Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Gazing at the Gallant Gurkha:
Glimpsing Nepalese Society
Lisa Power and Clive Baker
Faculty of Business, Sport and Enterprise,
Southampton Solent University, Southampton, UK
Introduction
Background to Regimental
and Corps Museums
One of the most comprehensive collections of
military heritage outside of London is to be
found in Winchester, where regimental and
corps traditions live on through six military
museums. One of these, the Gurkha Museum,
commemorates the services of the elite Nepal-
ese Gurkhas and their British offi cers who have
served the crown since 1815. The historic Bri-
gade of Gurkhas is unlike other British regi-
ments, for whilst it is a fully integrated part of
the British Armed Forces with Gurkhas perform-
ing the same duties as other units at home and
abroad in defence of the UK, all Gurkhas are
recruited, serve and are discharged as Nepalese
citizens with recruitment and selection taking
place once a year in Nepal. The focus of the
Gurkha Museum is, however, not solely on the
Gurkha's military achievements, as emphasis
is also placed on the social and cultural heri-
tage of their homeland Nepal. This chapter
explores the way in which the museum displays
on the one hand the harsh realities of military
life for the 'bravest of the brave, most generous
of the generous' Gurkha, whilst on the other
hand presents a socio-cultural dimension of
wider Nepalese life including the interrelation-
ship between dress, food and religion. It explores
how the visitor's glance presents a soldier,
whereas the deeper gaze reveals the gallant
Gurkha.
A report from the London School of Economics
(2006), commissioned by the Museum, Libraries
and Archives Council (MLA) and the National
Museums Directors' Conference, shows that
museums and galleries are a vital ingredient of
Britain's cultural sector, attracting over 42 mil-
lion visits per year. This popularity is refl ected
by the fact that at least 43% of the population
visited a museum or gallery at least once during
2005 (LSE, 2006), a higher attendance than at
the Premiership plus the whole of the rest of
league football for 2004-2005. Museums are
clearly an integral part of the cultural life of the
nation and are typifi ed by their diversity and
extensive collections.
Whilst there are some 1984 museums in
England (MLA, 2005), 234 have weapons and
war as the broad subject matter of their collec-
tion. Around 152 (Children, 2000) of these are
regiment and corps museums ranging from the
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum in
Edinburgh to the Duke of Cornwall's Light
Infantry Museum in Bodmin, Cornwall. The fi rst
objective of this type of museum articulated in
the Ministry of Defence's Policy Towards Regi-
mental and Corps Museums (MOD, 1998,
p. 10) is to 'make the public aware of the regi-
ments and corps, their roles and achievements
thereby contributing to the projection of a
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