Gurkha | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (ˈɡɜːrkə,_ˈgʊər-), with the endonym Gorkhali (Nepali: गोर्खाली ɡorkhali), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Nepali-Speaking Indian People and are recruited for the Nepali Army (96,000), Indian Army (42,000), British Army (4,010), Gurkha Contingent Singapore, Gurkha Reserve Unit Brunei, UN peacekeeping forces and in war zones around the world. Gurkhas are closely associated with the khukuri, a forward-curving knife, and have a reputation for military prowess. Former Indian Army Chief of Staff Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw once stated that: "If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha." Historically, the terms "Gurkha" and "Gorkhali" were synonymous with "Nepali", which originates from the hill principality Gorkha Kingdom, from which the Kingdom of Nepal expanded under Prithvi Narayan Shah. The name may be traced to the medieval Hindu warrior-saint Guru Gorakhnath who has a historic shrine in Gorkha District. The word itself derived from Go-Raksha (गोरक्षा i.e., 'Protector(रक्षा) of cows(गो')), raksha becoming rakha (रखा). Rakhawala means 'protector' and is derived from raksha as well. There are Gurkha military units in the Nepalese, British and Indian armies enlisted in Nepal, United Kingdom, India and Singapore. Although they meet many of the criteria of Article 47 of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions regarding mercenaries, they are exempt under clauses 47(e) and (f), similar to Légion étrangère. During the 1814–16 Anglo-Nepalese War between the Gorkha Kingdom and the East India Company, the Gorkhali soldiers impressed the British, who called them Gurkhas. The Anglo-Nepalese war was fought between the Gurkha Kingdom of Nepal and the British East India Company as a result of border disputes and ambitious expansionism of both belligerents. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Sugauli in 1816.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts (18)

Indian Rebellion of 1857

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east.

Indian Army

The Indian Army is the land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). The Indian Army was established on 1 April 1895 alongside the long established presidency armies of the East India Company, which too were absorbed into it in 1903. Some princely states maintained their own armies which formed the Imperial Service Troops which, along with the Indian Army formed the land component of the Armed Forces of the Crown of India, responsible for the defence of the Indian Empire.

Bengal Presidency

The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of British India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and Southeast Asia. Bengal proper covered the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal (present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). Calcutta, the city which grew around Fort William, was the capital of the Bengal Presidency.