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{{Short description|Nepalese irredentist concept}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
[[File:Joppen1907India1805a.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Nepal in 1805 is the predominant idea of "Greater Nepal"]]

'''Greater Nepal''' is an [[irredentist]] concept in [[Nepal]],<ref name="Verma">{{citation |last=Verma |first=Jai Kumar |title=Greater Nepal: A spark which could become a fire |newspaper=Aviation and defence |date=19 September 2020 |url=https://www.aviation-defence-universe.com/greater-nepal-a-spark-which-could-become-a-fire/ |quote=The growing concept of “Greater Nepal” is an irredentist notion which visualises to include several areas of India which were occupied by Gorkha army after conquering the neighbouring states between 1791 to 1804.}}</ref> which claims current [[India]]n and [[Bangladesh]]i territories beyond Nepal's present-day boundaries.<ref name="Johnson"/> These claims typically include the areas controlled by Nepal between 1791 and 1816, a period that ended with the [[Anglo-Nepalese War]] and the signing of [[Sugauli Treaty]].<ref name="TOI 2005" /> In addition, extensive territories in the present-day Indian states of [[Uttarakhand]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Bihar]], [[West Bengal]] and some parts of Bangladesh are also included in the claims of the activist organisation Greater Nepal Nationalist Front, which demands the "return" of these territories to Nepal.<ref name="Johnson">Amy Johnson, [https://culanth.org/fieldsights/dont-break-the-state-indivisibility-and-populist-majority-politics-in-nepal Don’t Break the State: Indivisibility and Populist Majority Politics in Nepal], Society for Cultural Anthropology, 16 March 2021.</ref><ref name="Mishra & Haque"/> A map similar to theirs was displayed by the mayor of [[Kathmandu]] in his office in June 2023, in reaction to an alleged "[[Akhand Bharat]]" map in the Indian Parliament building.<ref>[https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/greater-nepals-map-installed-at-balens-office Greater Nepal's map installed at Balen's office], The Himalayan Times, 9 June 2023.</ref><ref>[https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/in-response-to-akhand-bharat-mural-in-new-parliament-kathmandu-mayor-places-map-of-greater-nepal-in-office-515334 In response to ‘Akhand Bharat’ mural in new Parliament, Kathmandu Mayor places map of ‘Greater Nepal’ in office], The Tribune (Chandigarh), 8 June 2023.</ref>

== Background ==
[[File:Map of Greater Nepal (with part of ceded territory).jpg|280px|right|thumb|Greater Nepal map with ceded territory]]

Nepal was originally the name of the Kathmandu valley, and, in this sense, the term had been in existence for 2000 years.{{sfnp|Whelpton, A History of Nepal|2005|loc=p. 2: "Another manifestation of this nationalist approach is a wish to date as far back as possible the beginnings of the political connection between the Kathmandu Valley, to which the name ‘Nepal’ originally referred, and the much wider territory covered by the modern state."}}{{sfnp|Mishra, Ethnicity and National Unification|2007|loc=pp. 802-803: "Prior to [the Gorkhali expansion] the designation Nepal seems to have been applied only to the Kathamandu valley of the Gorkhas, the people that lived in the principality of the same name... References to Nepal in Mahabharat and Puranas and also in Buddhist and Jain scriptures establish the antiquity of the country as an independent political and territorial entity."}}
In the 18th century, the king of the [[Gorkha Kingdom]], [[Prithvi Narayan Shah]], started a process of expansion, conquering Kathmandu in 1768 and making it his new capital.{{sfnp|Whelpton, A History of Nepal|2005|loc=p. 35}} The expanded state continued to be called "Gorkha" or "Gorkhali" until the early 20th century,{{sfnp|Whelpton, A History of Nepal|2005|loc=p. 55: "When people did think of themselves as subjects of a single king or a single state, it was not ‘Nepal’ they thought of. This word retained its original meaning of the Kathmandu Valley and did not begin to replace ‘Gorkha’ or ‘Gorkhali’ in official use until early in the twentieth century."}}
with the term "Nepal" being officially adopted as the name much later in the 1930s.{{sfnp|Whelpton, Political Identity in Nepal|1997|pp=41–42: "These pre-existing cultural links were reinforced once the area had been brought within the Gorkha state — we need to say 'Gorkha' because the term 'Nepal' was not officially adopted for the entire kingdom until the 1930s."}}

