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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Nepal before 1816 saguli treaty}}<br />
<br />
[[File:Map of Greater Nepal (with part of ceded territory).jpg|280px|right|thumb|Greater Nepal map with ceded territory]]<br />
'''Greater Nepal''' is an [[Irrendentism|irrendentist]] ideal of [[Nepal]] extending beyond its present boundaries to include current [[India]]n and [[Bangladesh]]i territories. The territorial claims typically include the Nepali borders between 1791 and 1816, concluding with the signing of the [[Sugali Treaty]] at the end of the [[Anglo-Nepalese War]],<ref name="Nascent" /> but not the parts of Tibet occupied by the [[Gorkha army]] during the [[Sino-Nepalese War]] of 1788–1792.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}<br />
<br />
== Background ==<br />
It is claimed the historical "Greater Nepal" extended from the [[Sutlej]] to the [[Teesta River]] in 1813, spanning 1,500&nbsp;km. Gorkha rule over this expanse was brief, however, and in the aftermath of the 1814-1815 war with the East India Company the Gorkhali realm was whittled down considerably. The real time Gorkhali presence in [[Garhwal division|Garhwal]] was for 12 years, [[Kumaon division|Kumaon]] for 24 years,<ref><br />
{{Cite book |last1=Pande |first1=Puran Ch. |last2=Pande |first2=Ravindra K. |last3=Pande |first3=Rajnish |title=The Himalayan Environment: Issues and Challenges |date=1998 |publisher=Daya Publishing House |isbn=978-81-7035-187-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_jK0x458zoC&q=gorkha+rule+in+uttarakhand&pg=PA78 }}<br />
</ref> and [[Sikkim]] for 33 years. The [[Treaty of Sugauli]], between the Gorkhali king and the East India Company, was ratified in 1816. It caused Nepal's rulers to lose about 176,000 (according to greater Nepal map )&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> of territory and left Nepal with its present-day borders, with 147,516&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> total area.<br />
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== Greater Nepal Nationalist Front ==<br />
[[File:Sugauli Treaty cessions.png|thumb|280px|Greater Nepal map. Extent of the Gorkha rule at its height{{citation needed|date=October 2020|reason=Need evidence that this is the Greater Nepal map}}]]<br />
<br />
Greater Nepal Nationalist Front (GNNF) is a Nepalese [[non-governmental organisation|NGO]] headed by Phanindra Nepal, which champions the cause of Greater Nepal. The organisation disowns the 1810 [[Sugauli Treaty]] and the 1950 [[1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship|Treaty of Peace and Friendship]] with India. It demands the return of the land that belonged to Nepal before the signing of the Sugauli Treaty. This involves land up to the [[Sutlej River]] in the west, the [[Teesta River]] in the east ("[[Shimla]] to [[Darjeeling]]" in the organisation's parlance) and extending up to [[Varanasi]] in the south.<ref name="Mishra & Haque"><br />
{{citation |title=Geographies of India-Nepal contestation |first1=Swasti Vardhan |last1=Mishra |first2=Sk. Mafizul |last2=Haque |website=osf.io |date=2020 |url=https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/4jk8q/}}<br />
</ref><br />
<br />
Scholars Mishra and Haque state that the organisation is rhetorically very powerful. The map of Greater Nepal produced by the organisation provides power to the movement by building "meanings and nostalgic longings". The movement has a web page in the [[Nepali language]], a Facebook page and blog sites. Its agenda has also been coopted by the [[Unified Nepal National Front]].<ref name="Mishra & Haque"/><br />
<br />
An even more grandiose movement is said to talk about "Unified Gorkha-States of India Sub-Continent", which restructures the Indian subcontinent into five autonomous states, the largest of which is the so-called "Arya Autonomous State".<ref name="Mishra & Haque"/><br />
<br />
== Maoists ==<br />
