Anglo Nepal War
Nalapani is a place about five miles north of Dehradum in India which was under the control of Nepal before Anglo-Nepal war. A fort was built about the height of 600 feet in a small hill of it, which was known as the fort of Khalanga.
During Anglo-Nepal war, Blabhadra Kunwar was deployed to protect Nalapani. He had to safeguard the fort with limited Gorkhali soldiers of about 600 including women and children. Major General Gillespie and Colonel Maubi along with 3500 strong British troops invaded the fort of Khalanga from four different sides. They were well equipped with modern arms and ammunitions having 11 cannons and many guns. Major General Gillespie sent a letter to Balabhadra Kunwar a night before attacking the fort, asking him to surrender. But Balabhadra Kunwar tore it and replied, "I'm not in the habit of reading letters at midnight. I will meet Gillespie soon."
The very next morning, the British troops attacked the fort by firing the guns and cannons. The Nepalese troops including women and children responded them with bullets, stones, arrows, logs. Lieutenant Ellis of British force was hit by the bullet from Nepalese troops and was killed. Nepalese bravery in the war made the British troops disheartened. Due to this, Major General Gillespie was compelled to march himself towards the fort. He started marching to the fort with his helmet on one hand and a sword on the other. He was also shot dead by Nepalese force. In total, 266 British soldiers were killed in the battle. the British troops could no longer face the Nepalese attack and compelled to retreat and fled to Dehradun.
The British force attacked the fort second time with much preparation under the command of Colonel Maubi in mid-November 1814 AD. In counter attack, Nepalese force responded them with stones, logs bullets. Nepalese troops including women and children fought this battle very bravely.
Colonel Maubi, realized that it was almost impossible to defeat Nepalese force through direct attack. Therefore, he adopted a trick. They surrounded the Khalanga fort and cut off the water supply to the fort. Since the water supply was cut off, Nepalese force started dying of thirst. Nepalese force couldn't withstand thirst and odour of corpse lying hither and thither. Having no other options , Nepalese men and women came out from the fort with bare swords in their hands on 30th November 1814 AD. They advanced towards the nearby brook to quench their thirst without caring about the cannons and bullets of the enemies. They quenched their thirst and moved on to Jeetgadh. Before advancing to Jeetgadh, Balabhadra Kunwar roared to British, "It was impossible for you to conquer the fort just now we are leaving it on our own will". Although the British captured Khalanga fort and destroyed it, they were much surprised of the bravery displayed by Balabhadra Kunwar and his handful soldiers. They erected a stone inscription to say tribute to the brave Gorkhali soldiers, which inscribes:"This is inscribed as a tribute and respect for our gallant adversary BULBUDDER, commander of the fort and HIS BRAVE GURKHAS".
