Battle of Khurbura or Battle of Khudbuda also known as Gorkha-Garhwal War occurred in May 1804 near modern-day village of

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, district and is governed by the Dehr ...

, Khurbura . The battle is regarded as the first major attack in the history of

Garhwal Kingdom Garhwal Kingdom was an independent Himalayan kingdom in the current north-western Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, India, founded in 688 CE by Kanak Pal, the progenitor of the Panwar dynasty that ruled over the kingdom uninterrupted until ...

that triggered between

Kingdom of Nepal The Kingdom of Nepal ( ne, नेपाल अधिराज्य), also known as the Gorkha Empire ( ne, गोरखा अधिराज्य) or Asal Hindustan ( ne, असल हिन्दुस्तान)(), was a Hindu king ...

forces and

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...

Pradyumna Shah, and continued for 13 days until the Garhwal king was defeated. It is chiefly regarded the only defeat of Pradyumna Shah's life and the victory of Gorkhali forces under

Background

Garhwali officials believed that the Garhwal dynasty was nearing its end. They believed it was due to the curses of queens of Salim Shah and Jaya Kirti Shah. With the beginning of this battle, the kingdom came under the rule of Gorkhas until 1814. Gurkha forces, loaded with guns entered in "Khurbura" to invade the territory. Since Garhwal's soldiers were fighting against the Nepalese invaders with swords, the kingdom was defeated heavily that led the opposition forces to begin their rule.

Battle

Since the kingdom was already shattered and unstable due to the

1803 Garhwal earthquake The 1803 Garhwal earthquake occurred in the early morning of September 1 at 01:30 local time. The estimated 7.8-magnitude-earthquake had an epicenter in the Garhwal Himalaya near Uttarkashi, British India. Major damage occurred in the Himalaya a ...

and the entire kingdom was yet to reinstate. With great difficulty due to unstable circumstances caused by earthquake,

Pradyuman Shah first moved to Srinagar, Uttarakhand to Dehradun and then to

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti. Saharanpur is declared a ...

arranging the forces to combat Gorkhas. The king succeeded arranging 10,000 soldiers. However, they were much untrained. King Pradyumna Shah of

prepared for warfare by assembling 12,000 men of various groups such as Rangad rajputs, Pundir rajputs, Gujars, and

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

s under a Gujjar

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also be ...

Ramadayal Singh of Landhaur. On the other hand, Gorkhali forces were led by overall commander 'Bada Kaji'

Amar Singh Thapa Amar Singh Thapa Chhetri distinguished as Badakaji Amar Singh Thapa( ne, बडाकाजी अमर सिंह थापा क्षेत्री), or Amar Singh Thapa The Elder, (also spelled Ambar Simha) also known by the honorific nam ...

, and his subordinate commanders Kaji

Ranajit Kunwar Ranajit Kunwar ( ne, रणजीत कुँवर) was Nepalese governor and military personnel in the Kingdom of Nepal. He was a son of Ramakrishna Kunwar of Kunwar family. He served as governor of Jumla, Pyuthan and sub-ordinate administrator ...

(the grandfather of the Rana Prime Minister

Jung Bahadur Kunwar Rana)and Bhaktibir Thapa. The battle took place at Khadbuda about a half mile from the palace of Guru Ram Raya on 22nd Marga 1860 V.S. (January 1804). Pradyumna Shah on his horseback was having a conversation with Miya Dulal Singh of Prithvipur and momentarily, Kaji Ranajit Kunwar shot Pradyumna Shah to death. His shot proved successful as Garhwali soldiers ran away and the war finally ended.

Aftermath

Son of King Pradyumna, Prince Sudarshan Shah, alongwith Commander Devi Singh fled to Kanakhal with some soldiers. The King's brother, Parakram Shah, fled to his father-in-law's place in Hindur, Nalagarh without caring for funeral rites of the deceased king. Soon after his death, King's another brother, Pritam Shah, was incarcerated by the Gorkhas where he passed his life under many hardships and poverty. The Gorkhali commander Amar Singh sent the body of King Pradyumna Shah to

Haridwar Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is situated on the ri ...

with great honors under the protection of Surajan Singh Rawal of Dalanwala and some Gorkhali soldiers. Bada Amar Simha appointed Kaji

as chief of one of the three revenue divisions of

Garhwal Garhwal may refer to the following topics associated with Uttarakhand, India: Places *Garhwal Himalaya, a sub-range of the Himalayas *Garhwal Kingdom, a former kingdom *Garhwal District (British Garhwal), a former district of British India *Garh ...

namely

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its ...

. Khurbura was an important place in Garhwal kingdom and now its the only a small village that has left remarkable history behind. This area is now administered by the

authorities of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

state.

References

Books

* * *{{citation , last = Dabaral , first = Shiva Prasad "Charan" , title = Gorkhali rule in Garhwal , journal = Regmi Research Series , volume = 19 , issue = 7–8 , pages = 115–120, date = July–August 1987b , url = http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/regmi/pdf/Regmi_19.pdf Khurbura Khurbura 1804 in India History of Uttarakhand History of Dehradun Anglo-Nepalese War Wars involving Nepal 1804 in Nepal