A Maoist movement has published a 260-page Nepali book titled "''Nepal: Teesta Dekhi Satlej Samma''" ("Nepal: From Teesta to the Sutlej") which, while repeating similar demands to the GNNF, also provides copious references to alleged historical facts. Among others, it claims that the Indian prime minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] supported the idea of "Greater Nepal".<ref name="Nascent"><br />
{{cite news |title=Nepal Maoists produce maps to claim parts of India |newspaper=Times of India |date=25 October 2005 |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Nepal-Maoists-claim-parts-of-India/articleshow/1273660.cms}}<br />
</ref><br />
Their map includes the Indian towns of [[Varanasi]], [[Ballia]], [[Bahraich]], [[Pilibhit]] and [[Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh|Jaunpur]].<ref><br />
{{cite journal |last1=Nayak |first1=Nihar |title=India–Nepal Peace and Friendship Treaty (1950): Does it Require Revision? |journal=Strategic Analysis |volume=34 |issue=4 |year=2010 |doi=10.1080/09700161003802778 |s2cid=154483196 |at=page 591, note 20}}<br />
</ref><br />
<br />
The Maoist leader [[Prachanda]] dismissed the claims in an interview with the ''Times of India'' as a "media-created stunt". But according to the ''Times of India'' the book is readily available in and around the Maoist camps along the Indo-Nepal border.<ref name="Nascent"/><br />
<br />
== Scholars ==<br />
Scholars and retired officials such as [[Buddhi Narayan Shrestha]] (former Director of the Survey Department) and [[Dwarika Nath Dhungel]] (former secretary of Water Resources) have published scholarly articles with maps labelled "Greater Nepal".{{sfnp|Shrestha, Demarcation of the International Boundaries of Nepal|2013|p=151}}<ref><br />
{{citation |last1=Dhungel |first1=Dwarika Nath |last2=Pun |first2=Santa Bahadur |title=Nepal-India Relations: Territorial/Border Issue with Specific Reference to Mahakali River |journal=FPRC Journal |publisher=Foreign Policy Research Centre |location=New Delhi |year=2014 |url=https://www.academia.edu/12827172 |via=academia.edu}}<br />
</ref><br />
Shrestha has also spoken in Greater Nepal gatherings<ref><br />
[https://www.greaternepal.asia.np/2016/10/looking-for-greater-nepal.html Looking For Greater Nepal], greaternepal.asia.np, retrieved 20 October 2020.<br />
</ref><ref><br />
[https://bordernepal.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/buddhi-narayan-shrestha-spekaing/ Buddhi Narayan Shrestha Speaking], Buddhi Narayan Shrestha blog site, 16 March 2010. "Border researcher Buddhi Narayan Shrestha delivering speech in Shanti Batika, Ratna Park during displaying the Hoarding Board of the Map of Greater Nepal by United Nepal National Front on 7 March 2009."<br />
</ref><br />
and made media comments in its favour:<ref name="regain"><br />
[https://bordernepal.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/we-could-gain-greater-nepal/ Buddhi Narayan Shrestha: ‘We could regain Greater Nepal’], The Kathmandu Post, 6 January 2008.<br />
</ref><br />
{{blockquote|The land we lost to the East India Company should not belong to India. It is ours.<ref name=regain/>}}<br />
<br />
Shreshta narrates that, before the Sugauli Treaty, Nepal extended up to the confluence of [[Gandak River|Gandak]] and [[Ganges]] Rivers in the south, and to [[Shigatse]] and [[Tashilhunpo]] in the north. "It was ''called'' the 'Greater Nepal'", he states, without mentioning who called it so.{{sfnp|Shrestha, Demarcation of the International Boundaries of Nepal|2013|p=149}} British India apparently "did not like" Greater Nepal as a unified country and therefore dismembered it.{{sfnp|Shrestha, Demarcation of the International Boundaries of Nepal|2013|p=150}} He alleges that the British wanted to expand trade into Tibet but, since Nepal stood in the way, they needed to cut it down.{{sfnp|Shrestha, Demarcation of the International Boundaries of Nepal|2013|p=154}}<br />
<br />
==Official position of Nepal government and political parties==<br />
