Coming all the way from the mountainous regions of Nepal the Gurkhas were first really noticed by the world when they were
invaded over 200 years ago
This invasion was carried out by the British East India Company
and since then the Gurkhas have really developed a reputation for being
absolutely, fearless and
exceptionally powerful
Let's take an inside look at who the Gurkhas really are and why they have this reputation in the first place
Hey guys, my name is Leroy Kenton and welcome to another episode of FTD facts
This is a channel where we just love to share facts and information about the different countries cultures
And people from all around the world and in this episode, you know, we're talking about the Gurkhas because not too long ago
I did a video about the military power of
Nepal and I asked you if you wanted to see a video
Specifically dedicated to a video about the Gurkhas and a lot of you were like, oh my god. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes
Yes
so here's the video now before we dive into everything this episode of FTD facts is brought to you by
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So let's just jump right into the facts and everything
And the first thing I want to look at is the meaning of the term Gurkha and where it all came from
So historically the terms Gurkha or Gorkhali
We're really synonymous with nepali which originates from the hill principle
Gorka kingdom and this is a kingdom from which Nepal
Expanded now when we look at the name Gurkha the name can be traced to the medieval Hindu warrior Saint Guru gorokhov
And the word itself comes from goal Raksha and when you break it down in the Nepalese language the word Raksha becomes
Raka and so this longer word raka wala means protector and is derived from the term Raksha as well
And NGO is cow. So it pretty much means cow protector and that name pays tribute to their deity
Hope you follow that I know it's kind of leg a little bit difficult for me to break it down to you when I was
Doing the research anyway, so up until 2000 years ago the British were at war with Nepal
however
The British joined forces after being so impressed with the fighting
Capabilities and the resilience of the Nepalese Hills soldiers now right after the partition of 1947 in India
there is an agreement between
Nepal India and Britain and Britain transferred four Gurkha regiments from the British to the Indian army and then six
Gurkha regiments were transferred to the post-independence
Indian Army the majority of Gurkhas were given a choice
Where do they want to go between the British Army or the Indian Army service and the majority of them chose to join the Indian?
Army now this reason of course makes sense because the Gurkha regiments of the Indian Army would continue to serve in their
existing roles nothing completely changed so nothing would change about that and they're also in a familiar territory under
Similar terms and conditions that were completely established
From before and now the flip side of that if they went to the British Army
they would be fighting in a
Completely different environment that they weren't really familiar with and all the rankings and roles and everything would have to be changed up
So if you and I were given the choice
We'd probably do the same thing like
Majority of the Gurkhas did back in the 19th century
Their British officials declared the Gurkhas as a martial race a term describing people thought to be naturally warlike and aggressive in
Battle, so now the Gurkhas were famed for carrying their kukri
which also is sometimes called a coup quarry and this coup query or cookery, depending on the term you want to use is the
National weapon of Nepal these knives are really sharp and they're also used as work tools for different things
kookies come in many different sizes
including giant ones and these things can like slice
animals
Like giant animals like in pieces and I'm telling you you never want to see a Gurkha pull this thing out
Why well, there's a legend that says that whenever a Gurkha draws out the kukri in
Anger. Yeah blood will be spilt
Okay guys, so since we've been exploring more of the country and culture of Nepal, we finally created a playlist
Dedicated to videos about Nepal and relating to Nepal. Of course
Now a lot of you have been asking for more videos like this and we're like, yeah, we've done more videos about Nepal
But I get it like we post a lot of videos for an FTD Facts on our library of videos is so huge right now
So a lot of times you may not necessarily be able to find easily the topics that you want to learn about
So that's what we created this playlist
I'll have it in the card section of this episode as well as down below in the video description
And for those of you who want to watch this entire episode before you click away, I'll also have it at the end screen
so enjoy that playlist you're gonna learn a lot about Nepal and
Relating subjects and leave a thumbs up on this video for a Nepal
I mean like it's an amazing country that needs to be more in the spotlight of our world
alright
So back to the Gurkhas now today the Gurkha soldiers are still a very important part of the British Army in
recent history
The Gurkhas have served in Iraq as well as Afghanistan and they've also served in
Falklands as well as a Gulf war and all burkas to this day live
Incredibly tough lives before they actually sign up to be in the army and you see this real
hardness and toughness that they developed from living in the
Himalayan homelands is really a key point that makes these soldiers such great members of the British Army
They're also involved with peacekeeping missions and they've also taken part in Kosovo, Bosnia and Sierra Leone
so those are some places among many that they've served and yeah, they're still known to be so loyal because of their bravery and their
Professionalism there is one quote that says if a man says he's not afraid of dying
He's either lying or he is a Gurkha and that was said by Field Marshal, Sam Manekshaw
Who is the former chief of staff of the Indian Army to even join the Gurkha forces?
You got to work your butt off
The Gurkha selection process has been said to be one of the toughest in the entire
world their training ends off with an intense dokgo race, which
involves carrying 25 kilograms of sand while running up a steep 4.2 kilometre course
They're also required to do 75 bench jumps in one minute and 70 sit-ups in two minutes
Gurkhas are recruited at around 18 or 19
And they do not retire until they're 45 years old and one thing you really got to be clear about is that Gurkhas have grown?
up in extremely difficult
environments in the hills of Nepal and as a result their bodies are
Simply on a different plane than the average person just to give you an example. There's an annual race called the trail Walker
100 kilometres and literally the fastest British team completes this in around 12 or 13 hours
Gurkhas who win it. Every single time can do it in eight and a half hours
That just goes to show you that they are on a completely different level now
retired Gurkhas who returned from Nepal they often face
hardships in terms of their finances and their pensions and their right to settle in the UK have been a real big subject of
dispute between the UK government and the Gurkha campaigners in
2009 the Home Office announced that Gurkhas who served between 1948 and
1997 would also be allowed to settle in the UK that campaign
It featured the actress Joanna Lumley speaking on behalf of the Gurkhas because you know her father served as an officer
For the Gurkha regiment and with the Nepalese monarchy being abolished in
2008 the future recruitment of Gurkhas for the British service as well as Indian service seemed completely
doubtful now a spokesperson for the Communist Party of Nepal said that recruitment as
Mercenaries of the Gurkhas was completely degrading to the Nepalese people and it would be completely
banned however, as of the time of filming this episode
Gurkha recruitment for foreign service still continues and that was your inside look into the world of the Gurkha
I really hope you learned something new. I hope you enjoyed this episode and let me know down below in the comments section
What do you think about the Gurkhas and them being recruited for foreign services? It's been a big topic of debate
so I'd love to hear what you have to say about this as well as any thoughts and comments that you have about Nepal as
a
country and that's what we love doing these videos here on FTD facts because we get to highlight things like this and bring it to
the world's attention
So thank you guys so much for watching and learning with me here on FTD facts the links of my social media are down below
Where you can follow me and see what I'm doing when I'm not filming these FTD facts
Episodes on to the next time you've just been awesome
I can't wait to see you in another episode which I'm gonna go film right after this
So I'll see you guys later and I look forward to reading your comments down below
Hey everybody, here's a playlist about Nepal that I highly recommend
And we're gonna continually add new videos to it
We also have playlists about the different countries around the world so you can enjoy some of those videos as well
Be sure to keep it tuned in here to have two DFACS every single day for new educational episodes