Nagendra Sharma
It was a time when a foreign power, the British East India Company, had set its eyes on Nepal. In 1914 AD, Nepal had to confront the British. The British had a large army and a vast stock of ammunitions. But the Nepalese didn’t feel they were any inferior. When the enemy attacked Nepal from five different places all at once, Balabhadra Kunwar was in charge of the battled frontier at Dehradun.
There was a fort at Nalapani where a unit of the Nepali army was residing along with their wives and children. The invading British and their army was sever times larger than Balabhadra’s. But Balabhadra was undaunted and faced the enemy valiantly. Once the British Indian forces had the Nalapani fort surrounded from all sides, they sent a messenger to Balabhadra asking him either to surrender or to face annihilation. Balabhadra the brave was not in a mood to surrender. He wouild rather die in the battle than surrender before the enemy. He told his people that they had been surrounded from all sides and should be prepared to fight tooth and nail till a drop of blood that remained in their bodies.
The walls at the fort started cracking and blood started flowing from the cracks. Some of soldiers of the British Indian forces who had somehow made it to the fort had their heads chopped off like radishes. Likewise, the Nepalese crew kept fighting till the end and didn’t show any fear. Many of Balabhadra’s soldiers and their wives also lost their lives. General Gillespie, commander of the invading army, was a major casualty on the British Indian side. He was killed by the Nepalese defenders while trying to enter into the fort.
In the course of the battle, the British Indian army also had the water supply lines to the fort cut off. Braving hunger and thirst, the Nepalese kept on battling with the enemy for three consecutive days. In the end, only 70 soldiers had survived out of the 700, men and women. A desperate Balabhadra then stepped out of the fort with the surviving 70 warriors, made it to the source of the water-supply and had their thirst quenched even as their enemies kept on gaping wide-eyed without attacking. Then Balabhadra left for another place along with his soldiers.
The British had spoken highly of Balabhadra. At the war, even women had assisted Balabhadra. As such, Nepalese men and women portrayed abnormal courage and bravery and maintained Nepal’s prestige. Though in the war, the British won but kept on speaking highly of the Nepalese men’s courage at the war.
On a huge stone tablet which is extant to this day at Deharadun, the British have spoken highly of the bravery of Balabhadra and his soldiers in the following words:
Balabhadra’s exemplary courage, bravery and patriotism are second-to-none . The enemies had even enticed him to surrender with an offer of a huge award, materialistic bliss and countless facilities. But he wasn’t ready to even think of being a traitor against his country and the nation. That sacrifice has made Balabhadra immortal in the annals of human history.
[Late Nagendra Sharma was a journalist, editor and folklorist.]