No king of Nepal has ever discussed or approved of the concept of "Greater Nepal".{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} However, upon forming a coalition government after the [[2008 Nepalese Constituent Assembly election]], the leader of the [[Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)|Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)]] and then-prime minister [[Pushpa Kamal Dahal]] (who had spent 10 years of his life in India after being declared a terrorist by the Nepalese government) stated that the [[1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship]] would be "scrapped".<ref><br />
[http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/24nepal.htm Maoists to scrap 1950 Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty]<br />
</ref> However, the matter was pursued no further. He resigned nine months later for other reasons. Late Nepali Prime Minister [[Girija Prasad Koirala]] called the idea of Greater Nepal "a product of unstable minds". According to [[Kanak Mani Dixit]], as of 1993, the mainstream Left of Nepal appears ambivalent: "They like the concept but are unwilling to do anything about it."<ref name="himalmag.com"><br />
[[Kanak Mani Dixit]], [https://www.himalmag.com/looking-for-greater-nepal/ Looking for Greater Nepal], Himal SouthAsian, 1 March 1993.<br />
</ref><br />
<br />
==Present-day view==<br />
There is no official claim by the [[Government of Nepal]] or any political party of Nepal to take back the territory ceded to British East India Company by Nepal and now occupied by [[India]]. The view is, however advocated for by some Nepali political parties{{which|date=November 2022}} as well as an NGO called the [[Greater Nepal#Greater Nepal Nationalist Front|Greater Nepal Nationalist Front]].<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
* [[Unification of Nepal]]<br />
* [[Politics in Nepal]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{Reflist|2}}<br />
<br />
==Bibliography==<br />
* {{citation |first=Buddhi N. |last=Shrestha |chapter=Demarcation of the International Boundaries of Nepal |editor=Haim Srebro |title=International Boundary Making |publisher=International Federation of Surveyors |location=Copenhagen |year=2013 |isbn=978-87-92853-08-0 |pages=149–182 |chapter-url=https://www.fig.net/resources/publications/figpub/pub59/Figpub59_screen.pdf|ref={{sfnref|Shrestha, Demarcation of the International Boundaries of Nepal|2013}}}}<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* {{cite web |title=Important Dates in the History of Uttarakhand |url=http://www.bellinfosys.com/important_dates_in_the_history_o.htm |work=Bell Infotech Systems |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220210921/http://www.bellinfosys.com/important_dates_in_the_history_o.htm |archivedate=20 December 2016}}<br />
*[http://www.bordernepal.com Border Nepal – Border Management of Nepal]<br />
* {{cite web |title=The Gurkhas – origin, exploration and expansion |newspaper=Darjeeling Times |date=16 April 2011 |url=http://www.darjeelingtimes.com/columns/himalayan-telescope/2653-the-gurkhas-origin-exploration-and-expansion.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103093456/http://www.darjeelingtimes.com/columns/himalayan-telescope/2653-the-gurkhas-origin-exploration-and-expansion.html |archivedate=3 November 2013}}<br />
* {{cite web |title=Greater Nepal official site |language=Nepali |url=http://www.greaternepal.org.np/ }}<br />
<!-- * {{cite web |title=History of Nepal in Map |language=Nepali |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlSNMhSmGlU }} --><br />
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{{Nationalism in South Asia}}<br />
{{Irredentism}}<br />
{{Pan-nationalist concepts}}<br />
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[[Category:1816 in law]]<br />
[[Category:History of Nepal]]<br />
[[Category:India–Nepal relations]]<br />
[[Category:Nepalese irredentism|Nepal]]<br />
[[Category:Politics of Nepal]]<br />
[[Category:Unification of Nepal]]<br />
[[Category:Gurkhas]]<br />
[[Category:Nepalese nationalism]]</div>Bot