The Gorkha conquest (1790–1815) is the trauma at the centre of Uttarakhand’s historical memory. Nepal’s expanding Gorkha empire took Kumaon in 1790–91, then crushed Garhwal’s last stand at the Battle of Khurbura (14 May 1804) near Dehradun — where King Pradyuman Shah died facing modern guns with hill swords.
The occupation
- Commanders like Amar Singh Thapa administered both regions for over a decade.
- The period — remembered as Gorkhyani — meant punitive taxation, forced labour and repression severe enough to empty villages.
- When the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–16) came, hill communities guided and supplied the East India Company — conquest experienced as liberation, with consequences explored in the main timeline (the Khurbura ground lies in Dehradun).
Related: Katyuri Dynasty | Chand Dynasty | Panwar Garhwal | Full history timeline
