.LadenLa 3.YensingSitling 5.MeghbirSingh 7.NarPrasadKumai 2.KhadgaBahadurChhetri 4.PremSinghKumai 6.LachmanSingh 8.DeonidhiUpadhyaya&others.

Different social institutions and political parties have submitted memoranda time and again, postulating the same demand. Some of these are the Hillmens Association (1930, 1934), Darjeeling District Committee CPI (1947), Uttarakhanda Pradesh (1948), All India Gorkha League(1952),DarjeelingZilaShramikSangh(1955),DarjeelingDistrictCongressCommittee (1968,1986),PrantaParishad(1981)andtheGorkhaNationalLiberationFront(1983). Now, theBharatiyaGorkhaParisangh,anationalfederation ofGorkhaorganizationsandGorkha people, has come forward in search of a suitable homeland within the country. It proposes

Darjeeling district and Dooars as the most suitable and viable location for the creation of a separate state for the Gorkhas of India. The Parisangh is also of the firm opinion that nothing short of a fullfledged statehood for DarjeelingDooars region will meet the aspirations of the GorkhasofIndia.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Acharya,Ghanashyam, TheGorkhasofManipur,ManipurGorkhaWelfareUnion,1999 2. Bhandari,Purushottam, FreedomMovementandRoleofIndianNepalese1800 1950 MrsRamaBhandari,JagiRoad,Nowgaon,Assam,1996 3. Chhetri,Padam, TurakaNepaliharu, PradipChhetri,BrahmanPara,Tura<Meghalaya1993 4. Farwell,Byron, TheGurkhas,PenguinBooksLtd.,Middlesex,England,1984 5. ForbesDuncan, JohnyGurkha, VikasPublishingHouse,Delhi6,1974 6. Ghising,Kumar, Doonghati Nalapani, PinesPrakashan,Sonada,Darjeeling,1982. 7. Gurung,ChandraBahadur, BritishMedals&Gurkhas,HimalayanYetiNepaleseAssn.,U.K.,1998 8. Gurung,Narbahadur,Darjeeling,Kamal Kutir,Kalimpong,Darjeeling,1971 9. Kharga,Khiroda, AmarAdarshaJiwani,BookI,II,III, RukminiChhetri,Kurseong,Daijeeling,198891. 10. Lama, R.P., Jagat Chhetri (Eds.), Dal Bahadur Giri Smriti Grantha, Nepali Sahitya Sammelan, Darjeeling, 1988. 11. MaganPathik, AzadHindFauj KeYeGorkhaBir,ImperialPrintingPress,Dharamashala,HP,1991. 12. Moktan,R., SikkimDarjeeling:A CompendiumofDocuments, Sumaralaya,Kalimpong,Darjeeling,2004. 13. Nehru,Jawaharlal,DiscoveryofIndia,OxfordUniversityPress,1993. 14. OMalley,L.S.S.,DarjeelingDistrictGazetteer 1907,GyanPublishingHouse,NewDelhi. 15. Rai,M.P., BirJatikoAmarKahani,AjakoSikkimPrakashan,Gantok,Sikkim,1992 16. Risley,H.H.,AGazetteerofSikkim,SikkimNatureConservationFoundation,Gantok,1894. 17. Sinha,Gokul, ATreatiseonNepaliLanguage,UttaranchalPrakashan,Darjeeling,1978. 18. Sunar, Er. Pradip, Kanwar Jeevan, Subba I.K., The Gorkhas of Mizoram, Vol.1, Mizoram Gorkha Students Union,Aizawal,1999. 19. Upadhyaya,Bishnulal, ChhabilalUpadhyaya, KulbahadurChhetri,Margherita,Assam,1985 20 .............HamraSwatnatrataSenani,NepaliSahityaPracharSamiti,Siliguri,1991 21 .............NEFA, PublicationDivision,MinistryofInformationandBroadcasting,GovernmentofIndia,1965. 22 .............Nepal andtheGurkhas,HerMajestysStationeryOffice,London,1965. 23 .............ShaheedDurgaMalla, LokSabhaSecretariat,NewDelhi 2004 Paperspresentedat thenationalconferenceon2022April2006,ChintanBhavan,Gangtok. 1. Dhamala, Dr. Ranju R. Nationbuilding Process and the Indian Nepalis, (Dept of Politcal Science, Assam University,Silchar) 2. Golay,Vidhan,Darjeeling:A HistoricalOverview,(HimalayanStudyCentre,NorthBengalUniversity,WB) 3. Sinha,Samar,NepaliSpeechCommitteeanditsInternalDynamics,(CentreforLinguisticsandEnglish,JNU, NewDelhi 4. Thapa,Tapasya,BeingandBelonging: AStudyof the IndianNepalese, (CIEFL,Hyderabad)

BIODATAOFDRGOKULSINHA

1.Name 2.DateofBirth 3.FathersName: 4.Nationality 5.ResidentialAddress 5.Email: 6AcademicQualification 7.TeachingExperience:

GOKULSINHA December15,1940 LateKamooSinha Indian RangbullBungalow,P.O.Rangbull,Dt.Darjeeling, WestBengal734123 MA,PhD Headmaster,BasicSchool, DarjeelingSchoolBoard(195766) TGT,CentralSchool,CentralTibetanSchool Administration,NewDelhi(196685) HeadofNepaliDepatment,SiliguriCollege, Darjeeling,WestBangal(19852000)

