It is absolutely true that Nepal, as well as Bhutan, was never a British colony. So how were the people of Nepal able to keep themselves safe from the devastating shadow of the British empire? It is still a mystery to many of us. And the more interesting question is - India was poor because it was colonized, so why is Nepal not a superpower or even rich enough?
Let’s discover…
How was Nepal different from India at the time of the British preying upon them?
Indian history has kingdoms and empires, while Nepal, on the other hand, has been a nation state. //(A nation state is a state that is ruled in the name of a community of citizens who identify themselves as a nation.) India has a powerful geographical presence, surrounded by oceans and protected by the Himalayas in the north. Nepal is a landlocked country and the Himalayas act as a protective barrier for it too. Nepal was founded solely on the basis of the conquests of one man! Prithvi Narayan Shah- ruler of the Gorkhas. So Nepal is a relatively young nation. Obviously, in the past, India and Nepal had been one and ruled by a single ruler most of the time, but Prithvi Narayan Shah did the work of separating Nepal from the rest of India and protecting its interests.
Nepal is not a different race, culture, or even religion. They are the same people as the Indians. Prithvi Narayan Shah unified Nepal in 1768 and set up the kingdom of Nepal, or the Gorkha kingdom.
Still, the question remains the same - How were the people of Nepal able to keep themselves safe from the devastating shadow of the British Empire?
Suppose you are a king out on a conquest, and you find out that there are two kingdoms that you can win. Both the kingdoms have powerful rulers with a brave army. You decide to attack the first one, and being a capable king, you are able to absorb the kingdom into your own empire. Now, when you are about to attack the second kingdom, your advisor comes to you to discuss the plans. He says, “O, great king, I have no doubt in your capabilities. But the people of that second kingdom have always supported us and always followed our commands. Even their internal political decisions are taken after consulting with us. Their people are even employed in our empire. Moreover, there is a third kingdom that is our sworn enemy, and this kingdom acts as a physical and political barrier between our empire and our enemy’s kingdom. So aren’t we already ruling the second kingdom indirectly?”
What if I tell you that Nepal was the second kingdom in context of the British!
Let’s discuss in detail how Nepal was indirectly a slave of the British empire…
The Presence of Tibet
British India and Chinese occupied Tibet were buffer states. Tibet was a threat to the newly formed British colony. That was the time when Nepal had to face both the British and Tibet.
Tibet was not only an enemy of the British but also a big trading partner. Trade with Tibet was important for British Indian territory. The Nepalese people claimed that the trade between the two hostile countries was taking place through Nepal, so they deserved some tax for the exchange. This created a problem for the British.
Due to difficulties in trade with Tibet, the British started a war against Nepal. In the Anglo-Nepalese War, the Gorkhas (Nepalese) took a heavy loss. As a result of this, the Treaty of Sugauli was signed between Nepal and British India. This treaty defined Nepal’s boundaries… Nepal lost 1/3 of its territory to the British! The British could now trade directly with Tibet through Sikkim and parts of present-day Uttarakhand.
Nepal’s dependency on the Indian subcontinent
The economy of Nepal was still related to and dependent on India. Because Nepal is in the mountains, there is no great source of income. Those were the times when everyone was trading through ocean routes. Nepal, being a landlocked country, couldn’t participate. Several Nepalese were employed in India.
Nepal was on SALE!
Sometimes what we see is not the complete reality. Let us now expose the dark side of Nepal’s policies. Although it appeared that the leaders of Nepal were trying to save it from the hands of the British, the reality was that Nepal was being sold.
Let us understand the nature of British rule. The territories were divided into two types: 1. those that were directly controlled by the British and 2. princely states. The princely states were indirectly controlled by the British. The British believed that for the existence of any state, proper political boundaries must be defined. The Gorkhas were ignorant of this concept.
In the history of Nepal, the Rana Regime is known as the Dark Age because it lacked freedom, public sovereignty, and literacy. Rana saw the British as allies and thought they could prove to be beneficial in implementing their agenda. To some extent, the Rana family was an outsider. They needed the British to control the nobility. They always thought that helping the British would establish a good relationship between the British and the Nepalese. Nepali leaders rejected the demand of Indian rebels for help in standing against the British. The point to be noted is that the British hadn’t recognized Nepal as an independent entity.
In 1883, there was a warlike situation between Nepal and Tibet. Nepal asked the British for modern weapons and supplies. In return, the British demanded Gorkhas for their army. It was similar to supplying guns and, in return, asking for the hands that would be using them. Nepal also helped the British in the First World War. The Nepal–Britain Treaty was signed in 1923, and the British accepted Nepal as an independent nation. The British still had an influence on the foreign policies of Nepal.
Indians, who fired on Indians
After the Anglo-Nepalese War, in 1816, the British started recruiting the Gorkhas. Yes, Nepalese people were being employed in India. They even got a place in the army. If Nepal was so independent, then why were Gorkhas serving under the British? In the Jallianwala Bagh incident, around 50 soldiers’ company opened fire on the civilians on the orders of the British. Around 25 of them were either Balochis or Pashtuns, and the rest were the Gorkhas, the Nepali people.
As per Nepal’s so-called nationalists, Nepal could not be defeated by Britishers in open warfare, but the fact is that when the British devastated India, Nepal also suffered the consequences. Yes, Nepal was never colonized officially, but these are also facts that show the British never needed to colonize Nepal.
