Battle of Nalapani

Why is in news? The annual Khalanga Mela organised in Dehradun

The fair is organised every year for the remembrance of the Gorkha warriors who fought bravely against the British in the Battle of Nalapani on the outskirts of Dehradun in 1814.

The Battle of Nalapani was the first battle of the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–1816, fought between the forces of the British East India Company and Nepal, then ruled by the House of Gorkha.

Causes of War:

The British wanted to establish economic relations with Tibet. But it was not possible because the trade route passage through the Nepalese territory.

The Nepalese government strongly resisted the foreign attempts to open up the country. Therefore, the British wanted to open up Nepal to have access to the trade route to Tibet.

The immediate reason which led to Anglo-Nepalese War was the border dispute between British India and Nepal.

In 1801, the British annexed the Gorakhpur region that brought the Company’s boundary and Gurkha’s boundary together. The conflict was because of no fixed boundary.

The Anglo-Nepalese War started during the Governor-General Marquess of Hastings (1813-1823), when the ruler of Nepal, Bhimsen Thapa, captured the Terai of Butwal and Sheoraj.

In 1814, Lord Hastings sent the British army to invade Nepal. The war went on for nearly two years till 1816.

The war ended with the Treaty of Sugauli, signed in March 1816, between the Nepalese and the British