8.PublishedWorks: A.InEnglish i. TreatiseonNepaliLanguage,UttranchalPrakashan,Darjeeling,1978 ii. ABrochureonNepaliLiterature(publishedarticlestobebroughtoutincover) iii. ACriticalInventoryoftheRamayanaStudiesintheWorld,VolI&II(NepaliSection)SahityaAkademi,NewDelhi,1994. iv. MedievalIndianLiterature,Vol.1,11&III(NepaliSection)SahityaAkademi,NewDelhi199899 v. MasterpiecesofIndianLiterature(NepaliShortStories),NationalBookTrustofIndia,1998 VI. ALexiconofLinguisticandLIteracyTerms,CIIL,Mysoresponsored(forthcoming) B.Translation(intoNepali) i PavitraQuran,CrescentPublication,NewDelhi1980(firsteverinNepali) ii ChalisHadith,CrescentPublication,NewDelhi1981 iii. HadithChayan,CrescentPublication,NewDelhi1986 iv. Ghalib,SahityaAkacdemi,NewDelhi1987 v. BhagavatGita(infolkmetre),1989 vi. ChirakumarSabha,SahityaAkademi,NewDelhi1997(TagoresPlay) vii BahaiGhar,BahaiPrakashan,Darjeeling1998 viii NayaNiyam(OldTestament),WorldBibleTranslationCentre,Bangalore,2000(Convenor,Translator,Editor) ix PuranoNiyam(OldTestament)WBTC,Bangalore(forthcoming) x. NapaliBhasakoManyatakoPrashna,ProletariatEra,Calcutta,1981 xi. NepaliBhasaEskoAitihyaraVikas(unpublished) xii. RomeoraJuliet(unpublished) C.ChildrenBook(Schooltextbooks) Saral Nepali Path Book 1,11,111, IV with a Primer, Ramesh Bandhu Prakashan, Darleeling, since 1982 (intended for Anglo IndianSchools) d.AssortedarticlesInNepalipublishedsofarwouldbebroughtoutincoversas: iShortStoriest1Vol. ii.LinguisticArticles2Vols. iii.Criticisms2vols.lv.Essays1vol. e.Prefaceswrittenfordozensofbooks(novels,epics,plays,essays,anthologies,includingtwoinEnglish) f. Journals/Booksedited I. PahadiKhola196365,Sangam(19671968),NeBha(1968),AkademiPatrika(198486) Aadhaar(199092),etc. ii. B.B.LakandriSmritiGucha(2001) iii. IndraBahadurRaiAbhinandanGrantha(2002) G.PaperspresentedatNational/lntemationalSeminars i. NepaliBhasaraBharatiyaSambidhankoAathayAnausuchi,NepaliSahityaSammelan,Darjeeling,1973 ii. NepaliauHindiBhasamaLingabidhan,RastnyaSangosthi,NorthBengalUniversity,1986 iii. NepaliauBanglaBhasaAntassambandha,BangaBhasaParishad,Calcutta1993 iv. AadhunikNepaliSahityamaSamajikYatharthata,SahityaAkademi,NewDelhi,1995 vi.PahadiBhasaharumaNepaliBhasakoRup,SikkimSahityaParishad,Gangtok,1995 vii. BharatiyaNepaliKavitakoParampara,SahityaAkademi,NewDelhi1996 viii. SamakalinNepaliGadyaakhyanraHimaichuliMantira,RastriyaSangosthi,NorthBengalUniversity,2000 x. VersionsandVariations:NepaliRamayana,InternationalRamayanaConference,Bangkok(Thailand),2000

xi.

MythinContemporaryIndianLiterature,SahityaAkademi,NewDelhi,2003

10.LanguageILinguisticWorkshop i IntensiveNepaliLanguage(PreparationofTextbook),CentralInstituteofIndianLanguages,Mysore,1999 ii. InstrumentalAnalysisoftheRetroftexSoundsinNepali,CIIL,Mysore,2000 iii. GrammaticalAnnotationtotheNepaliIntensiveCourse:NortheastRegionalLanguageCentre,Guwahati,2000 11.ResourcePerson i ChildrensLiteratureinNepali,BookTrustofIndia,Gangtok,2001 ii. ScientificTerminology,WestBengalHigherSecondaryBoard,2002 iii. SarvaSikshaAbhiyan(SAS),DGHC,DarjleelingDistrictSchoolBoard 12.Member i NepaliSahityaAkademi,(198085) ii. NepaliAkademi,NorthBengalUniversity,(19851990) ii. SahityaAkademi,NepaliAdvisoryBoard,NewDelhi,(199095) iv. LegislativeDepartmentTranslationCell,WestBengal,(198688) v. BharatiyaNepaliRastriyaParishad,Gangtok,Sikkim,(199093) vi. UnderGraduateCouncil,North,BengalUniversity,(19952000) vii. UnionPublicServiceCommission,NepaliSyllabusCommittee. viii. SchoolServiceCommission,NepaliSyllabusCommittee. x. DirectorateofDistance Education,NBU,SubjectCommittee 13.Award/lFelicltatlons i BhasaSangrami,BharatiyaNepaliRastriyaParishad,Gangtok,1992 ii. BhanubhaktaPuraskar, ParijatMancha,DarjeeIing1996 iii. BalSahayogAward(forexcellenceaseducator),NewDelhi,2001 iv. FelicitationforLiteraryContribution,NepaliSahityaSammelan,Darjeeling2002 v. ParasmaniPuraskar,NepaliSahityaAddhyayanSamiti,Kalimpong,2003