Battle of Naalapani

The Battle of Kalunga / Nalapani :

Summer holidays, for all of my life, have included a few days reprieve in Dehradun. This year too, I found myself in the familiar, picturesque valley that is my hometown. The town is famous for litchis, basmati rice, tourists, premier schools, and has an old-world charm that is unmatched with anything found in the rest of the country. It is the cradle of soft words and courtesy, education and picnic spots.

Having run through the gamut of visits to well-known and lesser- known places to spend the day with picnic baskets, I was contemplating driving around to find some fresh new untouched place to visit, when a friend from Meerut suggested an idea, that  I found fascinating. Mr. Anil Bhattacharji, an ardent enthusiast of history and archeology, apprised me of a date, an era, a race of people, a hill, a fort that no longer exists, and a slice of history that has since, completely captured my imagination and led me to drive out with my family, to attempt to locate this place. Little did I dream, that the story that unfolded, page by page, is unlike any other that I have ever had the good fortune to experience and re-live.

The problem lies in where to begin? The glamour, bloodshed, determination, bravery, valour, slavery and freedom- the story of the formation of new boundaries, a new clan of people, a war fought, espionage and deceit… the roles of the pivotal players in this game, which had hitherto been just names out of dusty history books, now were to suddenly jump out of them in front of my mind’s eye, and  embroil  me into the bloodied vortex of the lives of the fallen heroes  of the past. Nestled within the lush green valley of Uttarakhand, lies the famous Kalunga hill, where this story takes root.

My friend told me of some six letters written in about 1812 – 1816 AD, from the fort atop Kalunga hill, which now lie in the Bir Library of Kathmandu, Nepal. Three of these describe the famous Battle of Nalapani , fought in the area between Sahastradhara and Kalunga hill, which was the stronghold of the Gorkha tribe and the western part of the kingdom of Nepal. The key players in this strategic landmark war were Balbhadra Thapa, the leader of the Gorkhas in Dehradun and General Robert  Rollo Gillespie, an officer in His Majesty’s Army,  in the battle between the Magars and the East India Company. The letters unfolded the story of a war that  showed the world how dedicated, fierce, faithful and proud the people of this tribe were!

The Gorkha War (1814-1816) traced its inception to the capture of the valley of Dehradun by Nepal in 1803. The Gorkhas were  descendents of General Amar Singh Thapa, who invaded the inhabited mountain fortresses of India and layed siege to them. The townships of Mussoorie, Lansdowne, Shimla, Pithoragarh, Nainital, Ranikhet,Almora, etc, allegedly  came under the Gorkha  rule. The Gorkhas ( Gau-rakhas)were earlier the peaceful inhabitants of  these areas who led peaceful lives, tending to the cows amidst the hills. They were originally probably the inhabitants of Rajasthan, who allegedly fled to Nepal during the Muslim invasion of India in the 14^th century. Some reports suggest that  intermarriages between the people of Nepal and these Rajputs, produced  the Gorkha race.

 By 1767 AD, the three kingdoms of Kathmandu, steeped in internal rivalry, slowly began spreading their influence outside their territory. The British East India Company too had succeeded in consolidating their position in India. The valley kings requested Britain’s help to ward off the threats from the expanding Gorkha  empire. It was in the interest of the British to quell the Gorkhas, who were fast proving themselves to be formidable opponents. The Gorkha prime minister, Bhimsen Thapa  professed , “..our hills and fastness are formed by the hand of God, and are impregnable.” Their bravery, fearlessness  and familiarity of the mountainous terrain , gave them tactical edge over the British army. The modern weaponry and vast manpower were the strengths of the latter. Definitely, the boiling cauldron of  strategically planned invasions, border tensions and ambitious dreams of expansion  became the ingredients of an imminent war. Thus, in 1814 AD, began the famous Gorkha war. The disputes arose because of conflicting expansionism and no fixed land boundary separating  the aspirations of the Gorkhas and British.  Gorkha raids into the fertile terai flatlands finally brought the inevitable conflict between the two powerful forces out into the open.

The Gorkha war was fought between the kingdom of Nepal and the East India company. It ended after much bloodshed  and the defeat of Nepal, with the Treaty of Sugoli in 1916, ceding one-third of Nepal’s territory to the British. A four-pronged attack was led by the British, under the aegis of the Governor-General, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, or the Earl of Moira. In May of 1813, the Gorkhas had declared war. Hastings sent four divisions into separate attacks : General Marley with 8000 men against Kathmandu, General Wood with 4000 men against Butwal, General David Ochterlony with 10,000 men against Amar Singh Thapa and General Robert Rollo Gillespie with 3,500 men against Balbhadra Kunwar in the area of Nalapani and the Garhwal hills.

Off Raipur Road lies the well-known area called Nalapani. I drove up through a large gate, named ‘Balbhadra Dwar”. As I reached the summit of the Kalunga hill, a drive through about 10 km of dense, frightening forested rocky land, I could almost see the fortress erected by  Balbhadra Kunwar and his Gorkha army. Legend has it, that there was a stone fort here, which was strangely buttressed by three rows of multi-tiered bamboo stockade, which could effectively withstand the onslaught of the cannon balls fired by the British.The bamboo archades and  dense forested land made entry into the stronghold very tricky. The chieftain and his 600-men (armed with their deadly and traditional weapon, the khukri) and their women and children lived here. General Gillespie set camp at Meerut, and led his 3,500 men with about 20 cannons towards the Nepalese-occupied valley of Dehradun. He succeeded in capturing the valley, but was repulsed by Gorkha resistance from the fort on the 150-metre high Kalyunga hill. Gullespie’s army surrounded the hill from all sides and strove to overcome the tough resistance put up by Balbhadra Kunwar and his brave warriors for almost six weeks. Gullespie sent several letters and missives to the chieftain to surrender, which were all torn up. James Frazer, a junior officer in the campaign wrote, “…they fought us in fair combat, showed us a courtesy worthy of a more enlightened people. I never saw more steadiness or bravery exhibited in my life. Run, they would not, and of death, they seemed to have no fear, though their comrades were falling thick around them, for we were so near that every shot told…..”

