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Land of the Gurkhas photo slides

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=920ineZhKI8endofvid
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Who are the Gurkha?




The Gurkha are the fame Unit in the British and the Indian armed forces. Gurkha are also serving in the Singapore and Brunei forces. The Gurkha are formed by Indo-Mongoloid men from Nepal namely from Magar, Gurung, Rai and Limbu communities.



Neolithic tools found in the Kathmandu Valley indicate that people have been living in the Himalayan region for at least 9,000 years. The foremost settlers in this region was the Indo-Mongoloid people who are termed as "Kiratas" in Veda and other ancient literature. In Sanskrit, Kirata means native of the land with "kiram atati bhramati yah" or one wandering over the forests.

Kiratas are first mentioned in the Yajurveda (Shukla XXX.16; Krisha III.4,12,1), and in the Atharvaveda (X.4,14), describing them as "mountain people and hunters in the forests and deadly warriors."

In Manu's Dharmashastra (X.44) they are mentioned as degraded Kshatriyas, which meant that they were considered to be of advanced civilization, but outside the ambit of Brahminical influence. Kiratas are also mentioned in ancient Greek history, Chinese history and Holy book of Sikh Guru Nanak.



The Greeks had known the Kirats by the name of Kirhadai. The last remnant of the ancient Kiratite or Cherethite tribe was found recorded in the book of 2 Samuel, 15 - 18. They were a martial tribe during the reign of the Syrian King David in 1049 BC. Kiratas appearance in vedic literature is described as gold-like, i.e, yellow in color in skin color with the following verse.



"Kairatam vesam asthaya kancana-druma-sannibham"

Taking up a Kirata resemblance, like unto a tree of gold (IV,35,2);

The Vedas, Ramayana and Mahabharata viewed them as fearful and terrible highlanders. The Ramayana describes:

"Kiratasca tiksna-cudasca hemabhah priya-darsanah, antar-jala-cara ghora nara-vyaghra iti srutah" (Kiskindhya-Kanda, 40, 27, 28, qouted by N.N Vasu)

upon translation is

"The Kiratas with their hair down up in knots, shining like gold and pleasant to look upon, bold enough to move under water, terrible, veritable tiger-men, so are they famed".



The term 'Nepal' is first found in 'Atharva Parishista' (4th Century B.C.). The term 'Kirat Desh' or Kirat Country is found in the earlier documents. In ancient Veda text, the Himalayan region extending from Himachal Pradesh in the west, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Nepal, Assam and Tripura in the east to Chittagong in the south was referred as the "Kirat Desh".



The Vishnu Purano states that the "chatur-varna"or four class social system was absent in the Kirat Desh in the East and the Yavanas(Greek) and Kambojas(Iranian), etc. in the West. Hence the chatur-varna(4-class system) or caste discrimination only came to exist in Nepal after the arrival of vedic Aryan from the Indian plains.



Nepal is also the birthplace of Lord Buddha who was born in Lumbini, Nepal. It was during the rule of 7th Kirati King Jitedasti, that Lord Buddha visited Kathmandu valley with his disciples.

From then onwards Buddhism spread to other nations.



Nepal is also home to mother Sita, the consort of lord Ram(Ramayana epic). Her birthplace is at Janakpur, situated 375 km. south of Kathmandu in the Tarai plains.



All 14 of the world's 8,000-meter peaks are located in the Himalaya ranges. Of this 14 mountains, 8th of the world's 10th highest mountains, including the highest, Mount Everest is in Nepal.



Along with the mountains, the mountain communities especially the Sherpas, another Indo-Mongoloid group comes to the limelight. Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at high altitudes. It has been speculated that a portion of the Sherpas' climbing ability is the result of a genetic adaptation to living in high altitudes.

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