After the death of Prithvi Narayan Shah, the Gorkha state continued to expand, conquering the Gandaki and Karnali basins, and then [[Kumaon Division|Kumaon]] and [[Garhwal Division|Garhwal]] (1792), halting at the [[Sutlej River]] where the [[Sikh Empire]] exerted its influence (1809–10).{{sfnp|Whelpton, A History of Nepal|2005|pp=39, 42}} In the east, the Gorkhas occupied the western half of [[Sikkim]] up to the [[Teesta River]].{{sfnp|Rose, Nepal – Strategy for Survival|1971|loc=p. 38: "By this time [1784] the fighting in Tibet had reached a stalemate, and there was also a temporary cessation of hostilities in Sikkim which left Nepal in control of all of the state west of the Tista river."}}{{efn|The occupation was in violation of the prevailing boundary treaty at that time,{{sfnp|Pradhan, Gorkha Conquests|1991|pp=127–128}} but it might have been justified by the allegation that Tibet was opening an alternative trade route to India via the [[Chumbi Valley]] and Sikkim.{{sfnp|Pradhan, Gorkha Conquests|1991|p=131}}}}

Even though all of this was a straightforward military conquest with no national feelings of any kind, the modern Nepalese narrative retroactively treats it as the "[[Unification of Nepal|unification]]" of a Nepalese "nation".{{sfnp|Whelpton, Political Identity in Nepal|1997|loc=p. 40: "The 'unification' of Nepal by King Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha and his successors in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was in the first place a straightforward military conquest: there was certainly no demand for unity of the kind expressed by many Germans and Italians before German and Italian unification was achieved."}}<ref>
{{citation |first=David N. |last=Gellner |chapter=Caste, Communalism, and Communism: Newars and The Nepalese State |editor1=David N. Gellner |editor2=Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka |editor3=John Whelpton |title=Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom: The Politics of Culture in Contemporary Nepal |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEEgtPeIjqYC&pg=PA156 |year=1997 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-90-5702-089-6 |page=156 |quote="The nationalist history of today styles him [Prithvi Narayan Shah] 'the Great': he is the Father of the Nation, and his conquests are referred to as the 'unification' of Nepal."}}</ref>
Some of these extended conquests came unstuck in 1815, when during the [[Anglo-Nepalese War]], the British General Ochterloney compelled the Gorkhali commander Amar Singh Thapa to withdraw from Garhwal and Kumaon across the [[Sharda River]] (or Mahakali River).{{sfnp|Whelpton, A History of Nepal|2005|p=42}} Negotiations for a general settlement took place at [[Sugauli]] in Bihar and agreed in December 1815, but ratified only after Ochterlony advanced to [[Makwanpur]], thirty miles short of Kathmandu.{{sfnp|Whelpton, A History of Nepal|2005|p=42}} Among the terms of the [[Treaty of Sugauli]] was also the Nepalese withdrawal from the territory of [[Sikkim]] east of the Mechi river, which was a British ally in the war.

The Gorkha rule over this "historical Greater Nepal" from [[Sutlej]] to [[Teesta River|Teesta]] was brief. The duration of Gorkhali presence in [[Garhwal division|Garhwal]] was 12 years, [[Kumaon division|Kumaon]] 24 years, and [[Sikkim]] 33 years.<ref>Kanak Mani Dixit, [https://www.himalmag.com/looking-for-greater-nepal/ Looking for Greater Nepal], Himal SouthAsian, 1 March 1993.</ref> It has been claimed that the Treaty of Sugauli caused Nepal's rulers to lose about 176,000 km<sup>2</sup> of territory and left the country with only 147,516 km<sup>2</sup> total area.<ref>{{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 |page=76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_jK0x458zoC&q=gorkha+rule+in+uttarakhand&pg=PA78 }}
</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2023}}

