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11th Gorkha Rifles
The 11 Gorkha Rifles is a Gorkha regiment of the Indian Army that was re-raised after independence. The regiment consists of primarily the Kirant Tribes Rai, Limbu, Yakkha, Sunuwar of Eastern Nepal, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Dooars of West Bengal, Sikkim and other parts of Northeast India. Though it is considered to be the youngest of the Gorkha regiments its lineage is as long as those of the 7th Gurkha Rifles and 10th Gurkha Rifles. The regiment has participated in all major military operations India has undertaken since independence including in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, Operation Polo in 1948, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and the Kargil War in 1999. Units of the regiment have also deployed abroad on UN missions. History First raising The 11th Gurkha Rifles was raised as an ad hoc unit in 1918 with troops and officers being drawn from the various Gurkha regiments. The regiment, consisting of four battalions, saw service in both Pal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which could also have their own armies. As quoted in the Imperial Gazetteer of India, "The British Government has undertaken to protect the dominions of the Native princes from invasion and even from rebellion within: its army is organized for the defence not merely of British India, but of all possessions under the suzerainty of the King-Emperor." The Indian Army was an important part of the British Empire's forces, both in India and abroad, particularly during the First World War and the Second World War. The term ''Indian Army'' appears to have been first used informally, as a collective description of the Presidency armies, which collectively comprised the Bengal Army, the Madras Army and the Bombay Army, of the Presidencies of British India ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ajai Kumar Singh
Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM is the General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command of the Indian Army. He assumed the post from Lieutenant-General Jai Singh Nain. Career A graduate of St Gabriel’s Academy, Roorkee and the National Defence Academy, Singh was commissioned into the 7th battalion of the 11th Gorkha Rifles on 15 December 1984. He is also a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College , motto_lang = sa , mottoeng = ''To War with Wisdom'' , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'', Deolali) , type = Defence Service Training Institute , affiliation = , endowment = , administrative_staff = , faculty = , presi ..., Wellington and the National Defence College. Singh commanded 1/11 Gorkha Rifles as part of a Strike Corps, and subsequently on the Line of Control. He later commanded a brigade in Rann Sector, a Counter Insurgency Force in J&K and XXXIII Corps in the Eastern Sector. He has been an In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darjeeling District
Darjeeling District is the northernmost district of the state of West Bengal in eastern India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The district is famous for its hill station and Darjeeling tea. Darjeeling is the district headquarters. Kurseong, Siliguri and Mirik, three major towns in the district, are the subdivisional headquarters of the district. Kalimpong was one of the subdivisions but on 14 February 2017, it officially became a separate Kalimpong district. Geographically, the district can be divided into two broad divisions: the hills and the plains. The entire hilly region of the district comes under the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, a semi-autonomous administrative body under the state government of West Bengal. This body covers the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik and the district of Kalimpong. The foothills of Darjeeling Himalayas, which comes under the Siliguri subdivision, is known as the Terai. The district is bounded on the nort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Province No
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''province'' has since been adopted by many countries. In some countries with no actual provinces, "the provinces" is a metaphorical term meaning "outside the capital city". While some provinces were produced artificially by colonial powers, others were formed around local groups with their own ethnic identities. Many have their own powers independent of central or federal authority, especially in Canada and Pakistan. In other countries, like China or France, provinces are the creation of central government, with very little autonomy. Etymology The English word ''province'' is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French , which itself comes from the Latin word , which referred to the sphere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunuwar
The Sunuwar or Koinch (; ''Sunuwār Jāti'') is a Kirati tribe native to Nepal, parts of India (West Bengal and Sikkim) and southern Bhutan. They speak the Sunuwar language. According to the 2001 census of Nepal, 17% of the tribe follow the Kirant religion and adopt the Mundhum (Kiranti) culture. The Kõinch’s (Sunuwar) number 55,752. The term ‘Kõinchs’ is also the name of the mother tongue. Other terms like ''Mukhiya'' or ''Mukhia'' are exonyms of the tribe. Sunuwar have their distinct language, religion, culture and social customs. They inhabit the eastern hills of Nepal and Himalayan. They are concentrated along the Molung Khola, Likhu Khola and Khimti Khola (‘Khola’ Indo-Aryan Nepali etymon ‘rivulet’) regions. By administrative division, they dwell in Okhaldhunga, Ramechhap and Dolakha districts of Nepal, politically known as Wallo kirat (‘Near/Hither’), Kirant (in the past and also in use among the Kirantis at present) after the fall of the Kirant dynast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yakkha People
Yakkha ( Nepali याक्खा, Yākkhā) is an indigenous ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent, mainly in modern-day Nepal and present-day India (related to other Kirat groups, like the Limbu, Sunuwar, Rai, Dewan people and more distantly all other Sino-Tibetan peoples). It is one of the descendants of Nepal's prehistoric Kirat dynasty. The Yakkha people are subsistence farmers who inhabit the lower Arun valley in eastern Nepal. They number only a few thousand and their language is nearly extinct. Etymology Scholars have different opinions regarding the origin of the word ''Yakkha''. One school of thought claims that the ethnonym ''Yakkha'' as per the Aryan Sanskrit grammar had been spelled in the Aryan-Hindu mythologies as ''Yaksa-sh'' (like Bhisu-shu for an ascetic ''Bhikchu'' of the Buddhist holy scripts). Although the legendary Yaksa-sh, by the corrupt name of Yakkha, is mentioned in religious Hindu texts, the Vedas and ancient Sanskrit literature, Yakkha has hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limbu People
