Strategic Importance of Almora City for British Kumaon Campaign

Second British Attack on Almora -13

           

                 History British Campaign for Capturing Kumaon -56

                                                                                                                                 

          Nepal Rule over Kumaun, Garhwal and Himachal (1790-1815) -271

            History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) -800          

                                                           

                          By: Bhishma Kukreti (A History Student)

              From European standard, Almora was small city but from Himalayan point of view, Almora had important city. Old name of Almora was Khamgara. Almora was situated from North –West to South east for 6 Farlang. There was only one main road for entering Almora. The main road was surrounded by stones and houses were built on both sides of road. The ground floor of hoses was built by plain stones and upper floor was built by wood.

  There were two forts in Almora. A Fort was in the middle of Almora city. Another Fort Dalmandi Fort of Almora was at south corner of the city. The mud-stone walls of those forts were not more than 8 feet height. However, both the forts were situated on hillocks and therefore, perceived as very high forts.  

 There was another hill range parallel to Khmagara hill east and was connected by narrow rivulet. That hill range was enough to defend some part of Almora. Gurkha soldiers built fences and ditches there. The biggest fence was in Sitauli hillock where Gurkha soldiers were there. Sitauli camp was as good as main Gurkha army camp. There was steep valley around Situali hill.  On north of Sitauli, Katarmal Hill was there.

  On 25^th April 1815, Angad Sardar was standing in Pandkhola villages situated in  Sitauli hill with soldiers. Chamu Bhandar and his soldiers were in between Kosi River and Katarmal Hill 2 miles away in west of city. Other soldiers were under Bamshah.

 British informers offered following information about Gurkha army-

Out of Almora city – 900 Gurkha soldiers and other 600 soldiers

In Almora city- 150 soldiers under Bamshah

       --------------- 60 under Ranshoor karki

Chhakhata Garhi – 200 soldiers

Pali Pachhaun – 200 (out of those 150 were in Naithanagarh)

Katolgarh- 200 soldiers

 As per Premble, there were not more than 2000 soldiers under Bamshah.

 (From writings of B D Pande, Atkinson, Preamble, Sanwal, Saxsena, Fraser etc) 

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti Mumbai, India, bckukreti@gmail.com 15/5/2016

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -801

*** History of Gorkha/Gurkha /Nepal Rule over Kumaun, Garhwal and Himachal (1790-1815) to be continued in next chapter

(The History of Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar write up is aimed for general readers)

XX                    Reference           

                 

Atkinson E.T., 1884, 1886, Gazetteer of Himalayan Districts …

Hamilton F.B. 1819, An Account of Kingdom of Nepal and the territories

Colnol Kirkpatrik 1811, An Account of Kingdom of Nepal

Dr S.P Dabral, Uttarakhand ka Itihas part 5, Veer Gatha Press, Dogadda

Bandana Rai, 2009 Gorkhas,: The Warrior Race

Krishna Rai Aryal, 1975, Monarchy in Making Nepal, Shanti Sadan, Giridhara, Nepal

I.R.Aryan and T.P. Dhungyal, 1975, A New History of Nepal , Voice of Nepal

L.K Pradhan, Thapa Politics:

Gorkhavansavali, Kashi, Bikram Samvat 2021 

Derek J. Waller, The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia page 172-173

B. D. Pande, Kumaon ka Itihas

Balchandra Sharma, Nepal ko Aitihasik Rup Rekha

Chaudhari , Anglo  –Nepalese Relations

Pande, Vasudha , Compares Histriographical Traditions of Gorkha Rule in Nepal and Kumaon

Pradhan , Kumar, 1991, The Gorkha Conquests , Oxford University  Press

Minyan Govrdhan Singh , History of Himachal Pradesh

A.P Coleman, 1999, A Special Corps

Captain Thomas Smith, 1852,Narrative of a Five Years Residence at Nepal Vol.1

Maula Ram/Mola Ram  , Ranbahadurchandrika and Garhrajvanshkavya

J B Fraser , Asiatic Research

Shyam Ganguli, Doon Rediscovered

Minyan Prem Singh, Guldast Tabarikh Koh Tihri Garhwal

Patiram Garhwal , Ancient and Modern

Tara Datt Gairola, Parvtiy Sanskriti

John Premble, Invasion of Nepal

Chitranjan Nepali, Bhimsen Thapa aur Tatkalin Nepal

Sanwal, Nepal and East India Company

Nagendra kr Singh, Refugee to Ruler

Saxena, Historical papers related to Kumaon

Paper Respecting Nepal War by East India Company (papers in Stock)

Basu, Rise of Christian Power in India)

Moti Lal Ghosh, an article in Amrit Bazar Patrika

XXX

History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Garhwal, Kumaon, Uttarakhand Ruthless Gurkha/Nepalese Administration in Himachal; Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Pauri Garhwal, Udham Singh Nagar Kumaon, Uttarakhand Ruthless Gurkha/Nepalese Administration in Himachal; Sirmour Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Chamoli Garhwal, Nainital Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Kangara Himachal Ruthless Gurkha/Nepalese Administration in Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Rudraprayag Garhwal, Almora Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Baghat Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Tehri Garhwal, Champawat Kumaon, Uttarakhand Ruthless Gurkha/Nepalese Administration in Himachal; Punar Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Uttarkashi Garhwal, Bageshwar Kumaon, Uttarakhand;  Nahan Himachal; History Gurkha /Gorkha Rule over Dehradun Garhwal, Pithoragarh Kumaon, Uttarakhand; History Himachal Ruthless Gurkha/Nepalese Administration in Himachal;  History of Nepal, History of Doti Nepal, History of Nepalese/ Gurkha regime

Nepal Itihas, Garhwal Itihas, Kumaon Itihas, Himachal Itihas;  Gurkha/Gorkha ka Kumaon par  Adhikar Itihas , Gurkha/Gorkha Garhwal par Shasan Itihas Ruthless Gurkha/Nepalese Administration in Himachal;  Gurkha/Gorkha Rule in Kumaon, Garhwal Uttarakhand; History Gurkha/Gorkha  Rule in Himachal Ruthless Gurkha/Nepalese Administration in Himachal