== Advocacy ==
=== Greater Nepal Committee ===
A Greater Nepal Committee was formed in Kathmandu in 1991, which wrote letters to the embassies of different countries claiming that India should "unconditionally return to Nepal", territories "east of Mechi river and west of Mahakali", which were ceded to the British in the [[Treaty of Sugauli]]. The committee claimed to create a "world-wide public opinion" in favour of 'Greater Nepal'.<ref name="Verma"/><ref name="Dixit">Kanak Mani Dixit, [https://www.himalmag.com/looking-for-greater-nepal/ Looking for Greater Nepal], Himal SouthAsian, 1 March 1993.</ref><ref>{{citation |first=Samir |last=Sharma |title=1950 India–Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship and Regional Mobilisations in Eastern India |journal=India Quarterly |volume=79 |number=1 |doi=10.1177/0974928422114718 |ref={{sfnref|Samir Sharma, 1950 India-Nepal Treaty|2023}}}}</ref>

The letter was signed by Surendra Dhakal, the former editor of Kathmandu weekly, ''Rangamanch''. Dhakal claimed that the Nepali leaders were cowed down by fear of India and that it was the moral and nationalistic duty of the people to raise such demands.<ref name="Dixit"/>

=== Greater Nepal Nationalist Front ===
The Greater Nepal Nationalist Front (GNNF, formerly "Unified Nepal National Front")<ref name="Mishra & Haque"/><ref>Shambhu Bhujel, Nepali teacher campaigns for "Greater Nepal", Xinhua News Agency, 4 July 2009. {{ProQuest|451767580}}</ref> 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">
{{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/}}
</ref>

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.<ref name="Mishra & Haque"/>

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"/>

===Nepalese Maoists===
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="TOI 2005">
{{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}}
</ref>
Their map includes the Indian towns of [[Varanasi]], [[Ballia]], [[Bahraich]], [[Pilibhit]] and [[Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh|Jaunpur]] within Greater Nepal.<ref>
{{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}}
</ref>
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 was readily available in and around the Maoist camps along the Indo-Nepal border in 2005.<ref name="TOI 2005"/> The Maoist-affiliated Indian Nepali advocacy group [[Akhil Bharat Nepali Ekta Samaj]] is also supportive of the Greater Nepal ideal according to some sources.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Extremist Group - Akhil Bharat Nepali Ekta Samaj (ABNES) |url=https://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/ABNES.htm |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=www.satp.org}}</ref>

=== Nepalese scholars ===
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".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.peoplesreview.com.np/2019/05/15/my-greater-nepal-released/ |title='My greater Nepal' released] |work=People's Review |location=Kathmandu |date=15 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718144949/https://www.peoplesreview.com.np/2019/05/15/my-greater-nepal-released/ |archive-date=2023-07-18 |quote='My Greater Nepal', a compilation of patriotic articles of ten senior writers was released on Thursday last week amidst a function in Kathmandu. Edited and published by senior journalist Rajan Karki, the compilation in English includes analytical articles on Nepal by Bharat Dahal, Nepal's border expert Buddhinarayan Shrestha, senior journalist N.P Upadhaya, author Prof. Dr. Shastra Dutta Pant, water resource expert Ratna Sansar Shrestha, patriotism campaigner Dirgharaj Prasai, citizenship awareness campaigner Sadhya Bahadur Bhandari, analysts Premsagar Poudel and Basanta Khadka.}}</ref>{{sfnp|Shrestha, Demarcation of the International Boundaries of Nepal|2013|p=151}}<ref>
{{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}}
</ref>
Shrestha has also spoken in Greater Nepal gatherings<ref>
[https://www.greaternepal.asia.np/2016/10/looking-for-greater-nepal.html Looking For Greater Nepal], greaternepal.asia.np, retrieved 20 October 2020.
</ref><ref>
[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."
</ref>
and made media comments in its favour, declaring "The land we lost to the East India Company should not belong to India. It is ours."<ref name="regain">
[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.
</ref>

