Opinion (Spotlight Weekly)

Nepal's Unification And Bhakti Thapa

By Mrs. LAXMI THAPA ET AL

Nepal had almost lost hope of winning the war against the British in 1815, with the high command in the west appearing to have made up its mind to lay down arms. However, Bhakti Thapa was adamant to fight. He, at the age of 74 years, led the counterattack on April 16, 1815 against the British force at Deothal. Bhakti Thapa and his followers in the counterattack appeared to have vowed to fight to the death. Bhakti Thapa had even handed his infant grandson in the custody of Amar Singh Thapa just before going to the battlefield. A defiant Bhakti Thapa with a force of just 400 marched to the battlefield after sunrise to fight against the entrenched British force armed to the teeth and numbering about 3,500. Bhakti Thapa laid down his life in the battlefield. Everyone who fought from the Nepalese side was either killed or wounded. The British casualties were also high. Bhakti Thapa himself was seen fighting with a khukuri in hand along with other soldiers. He had sustained injuries all over his body before he was hit by a fatal shot. It is said that even after death, his stiffened hand was holding the khukuri. The following day, the fingers had to be cut to release the khukuri before cremation.

The British were thoroughly shaken by the bravery of the Nepalese in the Deothal Battle. Bhakti Thapa became a legend even in the eyes of Britishers. Historian C.B. Khanduri, quoting various contemporary British historians, wrote: "The euphemism of 'the Bravest of the Braves' had been used by Napoleon for Marshal Ney, whose bravery during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 was one of the highest. The British then used this citation for the Gurkhas during and after the Anglo-Nepal War. Such was the bravery shown by Bhakti Thapa that the next legend of the Bravest of the Braves had been created on April 16, 1815 at Deothal."

A Period Shrouded in Mystery

The campaign in the west to build a Great Nepal proceeded faster than anybody could have anticipated. In 1789, to the west of then Nepal was the Bheri river. By 1791 the western border of Great Nepal was about to hit the Sutlej river. Powerful kingdoms like Jumla, Doti, Kumaun and Garwal had come within Great Nepal. The western border had thus shifted almost 400 kilometers within just two years. The aspiration of the people living in the Himalayan region to be united was the driving force for the Great Nepal campaign, briefly explained in previous issues of SPOTLIGHT (November 29 and December 13, 2002). The biggest contribution to building a powerful Nepal was Bahadur Shah's. He also adopted a policy of reconciliation that greatly helped to bring together the people living across the Himalayan region. He displayed high quality leadership in mustering the full support of the country in giving new momentum to the unification drive. The role of the person providing leadership at the field level was no less important. The operations, apart from being arduous and on a big scale, were at places very far away from the capital. Khanduri has highly commended the leadership quality displayed in course of unification operation in the west. According to him, owing to this very high quality in leadership, Nepal was successful in unifying countries like Kumaun and Garwal under a common umbrella. On the other hand, there was an absence of such overall leadership in the western front during the war against the British in 1814-16, which resulted in Nepal's defeat.

Views of C.B. Khanduri

Why the Gorkhas won and their enemies, the Kumaonis, Garhwalis or Himanchalis, lost is a question that should haunt every historian. After all, the armies of those states were large; reasonably equipped; and their men, material were not inferior to the Gorkhas'. And they fought in their own territories with the advantage of intelligence, resources and no dearth of brave population. The conclusion one draws from the analysis of the strategies followed, battlefield tactics and techniques adopted, is just one: there was total lack of leadership among the vanquished.

The Gorkhas, on the other hand, had been spurred by their overzealous new concepts of nationalism (Hami Gorkhali hom). It had leadership that grew stronger as it moved from Kumaon to the Kashmir border. Leadership and character were the hallmarks of the Gorkhas that got them victorious against a people who lacked both these essential ingredients for the life of a state. According to Khanduri, Bhakti Thapa had impressed the Gorkha commanders during the War of Consolidation and joined those who were to be the eventual rulers of Nepal. Kazi Amar Singh Thapa had treaded in the footsteps of Bhakti Thapa.

