Their ferocity is as fabled as their humble, down-to-earth mannerism is loved and their absolute loyalty admired. Having started out as a small military outfit, composed mostly of irregulars, in one of the hill principalities of western Nepal, they went on to achieve unimaginable glories world over, in places ranging from the forests of Malaya to the deserts of North Africa. In the process, they not just created a unique legacy of themselves as one of the finest fighting forces in the world (some military historians go as far as arguing that the Gorkhas have always been used as ‘special forces’) but also became the first brand ambassadors for the country—veritably making Nepal a household name long before Mount Everest and Lumbini repeated the same feat.

Jyoti Thapa Mani’s book, The Khukri Braves: The Illustrated History of the Gurkhas, is a vivid, pictographic account of the exploits of these men beginning from the role they played in the expansion of the house of Gorkha to their bravery in the two World Wars, Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan. And unlike other historical accounts that more often than not kill the reader’s interest with their list of dates, events and annotations, this book is a superb read, meant for both history buffs and laymen alike. 

To achieve this, Mani relies on her expertise as a professional graphic designer. Carefully chosen images form the narrative scaffolding of the book and hold the text together. Photographs and paintings, both old and new, are deftly interwoven with the text, so are the vivid reconstructions of the layout of major Gurkha forts and location maps of their battles.

The other factor that makes the book different from regular, armchair historiography is the effort the writer has put in to travel to the places embedded in the collective memory of these seemingly foolhardy warriors and their families to write about them not in the scholarly jargon of a historian but like a traveler following the footsteps of her ancestors. From Gorkha Durbar and its surrounding villages, which provided the first batch of foot soldiers to an expanding empire under an ambitious king, to the ruins of the forts (Khalanga, Jyathuk and Malaun in particular) where some of the most memorable battles were fought, Mani describes these places and the battles as if they happened in front of her own eyes. 

But the glowing account of the khukuri braves comes at the cost of facts in some places. It would not be entirely right to say that Nepal lost the war to the superior resources of the British India Company. 

The defeat, and the subsequent treaty, also had a lot to do with the exploitation of farming communities in the region under the control of Nepali rulers. By levying exorbitant taxes to fund their war campaigns, the Nepali elite deprived Kumouni and Garhwali farmers of their modest gains and turned them into their enemies.

Similarly, she also fails to mention the siege of Lucknow carried out by Jung Bahadur Rana to suppress the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (also known as the Sepoy Mutiny), an event that presents the Gorkhas in rather unflattering light. Jung Bahadur and his men not only did their share of distinction and took care of the rebellious nawabs, they returned home as rich men with loot amounting to more than four thousand carts. The entire Nepali caravan, consisting of soldiers and cartloads of plunder, is said to have been 16 miles long.  

Minor mistakes pop up occasionally. Jung Bahadur Rana’s real name was Bir Narsingh Kunwar and not Nar Bir Kunwar, as the book says. The arrival of Nagraj and the formation of Khas kingdom in Sinja Valley took place before the 13th century. And, going by all accounts, Nagraj was a Khas ruler, not a Magar king (although he is said to have come from Tibet).

In spite of all this, the book is brilliant testimony of the soldiers whose bravery has made them part of universal military folklore. But more importantly, it is a poignant retelling of how the identity of the Khukuri braves changed from being the foot soldiers of Shah kings, to defending Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s empire, to becoming the prized regiments of both the British and Indian armies.