There was no surrender, and standing in the shadow of the monument built in their memory, I could almost hear the boom of the cannon balls as they fell upon the fortress. The screams of injured and dying man and women and children still hang, frozen in the silence of time, amidst the tall sal trees. The tortured pleas of the Gorkha soldier as he ran for medical help for the gaping musket ball hole in his stomach resounded and echoed inside my mind. When the men and their meager weapons ran out, the few remaining men, women and even children hurled every kind of weapon, including poison arrows, flints, sticks and stones, at the fast-approaching British army, who managed to capture the fortress by cutting off food and water supplies.

The final attack was planned for 1^st November 1814. General Gillespie and his men attacked the fort a day earlier. On the morning on 31^st October, in the guise of road-builders, as they stormed this formidable citadel of the Gorkhas, they were shot through the chest and died. When the army finally entered the Kalunga fort, they found dead and dying men , women and children, who had been deprived of food and water for days. General Gillespie’s men torched the bamboo battlements and razed the stone fort to the ground. Today nothing remains of the war, but a red stone monument with the Gorkha emblem with two khukris at its top. The valley of Dehradun can be seen from here. The silent monument bears witness to the Kalunga war or Nalapani conflict, and the long-forgotten fallen men from both armies. It is said that Balbhadra Thapa escaped with a few men to fight another day. Allegedly, the British lost 31 officers and 732 soldiers, while the Gorkha army lost 520 men. Two stone obelisks rose in this area as a mark of honour of the British army and their gallant adversaries. One of the obelisks has a placard with the words “On this spot, General Gillespie fell fighting”, the other says “In memory of our valiant adversary Balbhadra Thapa, who lost 173, in 1814.”

This battle proved to be the most important milestone for the Gorkha clan. Meanwhile, General Ochterlony too had won the battle on the western front. The Gorkhas thus lost the war for a piece of land, but gained their rightful piece of recognition as a people to be reckoned with, and were recruited in the Indian British army, who recognized their potential as worthy warriors. Some members of General Amar Singh Thapas defeated army and Balbhadra Thapas surviving forces were recruited into His Majesty’s Royal forces. Their recruitment into the enemy army was a unique part of military history. About 5,000 men who were either the defectors or  the defeated ,made up the three battalions raised from the Gorkha soldiers. They were mostly the Kumaonis, Garhwalis and other Himalayan hill men, and came to be known collectively as “Gorkhas”. According to a British general in 1815, “They are a hardy and cheerful race, enduring privations and are obedient. They are a neutral kind of hindu, and would make excellent soldiers.”

The Treaty of Segauli was ratified on 4^th march 1816. It restricted the Kingdom of Nepal within the area lying between the Mechi river in the east and the Mahalaki river in the west. Nepal gained the reputation of being the only country to fight battles with places it had no direct conflict with. It is rare in the history of warfare to see such admiration by the conquerors of the performance, dedication and bravery of a race of people who were defeated.

General Robert Rollo Gillespie, Major General and Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. His ashes as also the memories of his short yet commendable career lie buried in St. John’s Cemetery Meerut. His grave bears the inscription “KALUNGA, October 31^st 1814.” I can visualize the feelings of his younger sister as she rode accompanied by four or five British officers, to the fort that he died capturing , grieving over his death as also the death of her husband in this war. The letter written by Balbhadra Kunwar to General Bhimsen Thapa says that General Gillespie and eight officers with a column of their troops, including sappers, entered through the forest posing as road–builders and attacked at dawn. The sister of the General looked around the fort with a telescope, from a safe distance out of range of cannon-fire.

 Another letter written by Dhanbir Thapa to His Majesty, after the Nalapani War, speaks of the defection of some of the clans to the British army.

 Nothing remains of Kalunga hill today. The enemy burnt and dismantled the whole fort. The place lies abandoned since years. A stone memorial seems to stand strangely forlorn atop the hill. Below the soil, traces of the stone foundation of the fort still exist. Some cannon balls were found and are the property of the ASI. The battle that recognized the soldiers of the bravest kingdom in the world, is silent today. The cannons shots have stopped resounding within the forests, which are strangely bereft of birds, animals or butterflies. Taking a last look around this piece of history, I clearly heard General Gillespie’s last words as he fell to bullets that fateful day, “One more shot for the honour of Down!”

 I do not  know who were the real fallen heroes of this site- I only know that the Battle of Kalunga / Nalapani turned the tide for both sides of the battle. Adversaries turned Compatriots. And another chapter of History was written.

I am one of the fortunate few who has visited this site and fulfilled my destiny to pay tribute to all the people involved in the Nalapani War, all thanks to my good friend, Anil, to whom I dedicate this article. I strongly recommend everyone who has a passion for the sometimes bloodied, sometimes sordid, but always valiant yester-world, to visit the Kalunga hill in Nalapani, Dehradun. Just close your eyes, and hear what the oppressive silence so desperately strives to hide!

Dr. Seema Tyagi

Meerut