Imprints of bravery, from Rig Veda to modern wars

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, October 4

People of Uttarakhand are well known for their self pride, patriotism, sacrifices for the nation and resistance against repression for centuries. In the Vedic era, especially at the time of the composition of Rig Veda, when Aryan seers advanced towards the hill region, local kings Subahu and Pururawa under other Asur kings of the area, fought the advancing Aryans. The battle has been described as Dasragya Yudha (battle with 10 kings) in Rig Veda. Experts in the military history of Uttarakhand say, “Parini in 500 BC had said the battle loving people residing in the Shivalik hills had broken the pride of Alexander the great by forming an advance line in the army of Magadh kings,” says Chandra Singh Chauhan, in charge of the Almora museum and a researcher in the Uttarakhand history.

Chauhan says ancient Hindu scripture ''''Markendeya Puran'''' mentions that the ethnic tribes of Tangan, Khas and Kirats residing in the hill region of Uttarpath were expert in fighting with stones, tridents and iron balls and when these tribes began using these arms in the battlefield, the enemy army fled to save itself. “The bravery of these hill tribes has been mentioned even in 11 shlokas of Mahabharata that state that these tribes will give the status of a deity to the one who dies in the battlefield,” he adds.

According to the war historian, Panchari had vowed to root out Nand kings from Maghad and he recruited soldiers from the hill region with the help of the then local king named Parwateswar. Panchari had an agreement with Parwateswar to give him half of the Magadh empire when its is conquered but he deceived the hill king after defeating the Nands and overthrowing Chandragupta. “Historian Justice has mentioned that the hill soldiers who fought for Chandragupta as Khasa, Gandhara, Yavanas and Hunas,” says Chauhan.

He adds in the middle ages when warriors such as Mohammad Gauri and Tamor Lung tried to cross the gateway to hills at Haridwar, local armies of Katur kings defeated them and made them realise that it was not easy to enter the strong hilltop forts. “Even traveller historians Bhanuchi and Barnier during the middle ages have mentioned that the one lakh army of Mughal emperor Shahjahan in 1,635 AD and the same strength army of another Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1,659-60 AD could not win the armies of Garhwal kings,” says Chauhan.

After the British arrived in 1815, they came to know about the valiant Gurkha people of Nepal and started recruiting only Kumaunis and Garhwalis in Gurkha battalions. “The participation of brave Kumaunis under Kalu Mahara in the revolt of 1857 forced the British to declare these people as untrustworthy and secondary to Gurkhas until a valiant Garhwali soldier Balbhadra Sing Negi won the order of merit for his unprecedented bravery in the Afghan war in 1873,” says Chauhan.

He adds that thereafter Garhwali soldiers were considered the best soldiers of the Gurkha army. The bravery of Garhwali soldiers in the Afghan war made the British establish separate Garhwali battalions in 1897.

The Kumaonis won the trust of the British rulers in the First World War when they fought bravely in the war in the mid Asia sector and defeated the enemy there. “It was Havildar Chandra Singh of the Burma military police, a resident of Devalthal village in Pithoragarh district, who initiated the formation of a separate Kumauni battalion when he demanded it when the British asked his for a reward for his unprecedented bravery in the First World War in the mid Asian sector,” says Chauhan.

The brave soldiers not only made the region proud by making sacrifices in the freedom struggle but also by making it to the INA battalions led by Netaji Suhas Chandra Bose. “Of the total 23,266 personnel in the Indian National Army of Netaji Subas Chabdra Bose over 2,500 were from the Uttarakhand region alone. Even the first martyrdom of the INA is attributed to Garhwali soldier Jeet Singh," says Chauhan. He adds that Capt Budhi Singh Rawat and Lt Col Pitra Saran Raturi were the Garhwali officers who were close to Netaji.

After Independence the hill braves continued leaving their prints in the tradition of the Indian Army. The sacrifice of the first Paramvir Chakra winner Major Somnath Sharma of Kumaon Regiment on the Kashmir front saved Srinagar from the hands of Pakistan soldiers, who came in the name of Kabayalis. Even thereafter the brave soldiers have continued to sacrifice their lives for the country in the wars of 1962, 1971, 1965 and at various operations of the Indian Army to flush out terrorists or intruders. “The proofs of this brave tradition of hill youths is evident by the figure that the number of martyrs from the hill districts of Uttarakhand is more than the total number of martyrs from all districts of Uttar Pradesh. The number of gallantry awards received by soldiers from the hill region is also more than those by solders from the country’s biggest state Uttar Pradesh," says Chauhan.