"Kafar Hunu Bhanda Marnu Ramro"
(Better to die than live like a coward)

—Motto of the 3rd Gorkha rifles

This series is going to introduce you all to one of the most decorated and battle-hardened regiments in the world—the 3rd Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army.


"A Gorkha soldier in the second world war lost his right hand while throwing back a live grenade from his trench. He, then single-handedly defended his post for over four hours against 200 enemy soldiers, killing 31 Japanese, using only his left hand".

The above account is a testimony to the glory and bravery of the ferocious Gorkhas on the battlefield!

In the words of Adolf Hitler—

"If I had Gorkhas, no armies in the world could defeat me"...

Beginning in 1813, the time when the British Empire was decimating cultures and countries, thus establishing its might with ruthless wars, they ventured into Nepal and waged a war against the king.

It was two years of long and fierce war and the British suffered heavy casualties at the hands of the brave native warriors of the land. These warriors were popularly known as "GORKHAS".

Memories of the ghastly defeat in the Anglo-Nepalese war left a lasting impression on the British. They were so impressed by the undaunted ferocity of the seemingly simple people that the Victorian Government initiated the first-ever organised induction of the Gorkhas into the British Indian Army under the name of " Kemaoon Provincial Battalion" at Hawalabagh, Almora on April 24, 1815.

After the upheaval of 1857, the same battalion of Gorkha warriors was renamed "3rd Gorkhas", a name which proudly carries its legacy to the present times, the third Gorkhas fought many wars throughout the history, including the famous "Battle of Ahmed Khel" in 1880 in a 21 months long campaign in Kandahar, Kabul and Ghazni areas of Afghanistan.

With demand for expansion in 1887, the 2nd battalion was raised initially with the nucleus of Garhwali soldiers and later with the Gorkhas only.

By the year 1907, accounts of Gorkha valour had reached Queen Alexandra who then redesignated it as "3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles".

To be continued...