सन् १८१४ को अक्टोबर ३० र ३१ । नेपाली र अंग्रेज फौजबीच भीषण लडाईं भएको नालापानी खलङ्गा । अक्टोबर ३० को रातिदेखि अक्टोबर ३१ सम्म अंग्रेज फौजले नालापानी किल्लामा धावा बोल्दा बलभद्र नेतृत्वको नेपाली फौजले उच्च युद्ध कौशलता, सहास, वीरता, सौर्य, पराक्रम साथ भाला, खकुरी, खुँडा, तरवार र भरुवा बन्दुकले प्रतिरोध गर्यो ।
अंग्रेज विरुद्धको त्यो प्रतिरोध युद्ध विश्वको युद्ध इतिहासमा सबैभन्दा बहादुरीको उत्कृष्ट नमूना रहेको थियो । युद्धमा अंग्रेज सेनापति मेजर जनरल सर रोबर्ट रोले जिलेस्पी, केसीबीको मृत्यु भयो ।
अंग्रेजले ३१ अफिसर्स र ७५० सेनालाई गुमायो भने ३५ अफिसर्स र १५ सय भन्दा बढी अंग्रेज सेना घाइते भए । नेपाली फौजतर्फ पनि करिब ३०० जतिको मृत्यु भएको थियो भने २ सय घाइते भएको अनुमान गरिएको छ ।
संसारकै युद्ध इतिहासमा यो एउटा यस्तो अद्वितीय क्षण थियो, जहाँ दुश्मन सेनाको प्रशंसामा कसैले युद्ध स्मारक बनाउँदै थियो । नेपाली फौजको वीरता र सहासका सामू अंग्रेज फौजको मानसिक हार भएको यो एउटा उत्कृष्ट उदाहरण मान्न सकिन्छ ।
२०० वर्ष अघिको घटना । तर, नालापानीले नेपालीलाईं सधैंभर झक्झकाइ रहन्छ । बिडम्बनै भन्नुपर्छ नालापानीलाई सम्झिन सकेन, मुलभूमि नेपालले ।
वीरताको चिनोलाई नेपालले चिन्न सकेन । विशाल नेपालका लागि वीर योद्धाहरुको वलिदानलाई काठमाडौंको केन्द्रीय सत्ताले सम्मान गर्न सकेन … ।The British were also expanding their sphere of influence at an alarming rate. While the Nepalese had been expanding their empire – into Sikkim in the east, Kumaon and Garhwal in the west and into the British sphere of influence in Awadh, or Oudh as the British called it, in the south – the British East India Company had consolidated its position in India from its main bases of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. This British expansion had already been resisted in India, culminating in three Anglo-Maratha wars as well as in the Punjab where Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Empire had their own aspirations.
Trade
The economic cause constituted the major cause of conflict with Nepal. The British had made constant efforts to persuade the Nepalese government to allow them their trade to the fabled Tibet through Nepal. Despite a series of delegations headed by William Kirkpatrick (1792), Maulvi Abdul Qader (1795), and later William O. Knox (1801), the Nepalese Durbar refused to budge an inch. The resistance to open up the country to the Europeans could be summed up in a Nepali precept, "With the merchants come the musket and with the Bible comes the bayonet."
Lord Hasting was not averse to exploiting any commercial opportunities that access to the Himalayan region might offer. He knew that these would gratify his employers and silence his critics, because the East India Company was at this time in the throes of a cash-flow crisis. It needed substantial funds in Britain, in order to pay overheads, pensions, and dividends; but there were problems about remitting the necessary assets from India. Traditionally the Company had bought Indian produce and sold it in London; but this no longer made economic sense. The staple Indian export was cotton goods, and demand for these was declining as home-produced textiles captured the British market. So the Company was having to transfer its assets in another, more complicated and expensive way
अंग्रेज विरुद्धको त्यो प्रतिरोध युद्ध विश्वको युद्ध इतिहासमा सबैभन्दा बहादुरीको उत्कृष्ट नमूना रहेको थियो । युद्धमा अंग्रेज सेनापति मेजर जनरल सर रोबर्ट रोले जिलेस्पी, केसीबीको मृत्यु भयो ।
अंग्रेजले ३१ अफिसर्स र ७५० सेनालाई गुमायो भने ३५ अफिसर्स र १५ सय भन्दा बढी अंग्रेज सेना घाइते भए । नेपाली फौजतर्फ पनि करिब ३०० जतिको मृत्यु भएको थियो भने २ सय घाइते भएको अनुमान गरिएको छ ।
संसारकै युद्ध इतिहासमा यो एउटा यस्तो अद्वितीय क्षण थियो, जहाँ दुश्मन सेनाको प्रशंसामा कसैले युद्ध स्मारक बनाउँदै थियो । नेपाली फौजको वीरता र सहासका सामू अंग्रेज फौजको मानसिक हार भएको यो एउटा उत्कृष्ट उदाहरण मान्न सकिन्छ ।
२०० वर्ष अघिको घटना । तर, नालापानीले नेपालीलाईं सधैंभर झक्झकाइ रहन्छ । बिडम्बनै भन्नुपर्छ नालापानीलाई सम्झिन सकेन, मुलभूमि नेपालले ।
वीरताको चिनोलाई नेपालले चिन्न सकेन । विशाल नेपालका लागि वीर योद्धाहरुको वलिदानलाई काठमाडौंको केन्द्रीय सत्ताले सम्मान गर्न सकेन … ।The British were also expanding their sphere of influence at an alarming rate. While the Nepalese had been expanding their empire – into Sikkim in the east, Kumaon and Garhwal in the west and into the British sphere of influence in Awadh, or Oudh as the British called it, in the south – the British East India Company had consolidated its position in India from its main bases of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. This British expansion had already been resisted in India, culminating in three Anglo-Maratha wars as well as in the Punjab where Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Empire had their own aspirations.
Trade
The economic cause constituted the major cause of conflict with Nepal. The British had made constant efforts to persuade the Nepalese government to allow them their trade to the fabled Tibet through Nepal. Despite a series of delegations headed by William Kirkpatrick (1792), Maulvi Abdul Qader (1795), and later William O. Knox (1801), the Nepalese Durbar refused to budge an inch. The resistance to open up the country to the Europeans could be summed up in a Nepali precept, "With the merchants come the musket and with the Bible comes the bayonet."
Lord Hasting was not averse to exploiting any commercial opportunities that access to the Himalayan region might offer. He knew that these would gratify his employers and silence his critics, because the East India Company was at this time in the throes of a cash-flow crisis. It needed substantial funds in Britain, in order to pay overheads, pensions, and dividends; but there were problems about remitting the necessary assets from India. Traditionally the Company had bought Indian produce and sold it in London; but this no longer made economic sense. The staple Indian export was cotton goods, and demand for these was declining as home-produced textiles captured the British market. So the Company was having to transfer its assets in another, more complicated and expensive way