Discovery of New Documents

Our historians were unable to come forward with any particular name who might have played the lead role in the national unification process after 1789. After reading our history books of that period, it appears as if each commander was going ahead in the operation independently without orders and that commanders were not answerable to superiors. Nobody would believe that the unification campaign in the west, regarded as the most successful operation, would have been carried out in such a miserable way. Historians were forced to remain silent on this matter because of the paucity of reliable information. Very important documents of that period have been traced recently, which are proven to be extremely useful in correcting our perception about events of that time.

Historian Narahari Nath was able to trace a cluster of very important original letters from the King to Bhakti Thapa. Those letters have been published in the Himbatkhanda. Later, Mahesh Raj Pant also published them in the journal Purnema. Those letters cover the period between 1789 and 1814. They provide descriptions of some of the most important events of the period. If we pick up any recent history book, we would not fail to notice that the bibliography is laden with references to the letters published in the two journals. Despite such widespread publicity, there has not been serious attempts to conduct thorough analysis of those letters to reach satisfactory conclusions that would have helped to explain properly many highly important episodes of our history.

The Role of Bhakti Thapa

Bhakti Thapa was known in the past mainly as a patriot who laid down his life at the age of 74 defending the country. The contents of above-mentioned letters must have come as a great surprise to many historians who might have never thought before that Bhakti Thapa would have played such an extremely big role in leading the unification campaign in the west. The newly discovered letters from the King to Bhakti Thapa have revealed the facts that in 1790s when the western boarder of the Great Nepal had almost hit the Sutlej river, Bhakti Thapa stationed at Kumaun (now India) was the administrator and supreme commander of the whole region to the west of the Chepe-Marshyangdi. He had been given virtually absolute power to rule over this vast region and also to handle defense and foreign relations, obviously, to enable him to complete expeditiously the mobilization works for the next phase of the unification campaign directed towards the west. This provides clear proof that the nation, apart from valuing very high the capability of Bhakti Thapa, had boundless trust in him. According to Kirkpatrick, the British representative who visited Kathmandu at the time, the kingdom was busy making preparations for further expansion to the west. The country had identified Bhakti Thapa to lead that campaign, expected to be very challenging and equally difficult. The royal decree in 1794 assigning Bhakti Thapa makes it very clear that Nepal was preparing for further expansion to the west.

Authority Vested In Bhakti Thapa

The royal decree placing the entire region to the west of the rivers Chepe and Marshyangdi in the care of Bhakti Thapa contains 11 clauses. The authority vested in Bhakti Thapa can be broadly categorized into four groups: (1) To mobilize forces in the entire western region (Jumla and Pyuthan excluded) from the western boundary of Gorkha to Garwal;† Kumaun would be the headquarters and everybody within this vast region should obey the order from Bhakti Thapa; ( 2) Kings of the protectorate are also placed under Bhakti Thapa and they should go to the place assigned by the Bhakti Thapa; (3) Bhakti Thapa should handle all matters related with foreign kings and their representatives and he should refer to the capital only those matters he might think necessary in his judgement; (4) To build fortresses at Almora and other places where deemed necessary.

Bhakti Thapa's 1794 assignment would not have come as a great surprise a the time. He was seen in that role for quite some time. After the highly successful 1789 Jumla operation, which was carried out based on his strategy, he was seen playing a leading role in all major actions until the 1792 Chinese invasion. After the war, Bhakti Thapa was looking after the task of maintaining order across the whole western region.

Political Turmoil in Kathmandu

From 1795 onward, the capital was engulfed in unexpected political turmoil and the operation to extend the territory of Great Nepal further to the west came to a complete halt. The letters from the king to the Bhakti Thapa enable us to make some good assessments on how boldly Bhakti Thapa had started to carry out the tasks assigned to him. For a clear understanding of the true meaning of the letters, one should read them keeping in mind all other relevant events that had taken place in the capital at that time.