Written by: Hardik Sharma Phuyal - 29047, Grade VII
Posted on: 22 May, 2023
Bhimsen Thapa is a widely known far sighted national hero of Nepal, is it? For his contribution in making Nepal not to lose much of its territory and making an alliance with the British to save the acquired land, he can be a fire-sighted hero. What could be fair lines to explore about his confusing identity are here explored.
Bhimsen thapa made a plan to bring out an alliance with the Quing Dynasty, Tibet, Bengal Sultanate, and Ladakh of that time to eradicate the British from Asia. Sad to say he faced a big British force instead.The rather long-term thinking Chinese backed out of it for long-term issues. Without the so-called “big daddy of Asia '' to support, the other smaller nations didn't think about joining it either. Now Nepal was a serious issue. Nobody was supporting us so we could not eradicate the British with a force of only 17,000 men against the armed one. So Bhimsen decided not to go far with it and keep an alliance with the British. He also sent a group of soldiers in 1808 but it was rather denied. Our country had a land area of about 3 lakhs 22 thousand square kilometres.
Historians also recognize him as the first prime minister of Nepal. He came to power in 1806 AD or 1863 BS. The British when landed first in India were looking after Nepal and saw the strategy to make Nepal the centre and conquer Asia. They had already known in the battle of Sinduligadi Gurkha. and also suffered casualties of 800 people while the Gorkha’s were only 600. In the next battle, the east india company (british soldier) brought a force of 3000 people and this was a challenge for the Gorkha army. Amar Singh Thapa was in-charge of the Kumaun region.
Bhimsen Thapa was eager to fight and famed Gurkhas in the world. But we should not get excited by hearing this because suppose someone is firing at you with a gun will you go to cut down them with a khukuri? Before you even start to run, the heart you think is brave will automatically be blasted with bullets. The same thing was done by Bhimsen here. He was eager to get fame like Prithvi Narayan Shah so he made a first hit on the British by attacking Awadh and the British wanted no more than the area of Butwal. This gave the British a hungry smile before they defeated us till Mechi and Mahakali. With this foolishness of his, we became only 147517 kilometres square. That's why I consider him as the biggest fool.
At that time, fighting the British was like fighting a bear with bare hands. This fact might change our perception but we have always been told to be brave and been used by a lot of countries to their advantage and it's happening now. Nepali are eager to fight for other countries but little do they know that they are being used. How Nepalese really could fight their inner enemy of laziness, procrastination, huge hopefulness and believer of fate rather than work, will be the watch of time.
