Stories of Gorkhas have captured the imagination of Nepalis and Nepal’s close friends globally for over 200 years. Their bravery and obedience has not gone unnoticed. These men are mentioned repeatedly, cited by academics and also closely examined for their ‘superior abilities’. Much of what I’ve written is up for debate and maybe we’ve focused on this debate for far too long leaving many others out of the Gorkha/Gurkha history. Very little has been researched about the women accompanying and supporting the Gorkha/Gurkha soldiers.

In the Anglo-Nepal war of 1814-1816, there were also women who fought. Whilst their numbers may not be as significant as the men fighting, they still had a part to play. As the years progressed and the life of a Gorkha took him to far-flung places in India and to countries such as Malaya and Burma, it is women that also travelled and repeatedly started new lives alongside the men. Many times, the women had to do this alone.

The ‘Gurkha Women – an echo in the story’ art exhibition by Suzana Shrish captured these stories. Shrish who is a brilliant artist spent several years travelling across Nepal finding the surviving women, taking photos and hearing what they remembered of their time as a ‘Lahureni’ (a woman married to a soldier) in Nepal and overseas. The art exhibition was showcased at the Nepal Art Council in Kathmandu in late 2023. The year also marked 100 years of Nepal-UK Friendship Treaty. A monumental moment and we’re only scratching the surface on Gurkhas and their stories. Why has it taken us so long to think about Gurkha women?

Many women that Suzana met shared their stories, their plight and also the various ways that they themselves participated in warfare. There are women who were taught how to use guns. While their stories may be rare, they definitely add to the Gurkha history discourse. The work by artists like Suzana and academic Sanjay Sharma (whose research on Gurkha Women and Instagram @GurkhaWomen) has pushed the collective Gurkha diaspora and dependents to think about the stories of their grandmothers and mothers.

Lahurenika Katha-Byetha was one session among many at the Nepal Literature Festival 2024. With the festival taking place in Pokhara, a popular city of Gurkhas and home of Gurkha recruitment today; it was a great fit. On the panel we had Mina Gurung, a ‘lahureni’ who lived in Hong Kong where she served as a teacher at the Gurkha School and also worked as a radio host for the BFBS Gurkha Radio. Upon her return to Nepal, she has been busy wearing many hats including the parliamentarian of the Gandaki Province (2074-79), founding Nepal Beautician Union Nepal, and establishing Gurkha Bhu.Pu. Women Organization and being the chair of Prerana Nepal. We also had Dr Chandra Bahadur Gurung, an ex-Gorkha having dedicated his time in the Gorkha regiment of the Indian Army and participating in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. He is the founding general secretary of the Gorkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Organization (GAESO) as well as Gurkha Memorial Museum and the Gorkha Smarak Trust. Finally, we also had Suzana Thapa Shrish, an artist and researcher who previously worked as a radio presenter at Hits FM, founder of Shrish Creative Arts Initiative (SHCAI) and has done the exhibitions “Black and White”, “Bharseli Gurkha: From Stories to Portraits” and “Gurkha Women – an echo in the story”.

Our hour-long panel session was brief and light. As a moderator, I wanted to focus on light questions that encouraged the panellists to share their views on why stories of Gurkha Women have taken so long to come to the forefront. Another question aimed at highlighting if there were any difference between a woman and a Gurkha Woman. Mina’ji being a spouse of a Gurkha and quite an accomplished figure gave wonderful answers to some of these questions. It felt necessary to keep things on the surface especially with majority of the festival-goers being non-Gurkhas. In my short-time in Nepal so far, I realise much of the conversations around Gurkhas still centre around treaties, migration and fighting for a nation that is not theirs. We simply have not even thought about the many layers that is making the Gurkha history.

This year it was Gurkha Women. We largely spoke about Lahureni, Gurkha Woman as someone married to a Gurkha but things are already changing. The second generation, daughters of Gurkha soldiers who are joining the British Army directly from the UK are today seen as a Gurkha Woman. Some of these British Army enlisted Nepali women may eventually join the Gurkha Regiment (if they haven’t already) and their stories will add more to the growing discourse of ‘Gurkha Women’. It’s an exciting space and only time will tell how the role and place of a Gurkha Woman will change in the days to come.

As we peel layers to the Gurkha history, I hope we learn and share more about the stories of Gurkha children, the Gurkha identity and our relationship with Nepal, our host country whether that be the UK, Brunei, Hong Kong or India and how that has shaped our views on nationhood, politics and personhood.

All photos by Aaditya Rai

You can watch the live-stream of the session लाहुरेनीका कथा–व्यथा below…

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