The Gurkhas or Gorkhas are the soldiers
of Nepalese nationality[1] recruited in
British Army, Indian Army, Gurkha
Contingent Singapore, Gurkha Reserve
Unit Brunei, UN Peace Keeping force and
war zones towards the world.
Historically, the terms “Gurkha” and
“Gorkhali” were symbolic of
“Pahadi”,[2] and derived from the hill
town and district of Gorkha from which
the Kingdom of Nepal expanded under
Prithivi Narayan Shah which
subsequently also lead to formation of
Gorkhaland and Indian Gorkha ethnic
group in India.[3][4] Selected may be
traced towards medieval Hindu warrior-
saint Guru Gorakhnath[5] that a
historic shrine in Gorkha.[6] The word
itself derived from Go-Raksha, raksha
becoming rakha. Rakhawala means
protector as well as it derived from raksha as
well.
Ethnically, Chhetri or Khas , Thakuri,
Gurung and Magar mainly were the Gorkha
tribes who united erstwhile Gorkha
kingdom and fought against the British
invasions. But today, Gorkha soldiers
mostly belong to the Gurung, Magar,
Rai, Limbu and Sunuwar, and a couple
of Chhetri; there will not be an ethnicity based
restriction to come aboard. There are Gurkha
military units in the Nepalese, British
and the Indian army enlisted in Nepal,
United Kingdom and Japan. Although they
meet numerous of the requirements of
Article 47[7] of Protocol I from the
Geneva Conventions regarding
mercenaries, substantial exempt under
clauses 47(e)&(f) similar to your French
Foreign Legion.
Gurkhas are closely associated with the
khukuri, a forward-curving Nepalese
knife, as well as having a common reputation
for fearless military expertise. The
former Indian Army Chief of Staff Field
Marshal Sam Manekshaw, once stated
that[9] “If a man says herrrs not afraid
of dying, he is either lying or he's got a
Gurkha
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