The Limbu (exonym) or Yakthung (endonym) are a Sino-Tibetan indigenous tribe (Bhot-Burmeli) of the Himalayan region of eastern Nepal, Sikkim, and western Bhutan. The original name of the Limbu is ''Yakthung'' () or ''Yakthum''. Limbu males are called ''Yakthungba'' or ''Yakthumba'' and Limbu females are called "Yakthumma" or "Yakthungma". Ancient texts state that "Yakthung" or "Yakthum" is a derivative of Yaksha and some interpret its meaning as the "Yaksha winner". In the Limbu language it means "heroes of the hills" (Yak - hills, thung or thum - heroes or mighty warriors), which connotates with the ancient Kiratis. Subba is a title given by the Shah Kings only to Limbu village chiefs. Subba was not an indigenous Yakthung terminology, but now the two terms are almost interchangeable. People often debate about the use of term "Subba" as their surname in Limbu tribe. It is important to note that only the village chiefs were allowed to use the term Subba in their name. It was ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rai People
The Rai are an ethnolinguistic group belonging to the Kirati people, Kirat family and primarily Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman linguistic ethnicity. They mainly reside in the eastern parts of Nepal, the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal (predominantly Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Kalimpong district, Kalimpong Hills) and in south western Bhutan. The Rais are a set of groups, one of the cultivating tribes of Nepal. They inhabited the area between the Dudh Koshi and Tamur River in Nepal. They claim that their country alone is called (Kirat Autonomous State, Kiratdesh), and they call themselves Rai. In modern times, they have spread over Nepal, Sikkim and West Bengal. Rai are also known as "Jimdar" and in some places as "Khambu." "Jim" means "land" because they cultivated "Jim" or land, the Rais return cultivation as their traditional occupation. Herbert Hope Risley, H. H Risley treats the Rais and Jimdar the as synonymous with the Khambus, but most of the Rais now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirant
The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirant or Kiranti, are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group. They are peoples of the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state of Sikkim and the northern hilly regions of West Bengal, that is, Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts). Etymology Kirat means lion-hearted people or people of a lion nature. It also means mountain people.The word Kirata is a derivation from Kirati or Kiranti to name the group of people in Eastern Nepal and Northeast India. History The Kirat ("Kiranti") are an ancient people who have been associated with the history of Nepal for thousands of years. Sources from the Kathmandu Valley describe the Kiratas as early rulers there whom may have been cattle-herding tribes. During the Kirat Dynasty Kathmandu was called Yela-khom. According to one of the legendary accounts, the primitive kiratis living in Nepal also lived in Sikkim. They are descende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four-star general. Two officers have been conferred with the rank of field marshal, a five-star rank, which is a ceremonial position of great honour. The Indian Army was formed in 1895 alongside the long established presidency armies of the East India Company, which too were absorbed into it in 1903. The princely states had their own armies, which were merged into the national army after independence. The units and regiments of the Indian Army have diverse histories and have participated in several battles and campaigns around the world, earning many battle and theatre honours before and after Independence. The primary mission of the Indian Army is to ensure national security and national unity, to defend the nation from external aggression an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorkha Regiments (India)
Since the independence of India in 1947, as per the terms of the Britain–India–Nepal Tripartite Agreement, six Gorkha regiments, formerly part of the British Indian Army, became part of the Indian Army and have served ever since. The troops are mainly from ethnic Gurkha communities of Nepal. A seventh Gorkha Rifles regiment was re-raised in the Indian Army after Independence to accommodate Gorkha soldiers of 7th Gurkha Rifles and the 10th Gurkha Rifles who chose not to transfer to the British Army. History Origins Impressed by the fighting qualities displayed by the Gorkhas during the Gurkha War, Sir David Ochterlony was quick to realise the potential of the Gorkhas in the British Indian Army. Until then, Gorkha defectors were generally used as irregular forces. On 24 April 1815, the first battalion of the Gorkha Regiment, was raised as the Nasiri regiment. This regiment later became the 1st King George's Own Gurkha Rifles, and saw action at the Maulun fort under Lieu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khukuri
The kukri () or khukuri ( ne, खुकुरी, ) is a type of machete with a distinct recurve in its blade. It serves multiple purposes as a melee weapon and also as a regular cutting tool throughout most of South Asia. The ''kukri'', ''khukri'', and ''kukkri'' spellings are of Indian English origin, with the original Nepalese English spelling being ''khukuri''. Originating from the Indian subcontinent, the kukri is the national weapon of Nepal, traditionally serving the role of a basic utility knife for the Nepali-speaking Gurkhas, and consequently is a characteristic weapon of the Nepali Army. There have been, and still are many myths surrounding the kukri since its earliest recorded use in the 7th century—most notably that a traditional custom revolves around the blade in which it must draw blood, owing to its sole purpose as a fighting weapon, before being sheathed. However, they are frequently used as regular utility tools. History Researchers trace the origi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
