Gurkha
Nepalese and Indian National Soldiers
The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with the endonym Gorkhali (Nepali: गोर्खाली [ɡoɾkʰaːliː]), are soldiers native to South Asia, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of North India.
The Gurkha units consist of Nepali and (in India) Indian Gorkha, Nepali-speaking Indian people. They are recruited for the Nepali Army (96,000), the Indian Army (42,000), the British Army (4,010), the Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force, the Gurkha Reserve Unit of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, and United Nations peacekeeping forces in war zones around the world. Ordinary citizens of the two demographic groups become a Gurkha by applying for, and passing, the selection and training process.
Gurkhas have a reputation for fearless military prowess. Indian Army Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw said "If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha." Gurkhas are closely associated with the khukuri, a forward-curving knife.
Origins
Historically, the terms "Gurkha" and "Gorkhali" were synonymous with "Nepali", which originates from the hill principality Gorkha Kingdom, from which the Kingdom of Nepal expanded under Prithvi Narayan Shah, who was the last ruler of the Gorkha Kingdom and first monarch of the Kingdom of Nepal. In fact, the Gorkhas' impressive conquests of the Kathmandu Valley supplied the British with an exaggerated view of Nepal’s strength, ultimately helping lead to the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816). The name may be traced to the medieval Hindu warrior-saint Guru Gorakhnath who has a historic shrine in Gorkha District. The word itself derived from Go-Raksha (Nepali: गोरक्षा i.e., 'Protector (रक्षा) of cows (गो')), raksha becoming rakha (रखा).
“Gurkha” enters the record as nepalese and Indian National Soldiers. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Gurkha, Nepalese and Indian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Gurkha” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Gurkha, Nepalese and Indian provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q207962. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1814 and 1816.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
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- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Gurkha” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.