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}}

==Official positions==
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]] (popularly known as "Prachanda") stated that the [[1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship]] would be "scrapped".<ref>
[https://www.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/24nepal.htm Maoists to scrap 1950 Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty], Rediff News, 24 April 2008.
</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">
[[Kanak Mani Dixit]], [https://www.himalmag.com/looking-for-greater-nepal/ Looking for Greater Nepal], Himal SouthAsian, 1 March 1993.
</ref>

In 2023 when the ''[[Maurya Empire|Mauryan Empire]]'' mural in India's new Parliament building appeared in the newspapers, some politicians of the ruling [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] started branding it an [[Akhand Bharat]] map. The fact that included some Nepalese towns such as [[Lumbini]] produced consternation in Nepal. The mayor of Kathmandu, [[Balen Shah]] placed a map of ''Greater Nepal'' in his office as a protest.<ref>{{cite news |title=Amid Akhanda Bharat map row, KMC Mayor Balen Shah displays a map of 'Greater Nepal' at his office |newspaper=My Republica |date=8 June 2023 |url=https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/map-of-greater-nepal-in-mayor-balen-s-office/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=बालेन शाहले राखे आफ्नाे कार्यकक्षमा ग्रेटर नेपालकाे नक्सा, के ग्रेटर नेपाल सम्भव छ ? - लुम्बिनी टुडे |date=8 June 2023 |url=https://lumbinitoday.com/2023/06/32795/ }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Unification of Nepal]]
* [[Politics in Nepal]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
* {{citation |title=Ethnicity and National Unification: The Madheshis of Nepal (Sectional President's Address) |first=Ratneshwar |last=Mishra |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=67 |year=2007 |pages=802–833 |jstor=44148000 |ref={{sfnref|Mishra, Ethnicity and National Unification|2007}}}}
* {{citation |last=Pradhan |first=Kumar |title=The Gorkha Conquests of Eastern Nepal and Sikkim |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Calcutta |year=1991 |url=http://14.139.206.50:8080/jspui/handle/1/3075 |via=dspace.cus.ac.in |ref={{sfnref|Pradhan, Gorkha Conquests|1991}}}}
* {{citation |last1=Rose |first1=Leo E. |title=Nepal – Strategy for Survival |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v07Vo3vAaKwC |year=1971 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-01643-9 |ref={{sfnref|Rose, Nepal – Strategy for Survival|1971}}}}
* {{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}}}}
* {{citation |author=Whelpton |first=John |chapter=Political Identity in Nepal: State, Nation and Community |editor1=David N. Gellner |editor2=Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka |editor3=John Whelpton |title=Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom: The Politics of Culture in Contemporary Nepal |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEEgtPeIjqYC&pg=PA39 |year=1997 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-90-5702-089-6 |pages=39–78 |ref={{sfnref|Whelpton, Political Identity in Nepal|1997}}}}
* {{citation |last=Whelpton |first=John |title=A History of Nepal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KoNT6tjk9mQC |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-80470-7 |ref={{sfnref|Whelpton, A History of Nepal|2005}}}}

==External links==
* {{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=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220210921/http://www.bellinfosys.com/important_dates_in_the_history_o.htm |archivedate=20 December 2016}}
*[https://www.bordernepal.com Border Nepal – Border Management of Nepal]
* {{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}}
* {{cite web |title=Greater Nepal official site |language=Nepali |url=https://www.greaternepal.org.np/ }}


{{Nationalism in South Asia}}
{{Irredentism}}

[[Category:1816 in law]]
[[Category:India–Nepal relations]]
[[Category:Nepalese irredentism]]
[[Category:Politics of Nepal]]
[[Category:Unification of Nepal]]
[[Category:Gurkhas]]

Greater Nepal - Revision history

Agamx at 11:08, 8 March 2026